Shownotes
Welcome back to another exciting episode of Hospitality Meets, the podcast where we delve into the inspiring journeys of the industry's most dedicated professionals. Today, I sit down with Guillaume Marly, Managing Director at Hotel Café Royal. Guillaume's remarkable career in hospitality, influenced by early aspirations in the military and an unwavering commitment to excellent service, has led to transformative successes in some of London's most prestigious hotels.
In this episode, Guillaume shares unforgettable experiences, from fulfilling unique guest requests to revamping hotel spaces, and emphasises the rewarding nature of hospitality as a career. With a focus on empathy, leadership, and excellence, Guillaume offers profound insights into creating memorable guest experiences and the relentless pursuit of perfection. He also reflects on his journey, including an unexpected career shift inspired by his mother and the valuable lessons learned from top industry leaders.
Tune in to hear about the thrill of managing luxury hotels, the importance of mental discipline, and the joy of celebrating milestones with a passionate team. Whether you're in the hospitality industry or simply love grand hotel stories, this episode is packed with wisdom and inspiration.
Enjoy!
The Guest
Guillaume is the Managing Director of Hotel Café Royal in London
Instagram - @guillaumemarly
The Sponsor
Today’s episode comes to you in partnership with RotaCloud, the people management platform for shift-based teams.
RotaCloud lets managers create and share rotas, record attendance, and manage annual leave in minutes — all from a single, web-based app.
It makes work simple for your team, too, allowing them to check their rotas, request holiday, and even pick up extra shifts straight from their phones.
Try RotaCloud’s time-saving tools today by heading to https://rotacloud.com/phil
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
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Transcripts
And a huge hospitality meets. Welcome to Guillaume Marley.
Guillaume [:Good afternoon.
Phil [:How are you?
Guillaume [:Very good, thank you so much. Welcome.
Phil [:Thank you. Yes, well, for those who are listening, I have been very kindly welcomed to Cafe Royal, which we will no doubt discuss at some point through the fullness of discussion. But actually, if you could just tell the world what it is that you do here.
Guillaume [:So, Guillaume Marly. Yes. Managing director at Hotel Cafe Royale. I've been here six and a half years, and in that time, a lot of changes, wonderful changes have happened with a wonderful team. But, yes, a lot of good work has been done.
Phil [:Yeah, no doubt, we'll definitely get into that, because I think that evolution is a great message in itself, in any case, for business. And you guys have certainly evolved since it reopened whenever it was. 2013, late 13, early 14 flies, doesn't it? But, yeah, well, I mean, before we get into all of that, there's obviously, there's a bit of a journey to get to becoming an MD. You don't just wake up and arrive at MD. So take us all the way back. How did you get into hospitality in the first place?
Guillaume [:Sure. Well, actually, it wasn't going to be that particular route to start with. I'm french, obviously, but I've been here for over 30 years now, so I've been in England more than I've been in France, all sort of things considered.
Phil [:Do you dream in French or English?
Guillaume [:No, English now.
Phil [:I do, yeah.
Guillaume [:My parents sadly consider me as a very english man, although I'm 100% french and proud to be. But no, I think I'm a very anglicized Frenchmen for that reason. And I love this country. It's been amazing to me in terms of opportunities and relationships, people and so on. So I'm very grateful. But originally I was going to do military. I did the same as Saint Hurst in France, so there's a military school called Saint Cyr, and they prepare young french officers into the french army. So this is between the age of 18 to 22.
Guillaume [:And before that, though, in a. A couple of summers in Paris, I worked at the Maurice and the Crillon as a young bellboy to make some money to buy myself a Vespa and that kind of thing. In Paris. Right.
Phil [:As you do.
Guillaume [:As you do. So I always also liked hotels from a young age, and my parents and my father worked for Chanel for many years and some of the biggest haute couture maison in France, and therefore was lucky enough to be exposed to that luxury five star element, entertaining and so on. So I was always in my blood, too, to some extent. So plan a was the army, plan b was hotels. And in fact, after my two years of military school and my nearly two years in the marines and paratroops for a while, I decided when I was 22 to switch back my career to hotels. You have to sign for ten years, then. So when I've been a captain major, maybe at 32 years old, your life changes then quite dramatically, in the sense that you become a lot more administrative, potentially. And what I love doing as a young man, which is running around, jumping on a plane, commando stuff, whatever it is that is fun when you're that age, kind of disappears a little bit towards when you get older.
Guillaume [:So whilst I enjoyed that army style for four years and really loved it, hotels became my thing. I came to England to study hotel business management. I was at Birmingham College of Food for three years, did my placement in London at Grosvenor House when it was still a full stay hotel. That is Charles, 40, right? Hotel Rocco, 40, joined the last management training program of the 40 years, which, again, I was lucky to do. And then, really, my journey took off from there in hotels. And I've been in England ever since, really enjoying some of the best hotels in London in the last 25 plus years.
Phil [:So was that then? You obviously spent a little bit of time in the army, or whatever the equivalent is. Was there a moment where you thought, actually, do you know what? It's hotels. I want to do that, yeah.
Guillaume [:I mean, hotels was always my mother, actually, and I discussed it. Not so much my father. My father was very keen for me to be in the army. He loved the idea I was the only soldier in my family, which is a big family, so he was very proud of that and so on.
Phil [:But were you a misbehaved child? Is that what it was? Discipline?
Guillaume [:Possibly. Possibly. And I will go back on that in a minute, because being in the army actually taught me a lot of different things, which I can apply to every day here. But my mother was key, actually. Told me when I was younger, I said, look, I can see the army being good for you, but I think hotels is more for you in terms of the social aspect of being with people. And she observed me when I was young in these parties and she felt that it was the right thing for me and she was 100% right. So chatting to her about this whilst I was deciding what I wanted to do when I was 21, 20 years old, really, I think, made me understand that this is the right path for me. And looking back, she was 100% right.
Guillaume [:It was 100% the right decision. I couldn't be happier doing what I do every day, as I said to you earlier, and it's been an amazing journey. But what I will say, though, about my army years is that I credit my leadership abilities, if any, and capabilities with that early start in life where at the young age of 20 years old, you have to command the respect of men and women that have been to war theaters, that have been to traumatic areas of the world, and you have to command respect very quickly. So what it taught me at a very young age, which is unusual for an 819, 20 year old man or woman, by the way, is to lead from the front, lead by example. If you're going to do 20 push ups, I will do 22 push ups. If you're going to run 10 miles, I will run 15 every single day. So there is a physical, mental toughness and resilience that you develop being in the army so young, particularly in commando marines, and where you're put through your real physical and mental basis every day. That I learned I could go to places that most people actually around the world don't even know they can because they're not put through that process and rigorous lifestyle.
