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How do you envision the future of luxury?
The habits of our clients change very often. The strength of a brand or a company is to adjust very quickly and be very agile. In order to do so, you first need to grasp the expectations of the guest, meaning you need to spend some time with the guest while they’re staying on the property with you, when you speak to the agency, when you speak to the people who worked for the client. During their stay, spend some time with them to understand their expectations because these expectations, especially in that kind of a luxury environment, change. Once you visit a property, if you want to come back, you want something new. You need to reinvent the client experience every time. In order to be performant, listen to your customer, and keep on listening, even if you need to speak to him over 10 times a year. They are so privileged in the way that they have this opportunity to visit so many places all the time. Stay connected to them and customize their stay. And make sure you let it evolve at the same place that they want it to evolve.
François-Regis Simon
What is the art of welcoming at the Four Seasons?
In order to welcome and greet the client at the Four Seasons, we wait on him to make his own reservation. This is also where we start the process. It could be on the phone, through an email, but we need to really understand from the beginning the guest’s requirements on why he wants to stay at the process. We go through a process; if we go through a detailed process in terms of the reservation, it’s going to get too technical. At the end of the day, we are selling a story, but this story needs to meet his expectations. This is where we start when we want to have a guest feel really welcomed at the property. When you arrive at the hotel, it’s going to be different. He might be greeted by someone at the security gate. This has to be a warm welcome. The first person to touch the door of the car will be the doorman, who should greet that person by his name, saying “Welcome back” if it’s more than the first day or “Welcome to the Grand Hotel de Cap-Ferrat Four Seasons.” This is where the story starts.
And then you embark on the journey. We’re going to make it very quick, making sure we go over all the details and telling you about your stay. Escorting you to your room. Describing the premises, what you can do, what your kids can do. We want to make sure that we stay connected to you. This is where the story begins. When you stay at Cap-Ferrat, especially if you’re going to stay in the summer time over 3 to 5 days with us, we’re going to assign you a guest reservation employee who’s going to follow you and check on you at strategic times to make sure that you’re happy with your experience at the hotel. This is the first step.
About the hotel :
The Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel is a rare and exquisite seaside retreat of paradise housed in a palatial mansion on the Côte d’Azur, on the tip of the peninsula of Cap-Ferrat, amidst 17 acres of lushly landscaped gardens with panoramic views of the Mediterranean, between Nice and Monaco. The Hotel features 74 guestrooms including 24 suites, a private villa, an award-winning Spa, fine and casual dining as well as one of the most beautiful pools in the world.
Laurent Delporte, an editor and conference speaker, is a strategic expert in the sector of hotels. A visionary, he brings his unique look on hotels in service to the decision-makers in the industry, whether to enhance the development of new projects or strategic visions.
Laurent has visited and audited over 350 hotels across the world and also participates in mystery visits to provide quality control for the world’s finest hotels.
