Travel Trends with Dan Christian
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Travel Trends with Dan Christian
Luxury French Hospitality with Pierre-Louis Renou, GM, Carlton Cannes
Join us for the latest episode of our Special Hospitality Series in collaboration with Forbes Travel Guide, where we shine a light on one of the "Leaders Behind the Stars"—Pierre-Louis Renou, General Manager of Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel. This legendary property, freshly reopened in March 2023 after a three-year transformation, has proudly earned a Five-Star rating this year.
Pierre-Louis takes us behind the scenes to explore the leadership and vision that brought this milestone to life. The Carlton Cannes stands as a striking example of how luxury hospitality continues to evolve, adapting to the expectations of today’s diverse and dynamic travelers. Pierre-Louis shares how affluent guests are breaking conventional molds—one day arriving by private jet, the next flying economy—creating a demand for unmatched flexibility paired with unwavering, top-tier service.
Aspiring hospitality leaders won’t want to miss Pierre-Louis’ insightful advice. He emphasizes the importance of staying curious about industry trends, fostering genuine care for people—including staff, guests, and suppliers—and immersing yourself in the success of your destination. He highlights the transformational power of assembling a team passionate about their local region, capable of turning a mere hotel stay into a rich, cultural experience through authentic recommendations and heartfelt hospitality.
Don’t miss this inspiring conversation with Pierre-Louis. Tune in every Thursday for fascinating insights from hospitality leaders across the globe, from Beverly Hills to the Seychelles.
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Actually, wellness, as I said at the introduction, is part of your entire journey. It's not only when you're going to spend one hour and a half at the spa. It's the full experience of your journey, in your travel, in your transfer at the hotel, at the restaurant, in your entertainment. Wellness is inside each of your step of the journey.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome back to our special hospitality series, season 2, the Leaders Behind the Stars, in partnership with our friends at Forbes Travel Guide. All of these interviews, as you know, were recorded live at the Summit in Monaco this year, which was extraordinary, and we had three hotels join us. For the first few episodes, we went from London to Beverly Hills to New York to profile several hotel GMs that are either new five-star ranked properties or on their journey. And then last week we brought in Megan Torrance, the senior vice president for Forbes Travel Guide, who oversees learning and development and also oversees the Academy, as I thought it was an ideal opportunity for myself and all of our listeners to better understand the standards and ratings behind Forbes Travel Guide and what makes this organization so special and why all of these hotels around the world are very keen to earn their Forbes Travel Guide five-star ranking.
Speaker 2:And we're actually now going to focus on three new hotel GMs. We're going to travel from France to Italy and to the Seychelles over the next few weeks and on today's episode we're going to be going just down the street from where we were to Cannes, france, and we have Pierre-Louis Renault who is the general manager of. We were to Cannes, france, and we have Pierre-Louis Renaud, who is the general manager of the Carlton Cannes Hotel, which is a region hotel, and it is actually a new five-star hotel, so I thought it was an ideal opportunity to bring someone into the conversation that is more or less a local and that really knows this region exceptionally well. I got some valuable travel tips for him for the weekend that I was spending in France right afterward. So thank you again, pierre-louis, for that.
Speaker 2:And I just wanted to highlight that we post clips and highlights on our social channels, so the Forbes Travel Guide team are kindly posting on Instagram at Forbes Travel Guide and on LinkedIn as well, and then our Travel Trends team are posting on Instagram, linkedin and YouTube, which you can. Then our Travel Trends team are posting on Instagram, linkedin and YouTube, which you can find at Travel Trends Podcast. So thank you so much for all the great feedback we've been getting so far. The Megan Torrance one certainly really lit things up, so that was great to see, and I look forward to continuing these conversations. Every Thursday, we release a new conversation, and we're just at the midway point now, so make sure that you are subscribed on the streaming platform of your choice to be notified when new episodes go live. But now let's bring in Pierre-Louis to the conversation. So, pierre-louis, louis, welcome to Travel Trends and our special hospitality series. It's great to catch up with you here in Monaco.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Dan. Thank you for your invitation.