Guillaume [:You know, we drop you here and then in seven days you have to be here. No food, no water. See you later, you know?
Phil [:Right.
Guillaume [:And in many ways, some of the management challenges that we have and experience as managers later on in life, in whatever business you work in, by the way, that resilience, you need to have that decision making process, the ability to inspire others and so on. I put down to these early years of my life, actually.
Phil [:Right, I can see that.
Guillaume [:And then you put that in practice this every day and you perfect it, you tone it, you change it, you know, but along the way, you learn with experience. But actually, you walk into a room to command the room, you have to have a certain ability. And it's not for everyone either, by the way.
Phil [:No, no, no.
Guillaume [:So in many ways, it was a perfect start for me. And interestingly, thanks to Marma years, again, I would suggest that to lead and to run a five star hotel or a top company that performs really, really highly, you also need to have that mental discipline and that rigorous approach to excellence in quality every day. And again, the army teaches that very quickly. In Berlin, if you work in the right environments and look, a five star hotel is a bit like a regimente, you know, you have uniforms, you're on time or you're late, your shoes are clean and not clean. The bed is made perfectly or not, that cupboard is tidy or not tidy, whatever. Right. And again, my approach to work every day is similar. So I go into cupboards on the beds and check things because it's either right or wrong.
Guillaume [:And then you correct these things and you lead by example in that way.
Phil [:Somebody once said to me, once you learn attention to detail, you can't unlearn it. You have it, you've got it.
Guillaume [:And in fact, you tend to then work harder towards perfection, which you never achieved, sadly. But that's kind of that journey. And at that level of hotels or restaurants or bars or service, it's actually quite a thrilling aspect of the job, even though you also have to be able to enjoy the present moment and celebrate success as and when it happens. So whilst that pursuit of excellence is never finished or completed, you also have got to appreciate that along the way, you have these milestones you achieve individually with teams, with hotels, restaurant bars, that you have to celebrate and pat the team on the back and that kind of thing.
Phil [:Yeah. Massively important. As we were talking about before we switched the microphone on, the need for positivity is there in the world right now. So absolutely celebrate the success when it comes along as well. There's actually something that just flicked into my head as you were talking about that concept of being dropped somewhere and then being told to be somewhere else in seven days. In many ways, that's also reflective of business. Right. You kind of know your starting point and you know where you're trying to get to, but sometimes you don't necessarily know the path in how to get there.
Phil [:So in actual fact, teaching that skill quite early on, I would imagine, must have had an impact on your ability to navigate stuff that happens.
Guillaume [:You're 100% right. What's really interesting about what you just said that I mentioned earlier is that and you can't do it on your own. So in these situations, you know, it's a group of 510 men and women you dropped in point e and you're going to be there in point b in seven days for pickup. Along that seven days, even though there is one leader in that team, actually, sometimes someone picks it up, you drop the ball, someone pick it up. Right, let's go another 20 miles that way. Hang on, this is not on the map. Bat landmark isn't here. We've made a mistake.
Guillaume [:What do we do? So some panic, some regroup in a team that runs a hotel like this. Whilst I am the managing director, I also rely massively on professionals and experts in their own fields to tell me what needs to be done. Now I can decide ultimately what we do, but I rely tremendously on everyone to do that with me. Because you can't do it on your own. It's that simple. Because, listen, we're all humane. Sometimes you're like, it's been a tough day. Do I want to? No, right, okay.
Guillaume [:Somebody else comes in and says, no, no, no, listen, we need to, let's go back to the, you know, during war and let's just do a plan. And it consistently, it's happened throughout my career. I mean, consistently non stop.
Phil [:But it's probably one of the only things you can guarantee, right, is that you're. Nothing is linear in life in terms of, you know, there's always going to be something that just pops up that you weren't expecting, wasn't in the business plan, anything along those lines.
Guillaume [:What I have realized, though, despite what I've just said, is that as the leader, the MD or whatever, you cannot be the one that panics and that loses control. So always ask for suggestions, opinions, always ask for whatever they. Whatever you think they can bring to the party, but never be the one as the leader that loses its head, because then the trouble really starts for the team and therefore for the company and everything else.
Phil [:Yeah, absolutely.
Guillaume [:So it's okay to be, you know, to have a wobble and to be, you know, but you can't be weak in that respect. You have to be the one that they come to for a shoulder to cry on or something to vent about or to be frustrated and you can say, listen, whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down. Let's just work this out together. This is what we're going to do and let's implement. Can't be the one that crumbles.
Phil [:Yeah, well, the only thing you can really control in a situation like that is how you react. Right. And how you respond to the stuff that's happening. Ted Swalley has been on the shore from Fox Hills. He had a wonderful lane, which is just easily summarized by when you step up into a. A leadership position whereby you are leading leaders and maybe you've got this sort of question mark in your head whether you're ready for that and all that kind of thing, which maybe comes to everybody as they make that step up. It's just his advice was, own your shit, so just own your decisions, own it. And as you said, you've got to have the courage of your conviction around it as well.
Guillaume [:And if you're wrong, you're wrong. It's that simple. People will respect you a lot more if they see it's not about being fragile or weak, it's about being honest and transparent. I was wrong. Wrong decision. Let's go back to your plan, maybe what's the better solution? And let's explore it. Simple as that. And people will have a lot of respect for leaders that actually have a very transparent and honest view of everything that is done or should be done or whatever.
Guillaume [:Absolutely.
Phil [:Yeah. I couldn't agree more. This is fast turning into a leadership podcast, but we should go back to your story, although I could probably talk to you about this all day, to be honest. I love it. Picking the brains of people who have, who are at the helm of a world class hotel in the centre of London. It's not often you get a chance to find out what goes on behind the eyes and people like you. So I'm very, very grateful for you sharing that. But back to your story.
Phil [:So we're still at the beginning really of your journey.
Guillaume [:Yeah, so came to England, studied, did my placement at Grosvenor House Forte Hotel, and then my journey really started there, where from then on I went to actually the cafe Royale when it was a Meridian property. After the 40 years it was the old Cafe Royale, which was, as you probably remember it, this very grand place where you had a mixture of nightclubs, bars, restaurants and huge banqueting rooms. We did do events of about 2000 people over three, over six floors. China White nightclub used to be here.
Phil [:Yeah.
Guillaume [:God, gee.
Phil [:Yes.
