Today, I’d like to share with you a beautiful encounter I had in 2016. Sylvia Harrault is a well-known figure in the hotel industry. She is very involved with the AICR association and its hotel. She always has good ideas for her customers. I recommend his hotel for an excellent stay just a stone’s throw from the Senate.
Hotel Baume Paris
Hotel Baume Paris is a 25-room hotel and 10 Suites and Junior Suites in chic, contemporary Art Deco Style located in the center of the Left Bank that opened in July 2014.
It replaces the Jardin de l’Odéon hotel, which was closed at the end of 2013 to be renovated and repositioned as a 4-star hotel. New products, new services and new processes have been introduced. This period of change is also accompanied by the arrival of new customers.
Well in advance of the closing date for existing employees, and at the time of recruitment for new employees, then at the opening date for all. The hotel manager explains that “.The team has organized meetings and training sessions with managers, and everyone is involved in the opening not only in terms of their job’s mission, but also by testing out the hotel’s various services as if they were customers. Taking charge. They all have experience in their trade, and I presented them with the level of quality I expected for our new clientele. It’s up to them to figure out how to achieve this result. Of course, I accompany them to help them find the right method.”
Repositionner un hôtel est un véritable challenge pour une structure hôtelière. Ce n’est pas seulement le projet de la direction, ou en tout cas, cela ne doit pas être le cas. Pour moi, c’est l’échec assuré. Un repositionnement doit rassembler et fédérer toutes les équipes de l’hôtel. Ce n’est pas forcément, mais il faut trouver les mots et les intéresser dans la mise en place de leur outil de travail de demain.
Il y aura toujours des récalcitrants et vous aurez aussi des personnes motivées qui vous accompagneront pour vous donner des tas d’idées. N’oubliez pas que les équipes sont sur le terrain au quotidien, ils connaissent les défauts de leur outil de production et surtout les clients avec qui ils partagent leurs besoins, leurs demandes et leur vison. Que se soit la femme de chambre, le voiturier ou un réceptionniste, chacun a sa place dans le projet de l’hôtel. Je peux vous en parler facilement dans la mesure où j’avais mis en place un projet similaire dans un hôtel de 350 collaborateurs. L’action a été très positive et a changé l’état d’esprit des équipes. Enfin responsabilisées, elles avaient réussi l’amélioration de leur offre de services.
The Hotel Baume team
La rénovation intégrale d’un hôtel est un moment idéal pour mobiliser ses équipes. C’est ce qu’a fait la directrice de l’ancien hôtel de l’Odéon devenu l’Hôtel Baume (Hôtel 5 étoiles) qui vient de rouvrir cet été. Cet hôtel appartient au Groupe Hôtels Paris Rive Gauche.
L’hôtel Jardin de l’Odéon a fermé ses portes en décembre 2013. Ses propriétaires engagent alors de gros travaux pour lui donner une étoile supplémentaire. Ces travaux s’accompagnent d’une montée en compétence des équipes afin de leur donner les outils nécessaires à la montée en gamme de leur hôtel. Sylvia Harrault, Directrice de ce Palace souhaitait préparer l’équipe à la fermeture et profiter des 7 mois de travaux pour faire monter en compétence les salariés.
Côté budget, ce projet a un coût très important que le budget formation annuel ne pourra pas couvrir. L’hôtel Jardin de l’Odéon est un hôtel 3 étoiles de 41 chambres où travaillent 11 collaborateurs, et notre budget est de 1 870 €.Commencent alors des recherches pour obtenir les fonds nécessaires. Résultat : le FAFIH nous aide à hauteur de 13% sur le projet 2013, la DIRECCTE à hauteur de 60% et le propriétaire de l’hôtel participe à hauteur de 27%.
In May 2013 the project started with training courses such as:
French language training for 50% of the team
English courses
stress management courses (discovery of theater and techniques such as sophrology, Qi Qong and Chinese gymnastics).
When the last guest left the hotel on December 10, 2013, there were only 6 of us left in the adventure. The others realized their dreams, their personal projects.