Speaker 2:For sure. I'm so keen to learn more about the property, your background and history. Let's talk about yourself first, because I'm keen to know a bit about your background. You have obviously been in hospitality for a number of years and actually lived in the US, as I understand, in Washington for a number of years, so tell us a little bit about your background and hospitality.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, my parents were already in the industry. They were running a pastry shop and a catering company in Paris, and then, thanks to this, I ended up at the hotel school, worked in kitchen with Michel Guérard in Eugénie-les-Bains, then went to.
Speaker 2:Hotel de Crayon in Paris for my first job, and then I went to Hotel de Criolles in Paris for my first job.
Speaker 1:Then I stayed with Concorde Hotel at that time Concorde Hotel, Concorde Saint-Lazare in Paris and then the Martinez. Then I moved to Hilton Hilton, Paris Hilton, London and Parkland and then, thanks to this, I went to Sofitel, Sofitel London, St James and then they gave me my first GM roles in the United States Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC. Then I came back to France at Le Majestique in Cannes as area GM with Le Gré d'Albion and one hotel in Saint-Barthes and then moved back to Accor with Fairmont, where I was regional VP for Fairmont in Monte Carlo for Southern Europe, and I actually came back to Cannes a year ago for the Carlton Hotel with Regent.
Speaker 2:Well, now it makes all the more sense to me why you were able to achieve your five-star rating for Carlton Cannes, given the pedigree, your background not only obviously by virtue of your family, but the fact you actually grew up on the kitchen side and understand cuisine, obviously. And then you've worked with some of the best brands in the world in some of the most iconic locations. So, yeah, it's a real pleasure and an honor to sit down and have this opportunity to speak to you. So tell us a little bit about the Carlton Conn Hotel. I think most people are going to be familiar with Conn from the film festival and obviously there's many awards in Conn. It is, in and of itself, a very prestigious location. But tell us a bit about this property, how long it's been around and your journey now in the last year, to become a new Forbes Travel Guide five-star property.
Speaker 1:Well, the hotel went through a major refurbishment during three years and reopened only in March 2023. It's an iconic property, obviously, with an amazing location in a stunning destination. It's a superb building, classified historic monument, which is quite combining all the elements of a very nice resort, but also of a business hotel beautiful convention center, amazing beach, various restaurants, various bars, great pool scene, spa, amazing fitness, a lot of iconic suites. So it's a hotel where you have a lot of freedom to explore the property on different aspects.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's amazing. So the hotel itself, the journey you went on just in this past year. Clearly, you've worked with Forbes Travel Guide before and understand the rating process, so how important was that, with your background and understanding, with actually bringing this property on that journey.
Speaker 1:Well, actually it was very important the hotel, which is owned by Qatar Hospitality and which is managed by Regent. It was an objective to, of course, to be a member of force, but, of course, to reach the five stars. Of course, to be a member of force, but, of course, to reach the five stars. It has been a process, a journey, but we planned for this. We decided to have the appropriate tools, to have the appropriate trainings, to have the appropriate investments in order to be part of this very exclusive hotel selection around the world. And you know, it happens and my team is very happy, actually very proud, and hopefully we will be keeping this rating for several years.
Speaker 2:For sure. I guess that's always the one thing. It's one thing to achieve it, it's another thing to keep it, which you now need to maintain, that which I'm sure that you will. But tell us a little bit about being here now in Monaco. I understand it's your first time at a Forbes Travel Guide event. Clearly you didn't have far to travel. You're one of the closest, it's what about an hour from here to Cannes, or a little bit further? One of the things that stood out to me, pierre-louis, is that this has really been an international conference, compared to Vegas last year, where it was certainly more US-centric, last year, where it was certainly more US-centric, and there's a lot of new faces here and a lot of international delegates that have come from the Middle East and from Asia and even Australia.
