As part of our introduction to the Ecole hôtelièr de Lausanne family, the EHL Alumni Association organised an industry visit day for the EMBA cohort. The agenda for the day was as follows: tour at Hotel Carlton with General Manager Nicolas Lagier (EHL, class of 2002), meeting at the five star Royal Savoy with General Manager Alain Kropf (EHL, class of 1990), lunch at the Hotel d’Angleterre with Beau Rivage Sales Director, Apolline Addor (EHL, class of 2008), and finally a tour of the five star Beau Rivage Palace and a meeting with General Manager Nathalie Seiler (EHL, class of 1995). Needless to say, it was a highly anticipated day.
The Hotel Carlton is located right in the center of Lausanne and is positioned as a midscale to upper-midscale boutique hotel. Mr. Lagier greeted us in a versatile banquet/welcome room off the lobby. After progressing through the various positions within the hotel industry, Mr. Lagier landed at the Hotel Carlton as the General Manager. He explained his multi-faceted role as Sales and Marketing Manager, Revenue Manager, and Operations Manager. He has overseen and helped design a major renovation of both the rooms and conference space adding meeting rooms to cater to both local businesses and travelers. The rooms have undergone a beautiful renovation upgrading the style of this 1906 building (adding value and ultimately increasing the average per room price). Mr. Lagier has also reopened the brasserie to further generate revenue from an added F&B outlet. As this was our first site visit, our class was eager and excited to ask Mr. Lagier everything and anything: How does the boutique combat rising OTA (Online Travel Agent) commissions and booking infiltration? Has the renovation brought more pressure on service due to increased expectation? What is your current pricing strategy? Mr. Lagier fielded our barrage of questions with equal amounts of poise and professionalism. A very interesting visit.
Our second visit was at the soon-to-reopen Royal Savoy. The Royal Savoy has been in the process of a 5-year multi-million dollar renovation led by the Qatar investment firm Katara, aiming to upgrade this turn of the century historical landmark into one of Lausanne preeminent luxury hotels. The goal is to create a modern feel combined with traditional values, a very difficult task (to be commented on later). General Manager, Alain Kropf was hired over from Mandarin Oriental and has had a long and prosperous career on the F&B side of hotel management. Our meeting was held in their new ballroom and our questions for Mr. Kropf turned to: How does the Royal Savoy forecast occupancy, revenue, room rates before opening? What is your communication strategy during pre-opening (which guests will you target)? How exactly do you combine a modern feel with a traditional feel? The latter will have to be addressed after opening. We were then taken on a very special and unique tour of the site (still deep in renovation mode). Arches and chandeliers are in, but most of the furniture, carpeting, and wall decoration is yet to be placed. We were shown the beautiful rooftop terrace, which will have a bar (one that I’m sure I will visit after opening). The hotel will also have a state-of-the-art spa center and only one elegant restaurant (a strategy for drawing local guests). Again I am very interested to see how this will all come together in the future and will make sure to post once I get the opportunity to visit.
Our group was then taken to Hotel d’Angleterre, a 4-star boutique recently acquired by the Beau Rivage Palace to add a softer more residential option for guests. We were delighted to receive a glass of wine in a cave behind the restaurant, where in 1893 the first class of l’Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne convened (so cool). We then had a wonderful lunch provided by the hotel, bruschetta, charcuterie, mushroom risotto, absolutely delicious.
Our last stop was the shining star of Lausanne, the Beau Rivage Palace. This 5(+) star hotel has been the premier destination of prominent figures from movie stars to international dignitaries throughout the century. You may have recently seen this hotel on the news because it was where US Secretary of State, John Kerry and the Iranian delegation made the Iranian nuclear deal. I had been interested in visiting this hotel even before coming to Lausanne and upon entering, I knew I was in a special hotel. It was absolutely stunning, vaulted ceilings with fresco paintings, enormous windows, light poured into the hotel. The color scheme was a soft pastel teal and violet. I had expected a hotel this old with this much history to be designed with dark wood and ornate decoration, it was anything but, it was light and gracefully decorated (unfortunately none of my pictures did the Palace justice, I will most certainly return with a better camera to give you a feel of how beautiful the hotel is). We had the great pleasure of meeting with the recently appointed General Manager, Nathalie Seiler. She told us of her journey back to Lausanne and how excited she was to take the helm of such an iconic property. Our questions for her were about strategy for running such a beautiful place. She told us that before understanding the guests, she needed to understand the culture of the hotel and to do that she needed to meet her team. She said that for the first few months her goal was to meet everybody in the hotel and ask them questions related to operation and guest satisfaction because her employees would be the best people to teach her about the guests in the hotel. A very smart strategy.
We were then given a very exclusive tour, visiting a room overlooking Lake Geneva, we saw the uber luxury spa, and my personal favorite, the Cellar of the 2-Michelin star restaurant Anne-Sophie Pic. With over 75,000 bottles, this cellar is one of the grandest in Europe. I was literally in heaven.
It was an absolutely fantastic day. Beyond the wonderful opportunity to visit these iconic Lausanne locations, it was the value of meeting face to face with the GM’s, all EHL graduates. Each had a very different role, but all spoke candidly about their experience at EHL (all very positive) and the tasks that lay before them. It showed me that I am now a part of something very special, an alumni network that is strong and influential in the hospitality industry. I couldn’t be happier and couldn’t be more excited for who I might meet in the future. Donner du temps au temps.