La vente publique de tous les meubles et objets de l’hôtel organisée dans la foulée, a été l’occasion de clore cette aventure qui pour certains durait depuis 22 ans
En janvier 2014, les collaborateurs ont été mis à disposition dans des hôtels 4 et 5 étoiles parisiens et une salariée a réalisé enfin son désir de suivre une formation d’aide-soignante grâce au concours qu’elle a réussi brillamment. Les collaborateurs ont réintégré l’hôtel au mois de mai pour y suivre un nouveau plan de formation et être prêt pour la réouverture en juillet dernier.
Ce plan de formation 2014 intègre à l’équipe actuelle 13 nouveaux collaborateurs. Tous écriront ainsi une nouvelle histoire hôtelière !
How did you make hotel staff aware of this change, and how did you integrate it into the summer repositioning? How involved were all the teams? What responsibilities have you entrusted to them?
Before being sensitized to the arrival of new guests, hotel staff got to know each other and work together. In fact, of the 12-strong team who worked at the Jardin de l’Odéon hotel, only 4 people (including me) opened the Baume hotel. During 3 training sessions, where all employees were present, they worked with their department managers on what we wanted to offer our customers.
From July 1 to August 31, 2014, we were in a “training” period. In fact, we took advantage of this quieter period to fine-tune our latest set-ups, test the equipment and test the …. rooms. Get to know each other better to communicate more effectively!
The involvement of the whole team is essential for this project, and everyone must feel that they are playing a part in the role they will have at the hotel. Since the beginning of the adventure, the teams have been regularly informed of the project’s progress, and we have consulted them.
Responsibilities were initially entrusted to the department heads, who formed and worked with their teams prior to the opening.
What were the main stages of your project?
The project began 2 years ago, when the owner decided to completely renovate the Jardin de l’Odéon hotel and to close it down.
Following a conference at the Hôtel de Crillon, I realized that it was important to be accompanied in order to successfully manage such an important change. To achieve this, I worked with Perlezenn Conseil.
The next steps were as follows:
1) We presented the project to close the hotel and reopen it as a 4*.
2) A consultant met each employee to discuss their perceptions of the project and identify the obstacles and, above all, the motivations that would make it a success.
3) We set up a change management training program for managers.
4) All employees have been interviewed by their managers about their skills and their motivation for the future project. The result was a training plan to upgrade the skills of employees who needed it, and the training sessions took place while the hotel was closed.
5) Closing the hotel
6) Training, secondments to 4 and 5* hotels and short-time working.
7) Pre-entry of managers to define and implement the future organization. Training courses have been set up in opening management and procedure repository creation.
8) Staff recruitment, induction and training.
9) We always ask ourselves questions to ensure that our behavior is the perfect gesture expected by our customers, old and new.
The Hotel Baume team
How did you finance this support?
Change management support was financed by DIRECCTE, FAFIH and the owner.
What would you recommend to other hotels in the same situation? Do you encourage them to do the same? What would you do differently if you had it to do over again?
It’s hard for me to make a recommendation, but I think you need to take a long, hard look at the project you’re about to embark on, and choose the solution that best suits your needs. In the excitement of a new project, we often put our teams aside, thinking that they’ll eventually follow suit when they see the project progressing. But that’s not the case at all: the teams are the fundamentals of the company and must be present throughout the project.
I would encourage all my colleagues to do what I did, because I grew from it.
If I had to do it all over again, I’d hire my service managers before the hotel closes, so that they’d be 100% autonomous by the time it opened.
About the hotel:
Hotel Baume
Located in the heart of Paris’s 6th arrondissement, a stone’s throw from Place de l’Odéon, Le Baume is a comfortable, elegant 35-room 4-star hotel with a 1930s ambiance. The hallmarks of this period’s decoration are evident in the macassar wood, shagreen, satin and moire veneers.
Based on the stories of 6 characters and 6 decorating themes, the rooms develop singular atmospheres where materials are precious and contrasting. A band of friends and parallel lives that cross and recross. Each in his own way becomes the image of an era: the ’30s. It was the expansion of the art of living, aesthetics and pleasure in France between the wars. Jewelry, fashion, perfume, design, clubs and cinema all took off.
Hotel Baume features 6 atmospheres firmly rooted in the Art Deco period.
The level of detail, refinement and quality of the decorative elements echo the modernity, élan and positivism of the period.