Speaker 1:But tell, Our listeners, if you wouldn't mind, what brought you here this year and what have been some of the takeaways and the highlights from the summit to the Forbes environment and to the Forbes event sharing experience, listening to other situations, meeting with the suppliers, meeting with exclusive travel agents. And I think he was right and I was glad to listen to his suggestion and to accept his invitation. So I'm actually very, very happy and very grateful for being here. That's fantastic One of the. So I'm actually very, very happy and very grateful for being here.
Speaker 2:That's fantastic. One of the things I'm always keen to ask leaders or captains of industry, if you will is the trends that you're paying attention to, because obviously it's one thing to take this amazing property and achieve a Forbes Travel Guide five-star rating and obviously another thing to maintain it, but part of it is actually just staying ahead of the curve on customer behavior and the trends, especially in luxury and hospitality, which, in and of itself, is a very unique space. So tell us what you see as some of the big trends in luxury hospitality in 2025 and what our listeners should be paying attention to.
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, I spend a lot of time to observe what's happening.
Speaker 1:I am very curious about what the competition is doing, not only in the hotel industry, but in the other luxury goods.
Speaker 1:I think it's very important to see what's going on and to observe what the brands are doing. Also, I read a lot of the client comments not only mine, but also my competitors of the client comments not only mine, but also my competitors and I also look once again at the entire luxury world on what the clients are saying and what they are commenting about and what they are suggesting. It's a very important way of understanding and anticipating situations. So what I see today, in these days, is the need of freedom. It's to give the client the choice to decide about how they want to explore their journey, to have the freedom of the time, to have the freedom of lunchtime, the freedom of checking, the freedom of checkout, the freedom of being entertained or not, the freedom of getting personalized service or not, the freedom to have a relationship with some of our employees or not, and I see this situation to the same customer with different approach depending on their trip.
Speaker 1:I was recently speaking to one of our customers. He was staying at the hotel and he actually flew private jet to join his meeting and to extend a little bit, to enjoy Cannes and to enjoy the hotel. And speaking with him, I was quite surprised that the week after he was having a different trip with a different purpose and he was flying easy jet and he was staying in an economy hotel in order to facilitate his journey, because this destination was making a lot of sense for the specific economic property.
Speaker 1:So you know it's quite interesting to have this kind of conversations and to have the possibility to understand that the same customer is capable, in the same months, of flying economy airlines, cheap flights and then, at the same time, having suites and private jets. So this is giving you the dimension and the size of what I call freedom of choice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm glad you mentioned that because I think having your own autonomy and agency and freedom and flexibility, certainly amongst affluent clienteles, is so important. But in terms of the wellness trend, I'm keen to ask you about that. I mean people come to the south of France. I understand Monaco is actually where people apparently live the longest on earth. That was an interesting discovery in the opening session.
Speaker 2:I think the average age is 85 for men and 92 for women in Monaco, and I actually have family in the south of France, in Rocquebrune Sur-Argent, and when I used to come down in the summers when I was a kid, they would take us to Saint-Tropez or to Antibes and we would explore around the south of France and my aunt would always highlight to us about how it's the best place in the world to live, and they took us to Cannes.
Speaker 2:We went to go see a film in Cannes the first time, and so I love the south of France, I love the Côte d'Azur, and so I'm assuming that wellness is a driver, much like it is for California. They had highlighted to me the reason that my aunt chose to live here and you'll appreciate this is that there's a very few places in the world where you get 300 days of sunshine a year, and one of them was California and one of them was the south of France. I've had the privilege to live in California and I've had the privilege to spend time here, but you live here and you see the guests. So tell us from your perspective in Cannes are the guests? Are they French nationals that are traveling to the south coast? Are they international guests? And then, how important does wellness play a role for you in the offerings at the property?