Guillaume [:That might remind you of the nights that you've had when you were younger. Oh, yeah, indeed. Cheers. In a corner, which is now cakes and bubbles. So that was that sort of american joint from the tv show, if you remember, and Cafe Daniels, I mean. Yeah, it was the years of the cafe Royale at its grandeur kind of thing, you know. Then from then on, the director of the place, and I was number two here, went to Dorchester. So I followed him there and was there for three years doing both events and eventually FB managementhe great again, great schooling at Dorchester with Doi Jenkins in Fanning beverage, who is one of the people that I learned from a lot of different things in my younger years.
Guillaume [:She's in her GM at Carwith park, of course, at Dorsta Connection.
Phil [:That's one of life's characters.
Guillaume [:There's a bunch of kids like me that went through the Zoe schooling and we're all in different places now, but fully remember the years of working with Zoe. Great gym and great leader in many.
Phil [:Ways, one of a kind.
Guillaume [:Yeah. Absolutely right. Then from then on, went to the milestone recarnation. I was manager for a while and really liked it, actually, but was poached by Jumeirah. So I wasn't really looking for Java search when I was at the milestone in recognition with Jonathan Raggett and so on. Again, great people and great team and great owners. But Jumera approached me to be the doctor FMB at the Carlton Tower, which I felt gave me a reach into a more international, bigger corporation at the time. So joined there, was there for two and a half years with Derek Pico as a GM there.
Phil [:Because you're dropping some names here.
Guillaume [:Yes, great. Two and a half years. And again, you know, you take from different leaders, different qualities, and sometimes the things you would do are the things you wouldn't do. Right. But Derek was very, very strong in p and l and finance, and I learned a lot in that respect. So operationally, I learned a lot from Zoe, standards and quality from Derek. I learned a lot about more about the aspects of p and L and understanding the contribution of division departments into, of course, GOP and profitability and what it means. And 1% is always important.
Guillaume [:However, one p average spends whatever. So that was an interesting schooling with him. And after that I worked with one of my great mentors, Philippe Lebeouf, who was GM at Claridges. Again, you have to have luck in your life, and I think I've had a tremendous amount of it. People say, yeah, you generate your own luck. I'm not sure you have to be at the right place at the right time. And that's kind of where I was encouraged. Philippe took me on.
Guillaume [:He didn't have a hotel manager at the time, which meant, inevitably, because I wanted to always be a GM and an MD of a five star hotel. I kind of propelled myself into that role, even though I was director FNB. He kind of let me take on a lot of responsibilities beyond that, and a good leader lets keen people do that. Well, and Philippe is tremendous in that respect. Now, of course, MD at Raffles, as you know, and, yeah, gave me a lot of freedom to do a lot of different things for the hotel beyond f and B. And that was a great schooling grad, learning again more about how to be a great host, how to be the person that welcomes you into your house, as opposed to a professional welcoming a guest. It was also about, really, that he said it himself. You know, that aubergiste, you know, running an inn rather than a five star hotel, right? You know, that person that has two or three hats.
Guillaume [:He's always gonna be there to say, how are you? Welcome back. Welcome. All that kind of thing. Genius in that respect.
Phil [:Yeah. Do you think that is. I don't want to say a dying art.
Guillaume [:No, it's a lost art, not dying. Some of us still love doing it, and I'm very proud and conscious of it. So it's not dying. I think it's more maybe forgotten about or lost. But it comes back inevitably, with the young leaders that I now work with now in my team. I'm very conscious to ensure that they learn that, first and foremost, you hear, for the guests, everything else is a waste of time. So if you can't do that, first do something else. If you think you can do something else, then do it, because this is really at the heart of what we should do.
Guillaume [:Every single day, every decision we make, every penny you spend, every. Whatever you do, has to be to make the guest happy, which means, therefore, they become your ambassador. They return, they talk about you, da da da da da, and so on. So it's a very simple concept that has been sometimes forgotten about.
Phil [:Do you think that's been forgotten about? Because, I mean, let's be frank. The hospitality scene in London, as we sit at this point in time, has exploded in the last 1015 years. But with that, then comes the desire for people who are not necessarily coming from hospitality backgrounds, but see it as an opportunity to, I don't know, make some money or whatever, are not coming at it with the same angle or coming at it with the money making.
Guillaume [:Element, possibly, but without the client or the guest, there is no money making. So if there is a doubt in anybody's mind that it should be the concept originally, then just look at that that way. Who is paying the bill, who is paying the wages of my staff, who is paying the food I'm buying every day for the restaurant and the bars, the guest. So if there was a doubt in everybody's mind, then rethink it now. How, as leaders, we then deliver a sounder, GOP and EBITda to the owners is our responsibility. Right. How we deliver that back to the ownership is very important, of course. So we can't be just great hosts and not run a business properly.
Guillaume [:That's what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that I've been doing wrong. What I'm saying is this, is that. Listen, scrutinize your p and l line by line. Ask the right questions, talk to the right people. But essentially, if you could not please the guests, by having a motivated team that wants to do the same as you, David, which is excellence and so on, you will not have a sound financial model. Simple as that. So, like I said, if in doubt, always go back to that principle.
Guillaume [:And that's why every single day when I look at the DM log in the hotel, I talk to the time 09:00 and 05:00 p.m. meetings I have with my teams here. Before you make a decision towards that guest, put yourself in the guest shoe festival and ask yourself, what is the right thing for that guest to be done? And inevitably, you can do the right thing by thinking that way. Sometimes a lot of hotels, ateliers, MDs, GM's, whatever, will look at a judgmental approach to the guest and say, well, he did this and she did that, and she said this, that. Well, yeah, but there might be a reason why she or he said that and did that. But more importantly, we have an upset guest here, so why are they upset? You know, and then were we judgmental? And it's all about the DM. I don't want to go into too much detail because, you know, I don't want to bore you with it, but what I'm saying is that when I, when I started here, the DM log was like, you know, oh, this case was very difficult. Well, that, that tone already is the wrong language.
Guillaume [:Maybe it was particular, but difficult. He wasn't. He just didn't get what he wanted. So ask yourself why he didn't, as opposed to judging and saying that he was difficult.
Phil [:Yeah.
Guillaume [:And I think what I do in my hotels is exactly that philosophy, which is, don't be judgmental. Everyone is here to pay a very expensive rate meal, drink. So consider that before you do anything else. And our strength in reputation and our growth reputation. In the last six and a half years I've been here, our reputation on social media comes essentially from that philosophy. And I'm a strong believer in it, and I will never change it, because, again, I put who pays our livelihood at the center of everything that we do and say. And look, Tripadvisor. When I started, over 60 plus, now with number seven, and I've been for, in first ten for the last five years, all the outlets and departments and restaurants are in the top ten in the categories.
