Oh, how Philippe Gombert misses the travel and stimulating interactions with his Relais & Châteaux members. At the same time, however, the president of the 580-member consortium said that after nine months of perpetual confinement, he has never been so close to the membership thanks to videoconferencing.
In fact, on the day of this interview just before Christmas, Gombert, speaking from the office of his family’s Château de la Treyne in Lacave, France, some 150 miles east of Bordeaux, had three calls scheduled with members across different time zones to discuss business. He also invited iconic chefs like Daniel Boulud and Maxime Meilleur to the calls to share recipes.
“Maxime Meilleur taught me how to cook pasta, and he explained to me that I can do my own pasta with my own flavor. It will be my pasta,” Gombert said with so much pleasure in his voice.
Yes, Gombert reiterated how horrible the crisis has been for the R&C membership, which includes some 500 small luxury hotels and 80 stand-alone restaurants totaling 352 Michelin stars. But thanks to the videoconferences they have been able to share, maintain confidence and hope, and remain organized as they make their best efforts to overcome the hardships.
The good news is that member hotels, on average, have 30 rooms with acreage for guests to spread out. So when these hotelier’s doors are open they are sought out by a high-spend clientele, especially those who reside in their regions.
HOTELS spoke to Gombert to learn more about how R&C’s small luxury hotels are managing through COVID-19 and how the consortia is pivoting to help them reach the other side.
HOTELS: How are you, Philippe?
Philippe Gombert: Well, I’m fine. I’m in good health. During the first wave we had to jump in the crisis, working between 12 and 14 hours a day through different Zoom calls. So, at the end it’s a little bit tiring. We get used to it, but it’s difficult.
What is also difficult is experiencing for the first time working at home. I never worked at home before, and it’s a little bit strange. At the beginning you have no time to think about it, but after three months you look tired and you don’t know why. There is no difference between work and family life, and at the beginning there was very little family life. So, it was very strange.
On the other hand, I had the pleasure of seeing our two daughters. One was living in Paris and the other in London, and they came home for the lockdown. We were all together for three months. But it’s just a really bizarre situation.
The second wave of COVID for me was much more tiring… The summer was very good in Europe and also in the U.S. The activity was there with strong local markets surrounding us. It worked very well. But the second wave came by surprise and this was much more difficult.
H: How did R&C first react to the pandemic?
PG: The first wave was like everything coming on our shoulder. We took time to anticipate the depth and the length of the crisis and, unfortunately, we were quite right in considering that this crisis will be very long and deep.
We moved very quickly to a new budget, and we cut our budget by an average of 40%. We reduced our fees by 40% on average, and even a better discount for some members who are dependent on airline traffic and are located in long-haul destinations. And our commissions, of course, were gone.
Amazingly, member revenue decreased around 40%, on average… We have reserve funds for rainy days and we are in a full storm.
The second decision, very much even more important, was to organize member calls every week.
H: What have members been telling you about changes in business?
PG: The demand of our guest for more privacy. Many of our properties have developed villa programs with all the privacy, but also with all the hospitality.
Families coming in during this last summer were looking for more privacy – to be all together, not meeting, not in the crowd or even interacting with guests in any way. They wanted much more outdoor time, much more space, and sometimes in remote places to take some fresh air.
H: How are your member hoteliers acting differently?
PG: We have been surprised that we have seen so many members coming to our meetings… They have time free and they are attending each and every meeting. We have 150 members attending calls, and today (with three calls) maybe we are at more than 400 members.
There is this great desire to share and also to be reassured seeing that all over the world the situation is the same. This also gave them a kind of hope, a confidence that this is temporary and we are fighting all together.
So, now we have decided to launch a new tool, an intranet among our members. The lesson we had from this crisis is that sometimes we were speaking to general managers, but not often directly to the heads of departments, to the sommelier, to the chefs – the ones who are in front of the guest every single day.
This is new, and we anticipate that in mid-April 2021 we will carry on maintaining this link because internal communication is very key in our industry.
H: How long before you bring fees back to normal?
PG: It will take time. We will probably go step by step. We anticipate at least a period of two years to recover.
H: How do you see ultra-luxury hotelkeeping evolving?
PG: One thing we are doing is trying to save the local producers who are disappearing. It is a loss to biodiversity and it’s a loss for all of us. So, we are focusing on this and we think that in the future luxury will be about authenticity. Luxury will be meeting people loving their place and the beauty of the place.
Our guests are also looking for purpose. They want some rest, but they are looking for experiences. They want to understand how seed grows, they want to eat something not only good, but good for their health. They are looking after their health – the millennials much more than my generation.
Now, more and more people are looking for what is beautiful, what is good for health, and what is also good for the planet, good for the climate.
They also need to have personal recommendations. There is a kind of lack of trust and trust goes through personal discussion, personal advice. They want to reconnect. We are in too much of a virtual world, so reconnection to authenticity and with human beings is something very crucial. And it will not be a trend; it will be a reality in the next few years.
H: What is Relais doing or planning to do to help members drive business?
PG: We have seen something very new in Instagram Stories. We have something called “The Road to Happiness,” meaning a way to drive from one place to another three or four properties in a week’s time.
It seems to work very well to tell stories built around visit itineraries, and this is part of our rebound plan. And if you look to our Instagram Stories it’s something very new that seems to work very well.
We can also do some push advertisement on Facebook, for instance. It doesn’t cost too much, and you can put up some videos. We have done some wonderful videos around the idea of creating lists of journeys.
H: Are you worried about losing membership because of COVID-19?
PG: As of July 1, which is the beginning of our fiscal year, we just have registered two resignations, and not one due to the crisis.
H: Are you expecting any membership growth?
PG: We have a lot of demand, but we have mostly stopped because we think that it’s not the right time. We had a very strong candidate in Paris but we felt that as our members are suffering in cities like Paris, we cannot admit another one. The other reason is that it’s difficult sometimes to make our inspections.
H: Where do you look for inspiration?
PG: There is no single source of inspiration. We have learned a lot from the best practices of our members… On another side, the best inspiration is in travel, witnessing different cultures. You always bring back home something new. It could be a special way of welcoming in India or Morocco.
H: What are you missing the most during the COVID lockdown?
PG: The meetings with members, with chefs, traveling. I’m missing travel.
In my position the best thing is to be enriched by all this culture, all these different languages. I love to speak different languages and it’s not only because it’s different words, but because it’s a different mindset. You think differently.
H: What’s left for you to accomplish?
PG: I’m a builder. I love to build and I’m lucky enough on our properties we have 300 acres of private parklands and forests. I would love to build the wood cabin in the trees – a tree house. It could be a form of new hospitality, where you are alone just immersed with nature. That would be my last project.