Speaker 1:You know, wellness is crucial and wellness is part of every type of journey. You're coming for a business trip, for a convention, for a seminar. Wellness is also part of your family trip or your couple trip. So once again, we're coming back on the importance of giving the choice and giving the freedom to the guests to decide how they want to enjoy wellness. For some of them, wellness is simply having a sunbathing on the beach. For some of them it's a retreat. For some of them it's meditation. For some of them it's retreats, for some of them it's meditations. For some of them it's a kind of a cure. For some of them it's about sports indoor sports, outdoor sports. So for some of them it's about spa, it's about treatment, it's about skin treatment, about massage, so it's quite vague. You know it's quite large, so it's quite vague. You know it's quite large, so it's very important. Once again, in your hotel and that's what we're trying to do at the carlton in can is to have the the largest way of enjoying what what you call wellness, and actually wellness, as I said at the introduction, is part of your, your entire journey. It's not only when you're going to spend one hour and a half at the spa. It's the full experience of your journey, in your travel, in your transfer at the hotel, at the restaurant, in your entertainment. Wellness is inside each of your step of the journey.
Speaker 1:One thing which is very important to Carlton in Cannes is that we have a 12-month opening period. We are open every day of the journey. One thing which is very important to Carlton in Cannes is that we have a 12 months opening period. You know we are open every day of the year and it's a very important element because you can enjoy the hotel on a very different vibe, very different rhythm and very different reasons if you're coming for January with this beautiful winter light, or if you're coming at the peak of the entertainment season in May. So this fact that we have a 12-month opening period gives you the possibility to create a lot of activities, a lot of choice, a lot of different experience to customers, and I think that this is a very, very specific for the canton in Cannes and specifically in our region.
Speaker 2:The way we started the conversation. I think should be incredibly inspiring for all of our listeners to hear your journey, which is quite remarkable, and so one of the things I wanted, pierre-louis, to make sure that we covered is any advice from you to our listeners that are looking to work their way up in hospitality, because I'm sure you've learned a lot along the way and have some great mentors. So if you could mentor our listeners, what are some of the suggestions that you would recommend to them to eventually get that general manager role and eventually be at a Forbes travel guide conference, like we are together here in Monaco?
Speaker 1:Well, you know, to be curious is very, very important to observe what's happening. Of course, you need to be passionate about meeting people, taking care of your staff, taking care of your customer, being close to your vendors, being close to your suppliers, taking care of your customer, being close to your vendors, being close to your suppliers, being a part of the life of your city, of your destination, helping the destination to develop their marketing. It's important to basically not only take care of your brand and your shareholders, but to take care of your people, to take care of your guests and to take care of your local environment and your local life of the village or the city. The GM is not only to take care about the business, it's to take care of a social life around the hotel and, by the way, that's what the clients want to see.
Speaker 1:My client wants to see the locals. They want to make sure that when they are interfering with our team at the bar, at the concierge, at the reception, with the room attendant, they want to speak about, about, about our team, about the region, about what they are doing, what they are eating, where they are going for their days off. They want to know what's happening in the region and they want to live the real life of the destination, and so it's important to make sure that, in your recruitment as well, you are focusing on finding experts of your city and not only at the concierge department, by the way in every department, and to have people which are um, which like and which are passionate about their, their, their destination, their country, their region.
Speaker 2:It's, it's very important yeah, no, that's great advice and it's interesting because I was speaking to uh pradeep raman, who is one of the your colleagues at the corinthia Hotels in New York, and when I was asking him about his experience in launching the hotel in New York, he was highlighting to me the importance of connecting to the local community.