Guillaume [:Six years ago, guests would say, oh, it was beautiful hotel, great bathrooms, wonderful furniture, great lobby. Now all the reviews are about how wonderful Phil was that reception, how amazing guillaume was in the bar, how friendly the housekeeper was. Oh, and by the way, bathrooms are amazing, location is great, and the hotel is superb.
Phil [:Right? Yeah.
Guillaume [:That story only tells you the work we've done in that aspect. And for me, it's essential. And whoever has forgotten it, not, you know, dying as such, then needs to go back to that in a big way.
Phil [:That's about, I suppose, setting a really, really solid foundation. And I totally get it. I totally get it because even just from the perspective of, with my consumer hat on, when I'm a guest, you know, what are the things that I remember? Yeah, of course, if you're in beautiful surroundings, you're going to remember that. But it's actually, you know, it's that old cliche around, it's how people make you feel. And of course, it doesn't matter how good you are, there's always going to be something that can go wrong. Maybe the power goes out, maybe you lose water pressure, the things that you can't really plan for. But it's against what we talked about earlier on. It's about how you react to that.
Guillaume [:And also how, in terms of, don't be defensive, don't justify things, be honest and transparent. We're a power cut. We'll make it right. Don't worry. We will get it right for you. How gracious, kind, courteous, how much empathy you have, how much do you want to listen to that guest? And their frustration is what will dictate at the end of the day how successful you are and my staff here. Or I'll give you one example, which is probably the best example I can give you. I recruit every member of South Africa, works in a hotel religiously.
Guillaume [:Why? For two reasons. First reason is that by the time they get to my office or meet me, they've gone through HR, HRD and leader, manager. Right. So they've met three people. If they're in my office and they're the wrong person, these three people are having trouble because they're like, why am I seeing the wrong people? So that allows me so to judge how good we are recruiting and how good we are at that sort of gut feeling of getting the right person beyond technical skills and some which we can teach. But all I do also is actually understand who that person is. I don't ask them how long they worked in, so I'm going to ask them, you know, so where are you from? Do you have a cat? Do you have a dog? Sisters, brothers, friends, whatever it is, understand who they are. Because when I see them in corridors a month later, that's what I'll talk about.
Guillaume [:Yeah, you know what I mean? How's the cat as the cat? And the connection then, is real. These are real people that we're dealing with, and we can teach them how to pour wine, how to make a bed all day. That's easy. What we can't teach them is to be someone that's going to talk to a guest in a corridor about that very freely and have the curiosity, the kindness to understand the guest well. And it also means, I know everybody by name. So 350 staff, I know them by name. So, again, we are humans looking after humans, and it starts with that concept. And, look, so far it's worked really well for me and for my hotels and my teams, so I'm not going to change it.
Guillaume [:And I think, essentially, it's at the heart, as I said earlier, of what we do, what we should do every single day, and whoever has lost that or that dying art you mentioned earlier isn't doing it, then they should start again.
Phil [:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's the. Excuse me. That's the same principle, I suppose. I've spoken about this on the show numerous times with a great deal many people around. The fact that actually, when you. When all said and done, actually what we do is quite simple in its concept, but you break it down into basically just doing authenticity well and doing the things that sing to you well and the things that are important to you well. And then when that happens, all of the other stuff that you need to be successful comes as part of what you're doing at the beginning.
Phil [:And that's basically, I suppose, what you're saying speaks to that in terms of, you know, you're putting the guest at the heart and soul as to your reason for being here. And the reason for that is because they're the ones that without them, there is no business, ultimately. So you look after them and then everything else will come as part of that process. But I suppose then the nuances is around getting that foundation set right and your message comes down through the team so that they are able to then deliver that.
Guillaume [:But falling onto what I just said. Then once they recruited, then they come in induction here. Always come to the first of induction to welcome them back, because I've met them at the interview a month, two months, whatever before, and I tell them these exact words. I say to them, look, welcome. You could have chosen 50 hotels to work in London and delighted you just to work here. And thank you for joining us. It's very important for me that you're here because you're all great people, right? So to speak, etcetera. And then I say, look, we're going to teach you over the next two days a lot of different things about health and safety and culture and.
Guillaume [:But I want you to remember one thing, if anything, is that your sole purpose of being here in this hotel. I don't know about the other 15, is to make your guests and your colleagues happy. If everything you say, rather text WhatsApp email about, contributes to this picture, we will win every single day. If you can't do that, you can't work here. It's very simple. So, warm welcome. Enjoy your journey with us. Focus on that every single day.
Guillaume [:When you think, why am I here? Tell yourself you're here to make the guests and your colleagues happy, if in doubt. And we've gone a long way by doing this religiously and well.
Phil [:Brilliant. Yeah, yeah. Super. Anyway, back to your story.
Guillaume [:Sorry about that.
Phil [:No, this is what I love. This is the richness of everybody's journey is different. Everybody learns something groundbreaking with every journey that we speak to.
Guillaume [:So I'm that clever and very unselfishly. Philippe Lebeuf, my GM at the time, tells me, listen, Guillaume, there is a hotel manager role at the connaught that's opened up, and I think you should go for it. Again, great leaders allow their people to pursue opportunities as and when they happen. And again, I do the same thing with my guys. Very important. So went to the konotamanaja. I was there for just under two years. Again, amazing property, and essentially my first number one role because there wasn't a GM there for about 1011 months when I was there.
Guillaume [:So I was left with the CEO, Stephen Holden, another great mentor, and the owner, of course, Betty McKinley at the time, to run the hotel. And that was an amazing experience in every respect. Beautiful property, great location, amazing bars, great restaurants, amazing guests, super dedicated team. I mean, it was real special.
Phil [:Feel that moment when, you know, I suppose it's one thing to be the hotel manager, next thing to effectively be steering the ship.
Guillaume [:Yeah, well, I mean, I welcomed it with open arms, of course. I mean, it was what I was doing about, you know, and my plan was to be GM over top of town by the age of 40, you know, so I was 38 at the time, whatever it was. Not that, by the way you're thinking at the time, oh, I've achieved what I want to achieve now. I think it's later on in life when you look back, because, you know, in a very unpretentious way, I've not been doing what I wanted to do, but for more than 1015 years, not realizing that I'm doing it, do you know what I mean? So you have a dream, a goal, you achieve that goal without really taking stock of it, you carry on doing it and then you say, actually no. And now when I hear younger guys, but you know, Mister Mali, you know, I worked for you ten years ago there, and you helped me do this and you help me do that, and I'm like, oh my gosh, these are the way I looked at my mentors and leaders previously. So it's a lovely thing to realize, first of all, without understanding and knowing at the time kind of thing anyhow. So yeah, the call was very special because of my first number one proper role, I would suggest, and look, I've been very lucky because I don't think I've ever looked for a job, I've always been called for this job. So again, luck circumstances, right place, right time, whatever.
