VINCENT PIMONT, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE PENINSULA PARIS, AND OLIVIER DEVEAUD, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE LUXURY HOTELSCHOOL: 'LUXURY HOSPITALITY IS NOT JUST ABOUT TECHNICAL SKILLS.’ (France)
As the luxury hotel industry undergoes a transformation, Vincent Pimont and Olivier Deveaud share their perspectives on the new challenges of training, recruitment and excellence in a sector seeking meaning and innovation. |
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VINCENT PIMONT, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE PENINSULA PARIS, AND OLIVIER DEVEAUD, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE LUXURY HOTELSCHOOL: 'LUXURY HOSPITALITY IS NOT JUST ABOUT TECHNICAL SKILLS.’ (France)
As the luxury hotel industry undergoes a transformation, Vincent Pimont and Olivier Deveaud share their perspectives on the new challenges of training, recruitment and excellence in a sector seeking meaning and innovation. |
Catégorie : Europe - France - Économie du secteur
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Interview de Romane Le Royer le 09-05-2025
 Vincent Pimont, General Manager of The Peninsula Paris, and Olivier Deveaud, Director of the Luxury Hotelschool Paris, discussed training and recruitment, key issues for both the school and the Parisian palace
Crédit photo © The Peninsula Paris / Luxury Hotelschool
Vincent Pimont is a seasoned luxury hotel professional and has been General Manager of The Peninsula Paris since January 2022. A graduate of the Vatel School, he began his career at The Walt Disney Company, where he spent a decade working at Disneyland Paris, among other locations. He then joined the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts group, holding management positions in New York and Bora Bora, French Polynesia. In 2007, he joined The Peninsula Hotels group as Director of Accommodation at The Peninsula Beijing, before being promoted to Hotel Manager in 2010. In 2014, he participated in the opening of The Peninsula Paris as hotel director, marking the group's first European location. He returned to Beijing in 2017 as general manager, where he oversaw a major renovation of the property, which earned a Michelin star for its Jing restaurant, until his return to the capital five years later.
Olivier Deveaud has been Managing Director of the Luxury Hotelschool since 2023. With a degree in hospitality and solid experience in prestigious international groups, he has established himself as an expert in training for the luxury sector.
At the helm of the school, he is developing a strategy focused on academic excellence, international outreach and educational innovation. He has strengthened ties with renowned institutions such as the École hôtelière de Lausanne and Coventry University, while launching new programmes focused on entrepreneurship and the major contemporary challenges facing the sector, such as sustainability, talent retention and the integration of new technologies.
Convinced that high standards must be accompanied by supportive guidance, he champions a vision of hospitality based on respect, commitment and the transmission of human values.
To mark this partnership, Vincent Pimont, General Manager of The Peninsula Paris, and Olivier Deveaud, General Manager of the Luxury Hotelschool, share their views on the current challenges of training and recruitment in the luxury hotel industry with the Journal des Palaces.
Journal des Palaces: In your opinion, what are the major current trends in the luxury hotel industry and the key skills that future professionals need to be trained in?
Vincent Pimont: Future leaders in the luxury hotel industry must be trained in three key areas. First, sustainable development. This is a necessity, not an option. Professionals must be at the forefront of green practices, skilled in waste reduction, the use of renewable energy and social responsibility programmes. This meets the expectations of increasingly engaged customers, while helping to preserve our planet. Customers demand responsible practices, and we must train our teams to integrate these values into every aspect of their daily work. This is much more than an obligation; it is a commitment to preserving our planet while meeting the growing expectations of travellers.
Secondly, personalising the customer experience is more than ever at the heart of our priorities. With the advent of artificial intelligence and new technologies, we can create perfectly tailored services. This requires ongoing training and support for our teams so that they can use these tools optimally and offer an ever more refined and unique experience.
Employee well-being has also become a major priority. Faced with a shortage of skilled labour, it is crucial to focus on mental health, creating motivating working conditions and financial stability. A healthy environment is the driving force behind a fulfilled and high-performing team. Training and employability trends in the luxury hospitality industry are undergoing a transformation, with three main areas emerging.