Speaker 2:And what was a real standout from our conversation and it will be from ours as well was just the fact that the local community because you've highlighted something different than he highlighted fact that the local community, because you've highlighted something different than he highlighted he was highlighting the fact that the local community they were, they had their, their doormen were feeding the local dogs treats, and then the locals loved it and they were, you know, and they've got to know their dog's names and they would, they'd give them treats and eventually even the locals would bring flowers to the doormen to to say thank you for taking such great care of our pets as they walk by. And one of the locals runs a very successful hedge fund and said I'm going to now bring all of my clients here, so it actually becomes a business development opportunity. Now you highlighted something different, which is the fact that guests want to see locals and it's almost like the idea of a restaurant. If you see locals are in the restaurant, you're going to go there.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's the dividends Our guests which are buying very expensive iconic suites. They want to be in the hotel and to see the others.
Speaker 1:They want to see the local at the bar and they want to see our family at the tea room and they want to see the locals at the beach and our guests which are coming to the restaurant of the hotel, which are going to the bar, going to the tea room, going to the beach. They want to see the beautiful cars and the very rich people enjoying amazing sweets. And this is your role as a GM to make sure that this, this blending of various customers, are having a great life within your property at the same time, Very interesting.
Speaker 2:Now.
Speaker 2:You've got so many valuable insights here, pierre-louis.
Speaker 2:You've obviously got great advice for people coming up in the industry and you're clearly continuing to lead the way in hospitality, and so I want to make sure that anyone listening to this that is interested in either coming to Cannes 12 months a year, which you obviously you highlighted and I'm going to ask you some other recommendations after we finish up recording for my plans while I'm still here in France, as far as where I should go and what else I should do, because clearly you've got a great deal of expertise, but that in terms of being able to learn more about the Carlton con or to connect with you directly, whether it be travel agents that are listening to this that want to book their clients at the property or people in the industry that want to connect and partner with you.
Speaker 2:I know one of the big trends we've seen and heard a lot about here is luxury brands partnering with luxury hotels, so I'm sure that's um, you're getting lots of reach outs for those as well. But, yeah, let everyone know, please, how they can find more about, uh, the Carlton Con and also connect with you.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, once again, it's about freedom. You have the choice to connect with me directly. You can find the hotel on the web. You can find the hotel on the social media. You can reach my team. You can reach my concierge, the guest relation manager, the reservation department, your travel expert. You have all ways of finding us at the hotel. My cell phone number is on my LinkedIn account and I will be delighted to listen to your questions and facilitate the preparation of your journey.
Speaker 2:That's exciting. I'm going to post your private phone number on RST. We'll see how many calls you get. We need to put in a travel trends code so that then you know that they have heard about you from the podcast and then we can compare notes next year to see how many people reached out.
Speaker 1:Hashtag I love Dan and I know it will be from you.
Speaker 2:There you go. That's awesome, Pierre-Louis. It's a great honor meeting you. Thanks so much for making the time and wish you great success in the year ahead.
Speaker 1:Merci, Dan. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for joining us on our latest episode of our special hospitality series, season two the leaders behind the stars, with our friends at Forbes travel guide.
Speaker 2:I certainly thoroughly enjoyed the conversation that we just had with Pierre-Louis Renaud, the general manager of the Carlton Conn Hotel in France.
Speaker 2:I certainly learned a lot from that discussion and got a number of valuable tips for my weekend ahead of me, and he said reach out anytime, so I'll be sure to do that. Thanks again, pierre-louis, and I also just want to acknowledge the amazing Forbes Travel Guide team that has worked together to bring this series and make it all possible, and they're the ones that are posting on LinkedIn every Thursday at 8 am sharp Eastern time. So make sure that you're following both our social channels at Travel Trends Podcast and at Forbes Travel Guide as well and, as I mentioned at the beginning, make sure that you are subscribed to the streaming platform of your choice so that you're notified when new episodes go live every Thursday. And we're right now at the midway point episode five, going into episode six next week of our 10-part series. So don't miss out on any of the remaining episodes as we profile more incredible hotel GMs and some of the partners that exist within this amazing luxury hospitality network. Many more exciting conversations to follow until next week. Safe travels.
