Danica: My first question to really kick things off is to really understand what does, in my personal opinion, the very overused term of guest experience mean to you personally. And how has that definition evolved over your career over the last 20 years?
Billy: I mean, if you look at 20 years ago, when it was kind of the first boost of our industry redefining itself from not just the bed you sleep on, but hotels that provided and catered to a lot of different experiences, really with a focus on food and beverage, but also a little bit the start of wellness and the growth of spas in hotels and different services. At that point, guest services was quite prescribed, right? When you went to a lifestyle hotel, you went there for particular reason, and it was really quite prescribed and defined for you.
I think as we look at the next 10, 20 years, right, where now the guest has evolved and hotels has evolved, and really where guests are wanting to spend money and having experiences. Anything that makes them feel good, and feel good in the head, feel good in the heart, feel good in their soul.
And to do that, you need to be able to take a step back and really create an environment where the guests can create their own experience. Not prescribe it to them. And it doesn’t mean that you don’t work incredibly hard to define what you want to offer, or equally what you choose to not offer within your brand or your hotels.
But to me, really today what we talk over and over again at Beaumier is how do we create the best environment for people to be the best version of themselves and create their own experience.
Danica: And I think that’s really obvious and translates very well in your marketing and your positioning. I mean, all you have to do is go to any conference in 2025 and it is everywhere this need. And we know the research is telling us how guests are really seeking out unique experiences, memorable experiences, whether it’s sleep retreats or wellness, or the vast array of experiences. What I found really nice when I came across you, Billy, and what you guys are doing is that it seems like it’s really part of your DNA, even when it comes to selecting the locations for your properties.
When you look at your website, the experiences that you are offering the guests are so vast and just really authentic. And I think you’ve hit on the head when you say guests need to create their own experience. So how would you say that translates into the brand ethos? So from an outsider’s point of view, it seems very seamless and easy, and that’s who you are. Are there any hints and tips or how did you get to that place?
Billy: I mean, listen, I’m lucky enough, right? I just got here, right? I took over the group a few months ago and a lot of those properties were in place, even though we’re always looking to evolve and make them better. But obviously with Beaumier, it starts off where we are, right? We have wonderful beachside countryside and mountain locations. Being able to lean in to the richness of what we have around us is an absolute delight for our guests, and becomes frankly, quite natural, right? To just blend within the best of what our surroundings have to offer.
Interestingly enough, people keep talking about guest experience, but for me, guest experience starts with employees, right? If employees are happy, that’s where guest experience starts. It is absolutely impossible to provide any kind of superior guest experience, no matter what you wanted it to be, without creating an environment where the people who are working so [00:05:00] hard day in and day out in our seasonal hotels also feel a sense of richness and empowerment and happiness while doing what they do with us.
Danica: It’s music to my ears. ‘Cause I feel like, and I get it if you’re a boutique hotel, it’s a lot easier with that framework to give that empowerment to staff. But I feel like in our industry, post-COVID, in that recovery stage, there was so much focus on the importance of staff in the context of staff shortage, but really over the last 24, 12 months with the rise of AI. I feel like people are forgetting about that basic of how important it is. So it is great Billy, that that’s your number one go-to when we start the introduction of guest experience. So thank you for reminding us that it really comes back to our staff with regards to the guest experience, whether that is internal or external.
In your opinion, what would you say is the most overlooked element of the guest journey today?
Billy: Honestly, again, going back to the point of allowing somebody to create their own experience is giving people the liberty and the freedom to create their own journey through our hotels. Right. And I talk about this a lot with our, we’re about to reopen a hotel on the French Riviera called Les Roches Rouges, right? Following a big renovation. It’s an incredible property and when you walk through the door, you are hanging over the Mediterranean. Right. And it’s absolutely magical. And I was just there a few days ago and I’m talking with the staff and I’m saying, clearly there’s a guest that’s gonna walk through the doors. They wanna have two glasses of champagne while checking in. Sit on the terrace, take it all in, ask you every question about the hotel and surrounding, right? And we need to allow for that to happen equally, right? As incredible as the view is, right? You might have a family that’s arriving with young kids and their flight was three hours delayed and their kids are hungry and they’re tired. And no matter how incredible the view is, this is not the time for them to embrace that moment and that experience. And it’s harder to do that, right? It takes a lot of training, it takes a lot of curiosity with, especially with seasonal staff, for them to be able to have that judgment and give people that freedom.
