The European Union's failure to support international telecoms growth is hindering economic expansion, Vodafone's head of EU affairs has said.
16.01.2025 - 12:09 / thepointsguy.com / Karl Lagerfeld / Maud Bailly
Maud Bailly is entering her third year as the CEO of the high-end collection of Accor brands like Sofitel, Sofitel Legend, MGallery and Emblems.
Some might say she was given one of the more difficult tasks at hand when the French-based hotel giant underwent yet another one of its notable corporate restructures a little more than two years ago. Sofitel, which turned 60 last year, was a French luxury brand that had lost its way and needed a face-lift — akin to Chanel before Karl Lagerfeld.
With M Gallery, Bailly inherited a lesser-known collection of hotels that faced off head-to-head with competitors like Marriott's Autograph Collection, and Emblems was a luxury collection brand on paper with no open hotels to point toward.
Bailly, who previously served as Accor's CEO of southern Europe and as the company's chief digital and commercial officer, took the challenge before her — and catapulted the brands she oversees into new (and revived) beacons of French hospitality around the world.
What ethos drives the growth and rejuvenation initiatives at the brands Bailly oversees?
TPG learned more in two exclusive interviews with the hotel executive at the recent International Luxury Travel Market conference in Cannes, France, and, more recently, this week over a transatlantic video chat.
"People may lose some appetite for luxury goods, but they're never going to lose any appetite for luxury experiences, and good hospitality is about luxury experiences," she said.
The numbers speak for themselves. Sixty-year-old Sofitel, currently operating with about 120 hotels around the world, has a pipeline of 32 new hotels slated to open in markets like Ireland, Vietnam, Portugal, India and Mexico over the next few years.
At a time when a new hotel brand gets announced almost weekly, it's a strong signal that a sexagenarian hotel brand has so much interest and so many new properties in the works. Twelve of those new hotel deals were signed in the last year alone, but it's not just about the new properties.
Part of Bailly's leadership initiative has been elevating existing hotels and bringing a consistent feel to the luxury Sofitel brand. Twenty-six percent of the existing Sofitel network is currently under renovation. Properties like Sofitel New York — an important refresh, as Sofitel is one of Accor's best-known brands in the U.S. — and Sofitel Montreal Golden Mile are part of that effort.
The brand leans into its French heritage at properties around the world and often includes nods to its home country, such as a "Bonjour" at the front door or French chefs curating menus at the hotel restaurants. The first Sofitel in the U.S. made a splash with its extensive French wine collection and baguettes baked fresh daily in 1975.
The European Union's failure to support international telecoms growth is hindering economic expansion, Vodafone's head of EU affairs has said.
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Intrepid Travel Logo. (Photo Credit: Intrepid Travel)
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