Guillaume [:The chairman of the Ritz at the time contacted me to then become the hotel manager at the Ritz as well after the collot, and look as autelier to be the person that's going to be working in a hotel that Cesar Ritz opened in 1906 and be the 7th or 8th person to run it was one of these. Pinch yourself.
Phil [:Yeah, when you put it like that, I mean, I'd never even really contemplated.
Guillaume [:That, and that's what I didn't realize it either until I went there. So that was a real special moment. I was there for three years working for the Barclays at the time, the owners, and very different, you know, you walk around the Ritz and everything is beautiful and ritzy and glitzy and that kind of stuff, and it's, of course, I knew it well, and the Paris Ritz is similar too, so there's nothing new to me in terms of walking around, but the fact that, you know, you have to be humble, so to realize that sometimes you're really lucky. So I felt very privileged and lucky to be where I was. So that was the rates. And then when I was running the collot, actually I also met Andre Balaz, who of course is the owner of Chutten firehouse, and when I was at the Collot, he used to stay there whilst working on the project that then became the Chilton fire house. So there was his house in London until he opened the hotel, is that right?
Phil [:I didn't know that.
Guillaume [:Yeah, he lived there. Yeah, he lived there until Chilton opened.
Phil [:Not a bad house.
Guillaume [:And I was, of course, his host, right? So I met him a lot, and he saw how I managed the hotel. I was very present in the operation all the time. Still to this day, actually, and therefore, unbeknownst to me, had me contacted probably six months before the opening of children to have a coffee with him next door to the Ritz, the restaurant at Worsley. That coffee became a lunch, which tended to be a dinner, because we spent hours talking to each other. I mean, Andre is by far, and I mean by far the most creative, positively crazy character I've ever encountered in my entire life. Genius. So Andre never taught me how to run a hotel because, without sounding arrogant about it, because it's not the idea, but I know how to rent a hotel. Well, what Andre did is actually introduced me to the world of feeling, design, mood setting, lighting, music.
Guillaume [:I'll sum it up in a couple of sentences. Andre said, you know, guillaume, you recruit for hotels, don't you? I'm like, yeah, of course. We all do. He goes, no, no, but I cast. I'm like, okay, that's interesting. Then he goes, you know, in your hotel, you have uniforms, don't you? He said, yeah, I have costumes in my hotels. And I was like, that very subtle change in positioning and wording, however corny this may sound, was actually quite revealing in how he sees things. Different lengths different, you know? And so what I learned at Chilton firehouse whilst opening it, which was insane, by the way, but an amazing project.
Guillaume [:I don't think I slept more than 4 hours per night for about 18 months for all the right reasons. It was that busy and crazy, right?
Phil [:I was going to say. And probably you were quite passionate about.
Guillaume [:And it's intoxicating, you know, it was just gonna leave because it was, you know. Is it? Yeah, it was crazy. But yeah, Andre was an absolute genius when it came to lighting and music settings and the moods, and Chiltern firehouse is the only place in the world tooth is there for me where I can walk in at any time of the day. Say it's 09:00 p.m. for a drink in the bar. I will meet Phil straight for a chat like this. We'll have a couple of drinks and tequila, whatever it is, and then talk, talk. You look at your watch next time and it's 06:00 a.m.
Guillaume [:and you think, oh, my God, what happened? Right? It's the only place in the world that, for me, has that ability to transport you, to make you forget who you are, why you're here by meeting different people, different generations, doing different things and so on, because of the mood that he created with the right music, the fireplaces, the genius. And that took me another layer of being a good atelier or a good host or whatever it is, you know, which I didn't know. I was very classic Ottilie before working for Ritz, Cournot, parridges, Dorchester, blah, blah, blah.
Phil [:Great grounding, as you discussed.
Guillaume [:No, amazing running as autelier, the best, delighted and privileged and happy. But that extra layer of understanding how to create something, not just run. It was very special, actually.
Phil [:Yeah, I can see that.
Guillaume [:Yeah. So now I don't see myself as designer. I'm not a designer, but I know instantly when I walk somewhere into a restaurant or bar, whatever, whether it's too bright or the wrong cushions or for me or whatever, and I want to stay here or not stay here. If I don't stay here, something's wrong, right? Essentially. So that was interesting. And that also gave me a bit of an insight into the lifestyle luxury rather than just a pure, classic luxury. I was at Chilton firehouse, and then the Melia company was looking for a GM for London, as well as someone that could help overseeing the brand, opening other hotels for the Mi brand around the world. Initially, I wasn't quite sure because I didn't know it very well at the time.
Guillaume [:I should have, but I didn't. I went to visit the hotel and Norman Foster designed beautiful atrium. And actually I fell in love with the product, even though it was not really something that I would have considered otherwise if I'd not seen it, if you know what I mean, on paper.
Phil [:And very different, again, from anywhere else that you've worked from a design perspective.
Guillaume [:But I like the lifestyle element. I like design. The rooftop was fun, the bar, radio bar there. The HDK restaurant is a bit crazy again, but what it needed at the time is reputation growth. How do you change the perception from the outside world as being a busy but kind of low rated hotel, if you like, so to speak, elevate the experience to make it more of a refined, sophisticated place to work at. So that's what's interesting to me. And I was there for just under three years and we did a lot of good work in that respect and how we positioned the hotel and who should stay and shouldn't stay and that kind of stuff, and who we're trying to attract. So that was, again, another different aspect of learning for me and implementing skill.
Phil [:Into the already quite well stocked skill set.
Guillaume [:Yeah, but you know, I love learning. And I think, again, you know, as a leader, learning from other people, other companies, other whatever else, you know, you have to be curious and you have to want to study and observe and be honest about what that means. That is, they're better than us. What are they doing that's better than us? Let's not think they're better than us, you know? Oh, no, I want to be better than them. So let's go and explore and understand, right? And then bring it back kind of thing, or change it, whatever.
Phil [:Yeah.
Guillaume [:So I think to be a good leader, you also need to have that curiosity and that wanting to learn, always understanding. As I said earlier, that pursuit for excellence is never over. So what else can we do to change the business, to increase the standard, to improve the quality? You can celebrate, but never rest, right? That sort of element of what we do. So there for three years, and then again, Stephen Olden, who was the CEO at the time of the set hotels, who was my boss, of course, at Maebourne, I was going to say, here we are again, many years ago, told me, listen, Guillaume, we're looking for an md here at Cafe Royale, and I want to talk to you about it. Frankly, I'm like, okay, well, scratch me. I'm flattered, of course. And let's have a cup of coffee and tea. Again, my perception from the cafe was different.
