This graduate, who decided to attend Vatel after doing prep school in philosophy and literature, dreamed of “tackling the problems in running a hotel.” And here she is! Now she’s in charge of operational management, team management, recruitment and training, procurement as well as heading the marketing and communication department, where she has a provable track record.

“The hotel was a recent one that lacked visibility for its client base. My internship allowed me to outline the Marketing Manager function that I was hired for when I finished school,” she explained.

Here, marketing has highly strategic stakes: “For a 28 room hotel like La Villa Madame, what’s really important for us is not to be devoured by distribution that take a 12 to 25% commission. So your strategy has to target this point, being based on customer loyalty. There are lots of supports and digital strategies and your e reputation are part of them.

So that’s why I really worked on raising our on-line presence.” She also put in place a room price strategy, assisted by a specialist in yield management. She also excels in her communication policy, with, amongst others, the creation of Secrets de Madame, a monthly event featuring artists who open Villa Madame’s doors to Parisians, as well as a blog that spreads the name of this gem of a hotel on Internet. “I feel like I’m the spokesperson for independently owned hotels, and each and every day I learn more about them,” added Elsa.

The hospitality industry will continue to thrive in the future with new and exciting challenges: the war between distributors, the craziness of social networking, multi-concept hotels, etc. Independently owned hotels and restaurants and chain hotels or large palaces are completely different.” In any case, her story is a testimonial to the fact that Parisian independently owned hotels keep getting better.