As for our requirements for our teams, we are looking for individuals who are passionate about the art of hospitality, ready to exceed expectations and create unforgettable moments. We believe that excellence is not limited to technical skills but also depends on impeccable behaviour. Our employees must embody this quest for perfection through ongoing training and support that enables them to develop, evolve and flourish in their careers.
Olivier Deveaud: The Luxury Hotelschool fully shares these three priorities. In terms of sustainability, climate change makes it essential to invest in preserving biodiversity and energy and to rethink water management, which is very important in hotels. On a societal level, training and education must also be developed locally.
Customer experience, innovation and new technologies will contribute to improving customer satisfaction and personalising service. Finally, personalisation through AI is revolutionising the customer experience, and professionals must know how to use it to analyse data and offer tailor-made services. In a world where every detail counts, this is the key to standing out and meeting the highest expectations.
Our school also emphasises employee loyalty in a sector where quality candidates are becoming a rare resource. We are also very committed to entrepreneurship and want to be able to support individual projects that will drive the sector's development and create jobs. Our bachelor's and master's programmes in French and English prepare students and raise awareness among the future players of tomorrow about these market needs and changes.
The trends Vincent Pimont talks about show that the hospitality industry is undergoing a major reorganisation. The world is changing, and customers' expectations and demands are changing, forcing organisations to take notice, transform and evolve their services. Groups are restructuring financially and operationally. They are integrating changing demands while preparing for the years ahead. The luxury hotel sector is growing strongly and will continue to develop rapidly over the next decade.
How do you attract talent to such a demanding sector at a time when recruitment is a real challenge for the hotel industry?
VP: To meet these challenges, we place particular emphasis on continuous training. We firmly believe that one of the best ways to attract and retain talent is to offer them solid development programmes, where every employee has the opportunity to improve and progress within our company. This demonstrates our commitment to their professional development but also ensures that our teams can thrive in a dynamic and demanding environment.
We also rely on the power of our employer brand. We promote our values, our culture and the real career opportunities we offer. We want every candidate to identify with what we represent and see us as a long-term career partner. A strong and authentic employer brand creates this unique connection and naturally attracts people who share our ambitions and passion for hospitality.
We are fortunate to recruit around 200 people for permanent positions each year, not to mention around 100 interns and 35 apprentices. These recruitments are a way for us to pass on our love for our profession and offer students from diverse backgrounds a chance to discover excellence in hospitality, while training them to become true ambassadors of our vision.
OD: Our core business and ambition is to train the best possible candidates for recruitment by the most prestigious hotels. Qualified staff have become a rare commodity, and the best-trained candidates will be the most sought-after in this highly demanding market. We want to support the biggest players in this sector and enable them to come to the Luxury Hotelschool to find the ‘gems in our pool’.
Everything is done at the school to ensure that our students meet the human resources managers of hotel groups as early as possible. Internships, our job forum and after-work events all contribute to this. Luxury hotels such as the Peninsula Paris and its teams participate. Every year, we have interns who have the opportunity to work there, and several of our alumni have been hired, which we are delighted about.
To attract talent, the school's recruitment teams are experts at identifying the right candidates. And often the students themselves recommend excellent candidates to us. The quality of our trainers and the quality of life on our campuses also help to attract the talented individuals of tomorrow.
The new international alumni network, many of whom hold key positions, also opens up unique mentoring and placement opportunities for our students, facilitating their integration into the professional world, both in France and internationally.
What do you expect from candidates with specialised training, such as that offered by the Luxury Hotelschool?
VP: For us, luxury hospitality is not just about technical skills, but requires a genuine passion and commitment to excellence. We are looking for candidates who combine a solid academic background with a love for this demanding profession. Graduates of the Luxury Hotelschool, renowned for its rigour, must be able to translate this high standard into their daily work.
We particularly value customer relationship management skills, the ability to anticipate and respond to the expectations of the most demanding customers, and mastery of international service standards. An understanding of current trends, such as sustainability, technological innovation and well-being, is also essential.