Guillaume [:I came in, I had a look at it, of course, great hotel, amazing history. I knew the building very well from before, of course, and I'd been since the opening and everything else, but I felt he was a bit confused and didn't quite know what he was doing since the opening. So I told him my thoughts very transparently, and he said, well, exactly. So we need someone like you to come in and sort it, right? I said, okay, I'll think about it. And it took me about half an hour to think about it, because that's what I needed. Because, again, the potential of the property, the location of the hotel, what he. And then, therefore we had in mind was great. So new lobby was done in 2018.
Guillaume [:When I started 2017, I started, but 2018 was, look, a lot of parts were wrong. So the design in the rooms and suites were wrong, lacked warmth. So we tackled that very quickly by adding things in there that made them a lot more livable, as opposed to stay able. So you want to live there, but then stay there. Two different things. Again, how you kind of position that. The lobby was very small at the time, and we told the owners, listen, we need a grand sense of arrival. If we want to compete against the big boys and the big girls of London, then we need to give ourselves the tools and the chances to do so.
Guillaume [:And right now, if you arrive at carmages, it's a wonderful lobby, a legendary lobby. Like, everybody knows Tarji's lobby, right? Nobody knows yours and ours. Why? Because it's non eventful. So we need to change that. So now it's a beautiful lobby, a grand entrance on air street. Driver comes through, all that kind of stuff, right? So we tackle the rooms and design. We tackle the lobby, which is very important. And then a lot of different spaces did a lot of different things.
Guillaume [:So we had also members club on the first floor, which didn't work really well. So I said, let's just close that and do something else with it. We closed it and made it sort of more ordinary restaurant, breakfast, lunch and dinner. So sort of big lounge area of the hotel, which is always going to have somebody in because people are having a cup of tea and breakfast and whatever as a meeting. The grill room at the time used to be an afternoon tea bar, late night venue. So, again, from the outside, you're not quite sure why would you come here? So I said, listen, let's just be clear. Let's make it the Pam court, if you like, or the foyer, if you like, of clarity, of the Reds, where we serve grand, beautiful british afternoon tea. We know this very well from ideas of hotels.
Guillaume [:And now we have a wonderful, successful, money making afternoon tea in there. It's a beautiful room, by the way. I mean, the grille 1865 is original. It's been there forever. And it's. We'd love to go on the way down. It's stunning. I mean, it's like, wow.
Guillaume [:Unbelievable. There's a pianist in there. So, again, had all the ingredients to make that work. We've now been in afternoon tea for the last six years, and it's doing really, really well. The cafe that is on the street there, on Regent street, which is really the window of the hotel. So when you walk on Regent street and you see now what is called cakes and bubbles, it used to be a cafe called. I can remember them, I think, Papillon.
Phil [:That's right.
Guillaume [:But, again, didn't deliver. We need to deliver.
Phil [:So it's actually a good point you make, actually, just from a real simplistic perspective, unless, you know, this is here, you don't know it's here.
Guillaume [:Correct.
Phil [:So, you know, and I'd imagine the discretion is actually a really wonderful point of the place. But equally as you say, you want people to kind of be peering and.
Guillaume [:Going, oh, yeah, what's going on? Should we walk in there? Exactly right, absolutely. So casting marbles now. We brought Albert Adria, who had done a pop up restaurant the summer before. He's a great friend of ours.
Phil [:I don't think anybody's really heard of him again.
Guillaume [:So to compete against big boys and big girls, so to speak, we needed to bring world class chefs. Started with Albert, Andrea, 2018, Kex and babos, and successful, doing really well. We have one world class chef working with us. Covid then happened so 2020, so that was different. And then after Covid, I wanted to also bring a real Michelin star chef to the hotel, which, of course, you know, well, Alex didn't. Alex was looking for a restaurant to open on his own. After the greenhouse where he came to Michelin star before Ellen, that was, as you know, and everything else. I mean, great guy, great team.
Guillaume [:Pierre as well. He's HF, really, really good people that are absolute freaks about amazing food, which is. I am too. So marriage made in heaven, positive freaks.
Phil [:Yes, indeed.
Guillaume [:Absolutely.
Phil [:I know.
Guillaume [:Alex, I have something to add. And therefore showed him the place, his kitchen, his restaurant, and I mean, wonderful. We gained two Michelin star eight months after the opening. And look, it's a superb addition to what we needed for the hotel. And again, when you look from the outside, if you're going to stay in London as a wealthy french, american, english man and wife or whatever it is you want, and you've got a choice of 15 top hotels, where do you go? So you go where there is, of course, great restaurants and bars. It's tick. Great spa. We have an amazing spa here, 80 meters pool underground.
Guillaume [:I mean, it's a stunning venue. So tick, great service and quality. Tick. And a sense of arrival and everything else. So suddenly all the components and the parts have become right to then compete against the best. So after six and a half years, we've been in a position now where we do knock on the open doors and compete against the best. There's still somewhere to go. As I said, the work is never finished, of course, but our progress in reputation, quality and excellence, growth financially has been tremendous and the team has done an amazing job in the last six and a half years.
Guillaume [:I've been here really with some good people. Stability too was important. And the fourth mt here in eleven years and I've been here six and a half. So again, it doesn't matter why and how, but a team needs to have a leader in position that can organize, stabilize, listen, change, move things around that they understand. And clarity. I find transparency is key for people to stay where they want to stay, because when it's confusion and moving parts of the time, then it's refresh rate. When there is clarity and vision, which is the one I described earlier. Why are we here? How are we going to do it then? People enjoy that, knowing to your point, that life is never perfect.
Guillaume [:There's a hurdle here which someone will stumble. Will you pick them up? Come on, let's go. Let's run again. And that element has been our success really, in the last few years.
Phil [:Yeah, I think the stability point is probably under discussed, really, in general terms, I always look at. I'm a sports fan and massive football and Liverpool fan.
Guillaume [:Oh, dear. Yeah, nobody's perfect.
Phil [:It's okay.
Guillaume [:What should you think about?
Phil [:Oh, it's gotta be Arsenal, isn't it? You guys are on fire at the moment.
Guillaume [:The french team played with them, you know.
Phil [:Yeah, that's right. But I always look to Klopp for leadership inspiration. And I think a lot of what he's done, beyond all of the sort of extracurricular things that are very clop ish, if that's a term, is stability, you know? And actually this is what I think football clubs don't do particularly well these days, is that they're jerking. Yeah. The minute there's a problem, let's just get rid of the manager. And that's what I feel in some ways, coming back to hospitality is that the MDs and the GM's of hotels are effectively like football managers, and that's what owners generally do. If things are not quite working, let's just change the manager. But sometimes that can have the exact opposite effect as to what you actually really need.