But that’s where it starts for me, right? It’s with that flexibility and not prescribing something that everybody wants to experience a product the same way.
Danica: I mean, and what you’ve just described there in those two different scenarios is me as a guest, whether if I am traveling with my two young kids, or if it’s just my husband and myself. So when it comes to making sure that your staff are trained to be able to have that emotional intelligence to recognize that. Do you believe personally that that’s something that you train, or do you hire for and look for in that recruitment of your staff? Or is it a mix of both?
Billy: Yeah, I think it’s a combination of the two. I mean, listen, what people do in hotels is hard, right? There’s nowhere to hide, right? You’re on your feet all day, you’re having to smile no matter what’s happening in your personal life. Right? Especially in our seasonal hotels that have this intense season, it’s hard work. Right? So you need to hire people that can take on that challenge, that embrace that challenge, that thrive in that kind of environment. After that, yeah, you can train, but also more than training. It’s about setting a culture in your business that filters down through the business. Right? So we talk about taking ownership and we talk a lot about curiosity in our business, right? And that really is an element that needs to filter down into our business, right? And that’s empowering an employee to ask questions. How was your flight? What would you like to do next? To be better informed, to be that person that can allow somebody to define the best experience they can have in our environment.
Danica: Yeah. And I think equally, both of your staff, that curiosity, I can certainly imagine me arriving at one of your properties and having a little bit more curiosity towards the surroundings of the property, or the food, the F&B produce. Where does that come from? So I think that, again, is also reflected in the culture of your DNA. So let me ask you, Billy, in your career, can you share a guest experience initiative that surprised you in terms of its impact? Either positively or something that maybe fell short?
Billy: Yeah. Let me start with something that’s fallen short. Right? And apologies. I’m gonna do a slight repeat of the example I gave you before. Right. But I remember I was lucky enough, a few years ago. I went to Mauritius with my family. I think my kids must have been about five and seven. It’s a 13-hour flight. I’m leaving in the UK at the time. It’s a two-hour drive to the resort. And I got to the resort and all I wanted to do was take a shower, jump in the ocean, do my own thing. I could not get the people at the arrival to not sit us down, give us a cocktail, sit us down for 45 minutes. And the reason I’m using that as a letdown is the intention of the experience is wonderful, right? There’s wonderful intention behind it. It’s just not reading the environment of the person, what that person is coming with through the door of your hotel. Right? And what always shook me by the reason I’ve used that example many times over the years, right, is I’m not alone, right? The UK is the feeder market to that hotel. It’s a kids-friendly hotel, right? So I know that what I’m experiencing, a lot of people going through the door are experiencing and it’s a magical place, beautiful resort, and you’re not thinking about what you wanna do. You’re not putting yourself in the guest shoes and what they want to do.
So that’s something that really stuck with me over the years. After that it’s interesting, right? The best guest experience moments are these moments that are those little surprises. The things that are not planned. It’s never the chocolate on the pillow. It’s always a hotel, a management team, an employee taking an initiative that wasn’t expected. Again, I always like to throw my kids in there because I adore seeing how they experience the world through their own eyes. But we were at a hotel a few years ago and my youngest son is attached to a ball 24/7. Right. And a young staff member who clearly was an incredible football player in a moment of downtime, took my son for 30 minutes and had like a real genuine moment of joy with him. Right? And you’re like, wow, you can’t buy that. Right? And the more you can try to anticipate those things and try to have those moments, whatever they are replicating in your hotels, that beats anything else.
Danica: And I think Billy, again, that use case is so spot on and I think it’s really important to anyone listening to the podcast today that really understands that when we talk about creating these memorable moments in the guest experience, that they are authentic. And they don’t need to be scripted, come and meet the chef and go shopping. It can be as simple as kicking a ball around with your kid on the beach. That’s what makes it memorable and personable, and again, very difficult if that’s not part of your DNA. It comes back to what you spoke about earlier of the staff empowerment to just replicate that and inject that into the guest experience.