Finally, we are looking for people who are technically competent, but also able to adapt, work in a team and evolve with ease in a dynamic and multicultural environment.
OD: While our academic programmes perfectly meet the expectations of the managers of the most prestigious hotels, the demands of the luxury sector require a real passion and a genuine desire to serve and please. Our recruitment teams know how to identify the future leaders of the profession, whose interpersonal skills are in line with the codes of luxury. This appetite and our training techniques will enable them to combine French luxury excellence, Anglo-Saxon management principles and Swiss expertise in hotel training.
We train our students for all situations, interculturality and its specificities, crisis management and strategic decision-making. Our programmes include simulations of real-life situations and concrete case studies, enabling our graduates to develop the analytical and problem-solving skills that are essential in the luxury industry. The Luxury Hotelschool is like a specialised business school where all aspects of the business are covered, including finance, real estate, marketing, commerce and revenue management. It is absolutely not what the general public often thinks it is, due to a lack of knowledge, a profession consisting solely of chefs and maître d'hôtels.
What role do internships play in training your future employees and how do they prepare them for your processes and brand identity?
VP: Internships are much more than just a training step, they are a real springboard to excellence. They offer our future employees the opportunity to immerse themselves in our working methods and fully experience the unique identity of The Peninsula Paris. Through total immersion, they learn to embody our values: excellence in service and unwavering attention to detail.
These practical experiences allow interns to soak up our quality standards and understand the demands of our clientele. In short, internships are the ideal bridge between theory and reality, ensuring a smooth and successful integration into our team.
OD: As a privileged partner of the Luxury Hotelschool for several years, the Peninsula Paris welcomes bachelor's and master's students every year to join its teams for 5 to 6 months of internships. The internship is an incredible opportunity, because being able to integrate into this professional environment, where high standards and attention to detail are the cornerstones, right from the first year after graduating from high school is a real asset.
The tutors who support and supervise the students also help them to understand the finer points of the profession and validate the skills they have acquired. The objectives are twofold: to enable these students to discover the wonderful world of luxury hotels and to put into practice what they have learned at the Luxury Hotelschool throughout the year. This partnership is bearing fruit, as we are proud to currently have three of our former students in key positions at the Peninsula Paris. Their success is a testament to the quality of our training and the strength of our collaboration with the Parisian hotel.
What relationship do you have with schools, particularly the Luxury Hotelschool, which you are sponsoring this year?
VP: For us, recruitment begins well before the formal process. We go directly to meet talented individuals, visiting schools to present our company and welcoming groups of students for immersive tours of the hotel. We firmly believe in the importance of these direct exchanges, which is why we often bring an operational manager with us so that students can get a feel for what a career in luxury hospitality is like.
Our team of recruiters travels throughout France and Europe to meet these future talents. We have established a genuine relationship of trust with the Luxury Hotelschool: we support students from their first year in F&B and offer them learning opportunities as they progress. Every year, we take part in their Job Fair and welcome them for tours of the hotel so that they can imagine themselves in their future workplace.
What are the prospects for development and career progression within The Peninsula Paris and more broadly within the group?
VP: We offer tailor-made ‘Cross Exposure’ and ‘Corporate Management in Training’ programmes, as well as a range of ‘Learning & Development’ programmes for our deserving employees. We are a family-run group with opportunities for international development.
How does the partnership with the Luxury Hotelschool benefit recruitment?
VP: This partnership is essential for us because it gives us access to a pool of talent already trained to the highest standards of luxury hospitality. By working closely with the hotel school, we are guaranteed to recruit candidates who are not only competent but also perfectly aligned with our values of excellence. This direct link ensures that we select candidates who, upon arrival, are familiar with the requirements of the job and are ready to contribute immediately to our quest for perfection.
OD: We are very proud of our partnership with The Peninsula Paris. It perfectly illustrates the relevance of our approach and our teaching. Although we have a patron for each year group, the Peninsula Group has an image and uniqueness that are close to the school's values and well embodied by its general manager.
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