Guillaume [:I agree. I also think sometimes staying somewhere too long can also be adverse in every case. But at that level, five years plus is what you need to generate, and again, in broad terms, a real culture change and achieve the results from that. You can't just turn around the ship like this in six months. It's impossible. So, yeah, to your point, similar to football clubs, whatever else, I agree.
Phil [:Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned earlier on. I'll just touch upon this very, very quickly, but you set the goal to be a GM before you're 40, as it were. Was that a goal that you had in your head the minute that you decided that hospitality was for you? Or was that something that came to you as you started progressing?
Guillaume [:Yeah, a bit later on, I think I started late actually, because the army in some ways delayed my start in that career, but it also, I guess, accelerated my leadership abilities later on in life. So, you know, it doesn't matter. So I started to properly work when I was 25, 26 years old, which in this business is quite late, even though I did placements and stash and whatever else before that, I grew quite quickly through the ranks for, I hope, the right reasons. So by the age of 30, I was a director at sort of level kind of thing in companies. But I always knew that I wanted to be to run a five star hotel that I knew from day one, then afterwards, maybe five years later. So, 32, 33, I was director of marriage somewhere. I'm thinking, well, it's realistic for me now to assume or pursue the idea that if I'm 32 now, dial to f and b, I'm going to do maybe this one more time. 35, 35 to 38, I'll be at a manager number two, direct operations, and then Gen X 40.
Guillaume [:So it was more about if it'd been 42, I'd been fine, by the way, do you know what I mean?
Phil [:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guillaume [:It was more. This allowed me to shift the gears a little bit, but also to make the right decisions, knowing that I would happy to delay that if it was for the right hotel. I've always inspired by special properties, sometimes above the position that I was going for or whatever else. I have to really be in love with a project to fully embrace it. And all the ones I've been lucky to manage or work in or at in my career have always been projects of passion and love, first and foremost. Why? Because I realized for my personality that this love drives my energy tenfold. So being the MD of a Ydezenhe, I hate the word lesser, different hotel does not inspire me. Being the CEO of a lesser property or group does not inspire me.
Guillaume [:In fact, if there was one of your questions, are you, what's next for you? I've been approached in the past to run groups and so on. I don't think that's what I'm made for. Right. I think made or I've made myself made to run hotels. Why? Because I love people. I love teams. I love corridors. I love back of house.
Guillaume [:I love the smell of coffee and croissants in the morning in a bakery at 07:00 a.m. i like greeting a guest at 10:00 p.m. when they arrive late because they don't expect me to be here too much. And I realize that what I love doing is what needs to drive me as opposed to an ambitious desire to be the CEO of Mayborn or whatever.
Phil [:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think that in itself is a really powerful message because I think maybe self awareness is a wonderful byproduct of life experience, that you're able to look at yourself and know what you really, really love and what drives you because you've worked in a lot of, I mean you've name dropped some amazing places that you've worked through and worked for great people as well who would have all imparted something onto you in that time. But actually when all said and done and this is something that's come to me as I, I wouldn't say I'm still a young man, but as I'm getting older is that actually the things that make me happy are the things that give me the energy to do something really, really well. And so to kind of understand that, yeah, you know, one, not everybody can become a CEO in any case, but to understand what really, really drives you I think is just a wonderful message. I always remember having a chat with the great Harry Murray on this very show and hime knowing that he only ever really wanted to be a general manager. He had no aspirations to become an ops director, a multi property. Because the thing that really drove him was the guest interaction was working with the team on making something better and all of that. And I really loved that and it's something that has stuck with me because I think a lot is made of make progress, reach for the top.
Phil [:Reach for the top. But actually it's not about that. It's about finding your happy place whilst I, I suppose finding your real ceiling.
Guillaume [:Yeah. And you can still do this in different ways, but I'm older, I'm 53, so I have maybe the luxury of also understanding. Yeah, I think my levels of self awareness were always quite strong actually from a young age and therefore once I decided, I think this is the path I wanted to do, doesn't mean the plans can't change though. And I think along your life as you know very well what you wanted to do 20 years ago maybe different to what you're doing today, but I think at my age now, I realize in a very exciting, happy way that this is what I love doing. So do I want to jeopardize that and compromise it? I could and try things out to do something else, but I'm going to miss what I do so much doing so potentially that it prevents me from looking at these things differently. For now anyway.
Phil [:Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned sense of arrival. This is something that I think, again, maybe it is spoken about widely, but it's again something that came to me late. And I only realized that once upon a time when I went on holiday to a place in Greece randomly. And the sense of arrival in this place was an atrium that looked straight out to sea glass, both sides. And you just arrived and went, wow. And I hadn't really contemplated the importance of that, setting the tone really as a, for somebody who comes and you're probably paying good money to stay in a place like this, but actually the importance of setting the tone really, on your guest's day.
Guillaume [:Yeah. And look, we always tell people, you know, yeah, the doorman, you know, you're the first. And people see, you know, of course it's very important and it is crucially important to be welcomed by a friendly face. Adidas knows your name, et cetera, of course. But this is the entre balance piece, you know, that's of children, firehouse. All the things you can add to contribute, improve that feeling have to be considered when you build a hotel. So beyond having a great dob and welcoming you to the hotel, welcoming you back, what do you enter into and what does that look and feel like and smell like, for that matter? You know, what's the next corridor? So that journey is very important. And actually there's a hotel in Crete I go to, which is the same.
Guillaume [:You drive up the hill, it's called akho suite. Akro in Greek means on the edge of. And the hotel is adults only spa. I go once a year just to shut down and literally resort, you know, upgrade if you like. And then you just walk into and look at the sea and the rocks and instantly the troubles and the world, if any, leave you and disappear.
Phil [:It's remarkable, isn't it? Yeah.
Guillaume [:So a lot of things contribute to that feeling. Lighting, music, people, uniforms, costumes, whatever, you know, all that kind of thing. And the more things you can add to this experience, the sensor experience of a stay or an arrival in hotel like ours is very, very important. And sometimes people look at it. You owe me stuff. No, no, listen, do not underestimate the impact of all these things you add together to create an experience. Knowing, though, that at the end of the day, the human one is the most important without, in my, in my view, without a shadow of a doubt, all the others contribute because, you know, look, when you arrived in Crete in Greece, that would have been an amazing experience, arrival. But then if everything else after that isn't great, it did yes.
Phil [:Pointless.
Guillaume [:It defeats the point, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's an addition of all these things that is important, but the human element is the most, and it's an obvious thing to say is the most important consistently.
