As the month of August came to a close, cries of victory could be heard rejoicing over the good results for summer tourism in France. While many economic sectors continue to suffer, arrivals and activity figures of Tourism professionals exploded like fireworks in the night. But the bursts of light hide a less brilliant reality.
Jean Marie STIRLING ESSEC IMHI 1991 Has been appointed as Area Director of Finance & Business Support IHG France. He will be based at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand where he will hold the role of Director of Finance & Business Support. Jean-Marie is bringing his 30 years of experience in the Hospitality industry in Paris. After graduating, Jean-Marie held different roles at Hotel Warwick, American Express, Orly Restauration. Planet Hollywood or Class'Croute. In 2005, Jean-Marie joined Starwood Hotels & Resorts at Le Méridien Montparnasse. He was then appointed Director of Finance of Le Méridien Etoile in 2009 and was in charge of many initiatives for the two Méridien in Paris before the sale of Le Méridien Montparnasse (now Pullman) to Accor in 2012.
Sophie HESSEMANS ESSEC IMHI 2011 has been promoted to Corporate Sales Manager Marriott International Paris Sales Office. She started with Marriott as Assistant Sales Manager upon graduation and successively held the position of Sales Executive and Senior Sales Executive.
Looking at June's results, we had dare hope that the French hotel industry was on the road to recovery – July's performance helped confirm our hopes, particularly at the upper end of the scale. The clement weather in July was obviously one reason for this. However, depending on the region and the hotel category, the shift in Ramadan also had a positive effect. The only fly in the ointment was the Budget and Super-budget categories who failed to benefit from this bright spell.
ProAchat, the leading central contracting agency for independent hotels with over 1150 members in France, has listed Hoist Group as a recommended supplier for WiFi solutions. Following this decision, five Best Western ® hotels in France have already entrusted Hoist Group with their new WiFi networks.
Amel ZIANI-ORUS ESSEC IMHI 2011 has been appointed as Learning and development manager for Dorchester collection-Le Meurice. Prior to that Amel has worked for Starwood and Jumeirah as a business excellence/quality manager for 6 years.
Pierre GUILLEMNOT ESSEC IMHI 1993 has been promoted to Vice President of International Sales Henny Penny Corporation. Pierre started working with Henny Penny in 2000 as Regional Sales Manager Northern Europe for 6 years. Then he held different positions such as Division Sales Manager Europe, Middle East, Africa & Russia, APAC & EURAFME Division Sales Manager and more recently: Director of Sales APAC & EURAFME Divisions
Monika MOSER ESSEC IMHI 2010 has been appointed Managing Director for Wilson Associates, Atelier Tristan Auer, the new European office in Paris. Wilson Associates is one of the top architectural design companies leading in the hospitality design industry worldwide. Monika was previously Director of Rooms and Spa at the Hotel Fouquet’s Barrière in Paris and has, in key positions, taken part in luxury hotel openings, such as the Hotel Shangri-la Paris, Four Seasons Hotel George V and Hilton Hotel Arc de Triomphe.
Christophe GALVIN ESSEC IMHI 1996 has been appointed Director of Operations for Groupe Bertrand (Second largest restaurant group in France). Prior to that Christophe was F&B General Manager for Fauchon during one year. Upon graduation Christophe started his career with Groupe Flo where he stayed 17 years, holding many different executive positions.
Further to a lacklustre month of May with destinations posting conflicting results, June seemed to herald a recovery throughout France. Depending on the category and zone, this recovery amplified the positive results or helped make up for the negative performances recorded since the start of the year. The good weather and the announced beginning of economic recovery doubtless favoured this, although June 2015 is being compared to June 2014 which was particularly quiet given the lack of major events.
Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Accor, said: "Once again, AccorHotels has undertaken numerous initiatives to secure its lead and improve its performance. Our teams have united around our strategic priorities – restructuring of the property portfolio at HotelInvest, swift rollout of the digital plan, selective hotel development, revamping of the food and beverage offering and cultural transformation. The benefits from these initiatives have contributed to our good results in the first half, which include a significant increase in revenue and EBIT, strong cash flow generation, more robust positions in the fastest-growing markets and an improvement in the value of our hotel assets.
From the beginning of the academic year, the MBA in Hospitality Management IMHI class of 2015 has been exposed to challenging academic and hands-on experiences to provide them with the skills necessary to achieve their career goals. On the 16th of July 2015, all their efforts and hard work paid off as they received their diplomas during the MBA in Hospitality Management graduation ceremony, and are now about to embark on the first steps of their professional journeys.
On 9 July 2015, the French National Assembly took an important decision by adopting in the final vote of the 'Law Macron' the deletion of any rate parity clauses from contracts between hoteliers and Online Travel Agents and qualifying the term of the contracts as "mandate contract". This is the first decision at legislative level in Europe to ban explicitly rate parity clauses from such contracts. With this decision hoteliers in France regain their entrepreneurial freedom and will be able to offer their customers any trade or tariff advantage they consider appropriate. France is thus the second country after Germany, where public authorities decide to ban rate parity clauses from OTA contracts.
Arnaud LECOCQ H95 has been appointed as General Manager for SJA Hotels Group. Prior to that Arnaud has been three years Director of Operations and three years Deputy General Manager for BNP Paribas Hipark Residences. Arnaud has also eleven years of experience with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
A mixed bag in May: some regional destinations post real growth in RevPAR, with Paris, Lille, Marseille and others recording a drop. Does the explanation lie in the bank holidays or the timing of the school holidays? In May, the French hotel industry was laughing one day and crying the next. Results varied widely throughout France, with some destinations recording sharp drops in RevPAR and others strong growth.
On Thursday July 2nd, in the presence of the French and Chinese Prime Ministers, Louvre Hotels Group has signed a strategic agreement with Chinese bank ICBC that will provide the Group with the means to support its ambitious development policy in France and Europe. Now the Group is in a position to boost its policy of organic and external growth, as well as its renovation programme.
Homo touristicus is naturally a migrant animal that tended, in the past, to follow the same routes each year to return to familiar lands in the South: Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and other destinations in the Mediterranean. Thanks to them and others like them, the foundations of a veritable tourist industry could be established at these destinations for which the arrival of these visitors guaranteed relative prosperity. TYPO3SEARCH_begin
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts is pleased to announce the appointment Annette Botticchio recently promoted to Regional Vice President of Sales for France, for lead the new office Hyatt Sales Force in Paris.
This year, the brand celebrates its 30th anniversary with originality throughout France, on the web and in its hotels. 30 years of high spirits and continual innovation, and hotelF1 has come very far since its establishment in 1985, in Evry. 2015 is a year full of events…
Marion BRAMI ESSEC IMHI 2009 has been appointed as Business Developer for HEMA. A Dutch discount retail chain owned by the British investment firm Lion Capital LLP since 2007. The chain is characterized by relatively low pricing of generic housewares, offering a wide assortment of inexpensive items for personal and household use. Prior to that Marion was Business Developer at ‘’Pomme de Pain’’ for nearly 3 years. Marion joined ‘’Cinq à Sec’’ as Franchise Business Developper upon graduation.