Phil [:I think that that speaks to that concept of, you know, you can forgive an awful lot that's gone wrong. If I, you feel like you've been heard and, you know, people have made you feel special in that time where everything else has gone wrong around it, then that's you. You will still remember it as a positive experience.
Guillaume [:Yeah. And as you said earlier, you know, the light bulb might go off. We changed it yesterday. It went off today. Okay. So we're not neglecting the product. It just happened. But we'll change it within a second, and we'll make it right.
Guillaume [:You know, and how gracious, quick receptive you are to this is very important. People will remember that eyeball, but they remember we changed it quickly enough and who they spoke to that resolved the issue and nicely and so on. So. No, but, yeah, no, no. The Chilton was that element of adding all these pieces together. I mean, I remember, I don't, again, bore you to know, but they were in restaurant 25 light settings.
Phil [:Really?
Guillaume [:25 from 05:00 p.m. to whatever time in the morning, Andre would come in and say, hume, is it on 17 or 18 right now? I'd be like, listen, I have no idea. I'm hoping it's 18, but frankly, I have no idea. But the guy knew just right. It needs to be notched up a notch down. Music is a bit too loud. People can hear themselves talking, which is okay, but really, they should speak loud enough because it's loud enough for them to hear themselves by making the effort to. So the restaurant feels like a busy place.
Guillaume [:And it was, by the way, just these things that were so subtle, but genius. And that place, you know, I go twice a month still to this day, is rocking every night.
Phil [:Yeah.
Guillaume [:On a Sunday to Saturday shows you.
Phil [:When you get it right, that people will come.
Guillaume [:But, yeah. No, no. So this was a real, this is Andre. We delivered the operational aspect of it, but Andre was the real mind behind it.
Phil [:Yeah, yeah. Brilliant question. I like to ask everyone who comes on the show. I mean, you've worked in some quite remarkable places. There's bound to be some stories from your time. I know a lot of them you won't be able to share because of the written rule of discretion. But are there any stories from your time so far that you can share?
Guillaume [:Yes, I won't tell you where and when. But listen, there are some amazing stories, both in terms of staff doing the beyond amazing service wise and so on. But I think more about requests. I remember one guest who was from a prominent royal family of a country which will remain nameless.
Phil [:Very good. Nicely done.
Guillaume [:And his daughter was watching.
Phil [:Well, you've narrowed it down already.
Guillaume [:Good luck. An animal program on Saturday morning on BBC one, I'm guessing at the time. And he came down to the concierge desk and said to the concierge, listen, I want to buy two monkeys for my daughter because she saw them on tv. We have a zoo back home and she wants to have these in her zoo. So the concierge called me and said, mister Mallard, I've got a bit of a request, would you mind coming down? And took him to the guest? So went down, met the guest, of course, who I knew, and he mentioned again his desire to disbelief of the concierge. My question was more about, well, what kind of monkeys? Because can we start with that? Because of course we can get you monkeys in, madam thinking, oh my God, what are we going to do? But I'm casually telling him, so happen to be orangutans. Now, these are protected animals. But of course there was a Borneo program and then the daughter said, oh, I want.
Guillaume [:Anyway, blah, blah, blah. So cut a long story short. We made different phone calls, we spoke to different organizations, different nearly governmental, because of course, protected species and so on, what you can and can't do things you can and want or whatever, etcetera. But we found out that by doing all the white cause and all that work, we could potentially get them what they wanted within a week. Which shows you that at that level of dedication and commitment, when you tell yourself you can get something or can do it, you will, unless it's illegal, then it's a different story, of course. But in that respect, we found out we could do it with the right da da da da. So my concierge is super happy because he's saying, I can tell this gentleman that we can get that for him. This is 09:00 a.m.
Guillaume [:in the morning. By the time we know we can do something, it's about three, four pm in the afternoon.
Phil [:That's not bad.
Guillaume [:No, that's outstanding work. They did great work, actually, that team in general. But that was probably the ultimate work they did. That I can remember. Anyway, so the gentleman comes back from going up the hotel. The concierge very proudly runs to him and says, you're all, Highness, we've done a lot of work, some good work. And we are. We can do what you want us to do.
Guillaume [:His reply was, don't worry, it's okay. She's changed our mind. She doesn't want them anymore. Now, to this day, that concentration. And I joke about this, but as I said earlier, what we really highlight is the fact that at that level of service, delivery of excellence, of everything is possible. And no is not an option. And we will get it right. And for you, as a guest is sometimes what I use an example because nothing is impossible and that you put your mind to it.
Guillaume [:And in a very silly way, a concierge might be asked, I want a table for two tonight at this impossible restaurant to book at. I will never take no for an answer. I will call the owner of the restaurant myself if I have to. I will go there to get that table for that guest. Simple as that. And we will get it.
Phil [:Yeah.
Guillaume [:Weird.
Phil [:Well, I mean, you know, once you've been able to get source monkeys for a member of the royal family or Ragutans. Yes. Right? Yes. There is a difference, isn't there? Yes. You know, then all bets are off. Really? And what is and isn't possible. Fantastic.
Guillaume [:So I couldn't. I couldn't send that to you on writing when you asked me.
Phil [:I'd much, much prefer talking about these things than saying it on the written words. In any case, that's brilliant. Final question before I let you crack on with your day. But what three reasons would you give as to why somebody should consider hospitality as a career?
Guillaume [:I think it's an extremely rewarding environment to work in. There is something quite special about making people happy, and that only is rewarding. So, you know, projecting that positivity around and making guests, people, your colleagues, happy around you is something that everyone should get great joy out of. So in that respect, only being hospitable and friendly and gracious is a real beautiful thing to achieve and do every day. It's a big family. We talked about it earlier. It's a big family. And if you're hardworking and committed and dedicated and have integrity, which is key, then you can go very far by knowing the right people and working with or for the right people, and who therefore always promote you to their own properties or others because they respect you as professionals.
Guillaume [:So the world is your oyster in many ways. Literally, geographically, you can travel the world if you're the right person for the right job, go to any station around the globe. Yeah. And the family aspect for me, is very important. And you can start from the bottom and get to the top if that's what you want to do. Again, not every industry job allow you that opportunity, but I think through being gracious, kind, have integrity, and being honest, hardworking, and committed, you can achieve anything you want in this industry. And as I said, you and I spoke about ten people that we know in half an hour, at least, because it's a very small industry and a big family.
Phil [:Yeah, absolutely. Guillaume, thank you so much. It's been great to learn a little bit more about your journey so far. Still much work to do.
Guillaume [:Thank you. Great to see you. Thank you.
Phil [:Yeah. Wish you all the very best with the next chapter.
Guillaume [:Thank you very much.
Phil [:Thank you.
