Luxury Hospitality Daily News

< Previous news Next news >

INTERVIEW - MURIELLE DORÉ, TALENT & CULTURE DIRECTOR AT HÔTEL DE CRILLON, A ROSEWOOD HOTEL : "AS LONG AS THE MOTIVATION IS THERE, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE" (France)

Murielle Doré discusses the keys to the Crillon's success in recruiting and retaining employees, a strategy based on a proactive and committed policy

INTERVIEW - MURIELLE DORÉ, TALENT & CULTURE DIRECTOR AT HÔTEL DE CRILLON, A ROSEWOOD HOTEL : "AS LONG AS THE MOTIVATION IS THERE, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE" (France)

Murielle Doré discusses the keys to the Crillon's success in recruiting and retaining employees, a strategy based on a proactive and committed policy

Category: Europe - France - Careers - Recruitment / Job / Training - Interviews
Interview made by Vanessa Guerrier-Buisine on 2023-04-19


The Hotel de Crillon – A Rosewood Hotel, is committed to a voluntary approach to enhancing the attractiveness of its employer brand and building employee loyalty. This policy is supported by Vincent Billiard, General Manager of the Palace, who is willing to travel to promote the hotel and the luxury hotel industry to young people. This was recently the case at the EHL Hospitality Business School's Career Forum.

While the commitment of the entire management team and the involvement of all colleagues contribute to creating a positive synergy, Murielle Doré, Director of Talent & Culture, is responsible for implementing the entire human resources strategy of the Crillon Hotel.

This experienced professional spent ten years at the Four Seasons Hotel Georges V. There, she brilliantly took on the roles of training coordinator and personnel administration manager, while also working on the themes of mobility and senior social relations. These formative experiences led Murielle Doré to the Hotel de Crillon in January 2017.

The Journal des Palaces met with her to unveil the secrets of the attractiveness and loyalty of the Crillon's teams.

Journal des Palaces: Could you summarize your background?

Murielle Doré: I have a background in hotel management. Passionate about cooking since I was very young, I entered a hotel school in Brittany to obtain a CAP-BEP Cuisine when I was 16. Afterwards, I obtained a BTS in Hotel Management, then a Master's degree in Hotel Management.

When I was a child, cooking was a real pleasure. I have a great passion for cooking and good wine. Ten years ago, I went back to school to obtain a degree in Social Law.

What are the greatest challenges you face in your role as Talent & Culture Director?

As in all palaces, finding staff, especially in the restaurant business, remains a challenge. Once an employee has been recruited, we have to do our very best to keep them within the company.

This includes a pleasant working environment, social benefits, but also development prospects within the Hotel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel or our group Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. We have 31 hotels open worldwide and 24 planned to open over the next eight years.

What is the Hotel de Crillon's recruitment strategy? How do you work on your employer's brand?

The essential skills to join our teams are simple. We are looking for employees who like to be in contact with others, who like to work as a team, who are driven by the desire to please and to provide our guests with unforgettable experiences.

Our DNA plays a critical role in attracting new employees. This is reflected in our corporate culture, which is called “The Calling”. It's a job for you, something that gives you great personal satisfaction, it's not a job, it's a passion. The candidate's personality is essential to join our teams.

Our employer's brand benefits from the reputation of our group, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, but also from our management style. A participative management style, where we listen to the needs of our employees, where we also leave room for autonomy so that each person is fully involved in his or her duties. This is essential.

How many employees work at the Hotel de Crillon?

We have about 450 employees for 124 keys and 6 Restaurant outlets.

How do you create a sense of belonging to the brand?

The pleasure of giving pleasure is the leitmotiv of all the company's employees. This applies to our guests, but also to all employees towards each other. Our philosophy is “Relationship Hospitality”, a concept that translates into a human relationship with our guests and employees.

We cultivate recognition for our employees, we like to give them a voice to encourage them to give their best and to feel proud to be part of our group. Our vision is also reflected in three pillars: inspiring the imagination, enriching our lives and discovering the unexplored. These three pillars represent the essence of our company.

What do you have in place to attract talent?

We organize plenty of internal events to create a fun work dynamic. We offer yoga classes, relaxation classes, nutrition awareness classes, for example.

Furthermore, we will celebrate events such as Christmas by offering a gourmet basket to each employee. This may sound quite basic, but we make sure that the quality of the meals served in the cafeteria is good every day.

We also celebrate important events such as Pink October, and we take part in Duoday, which consists of welcoming a person with a disability to help them discover our businesses.

We also regularly benchmark our competitors to ensure that our pay and benefits remain competitive.

How do you deal with the shortage of qualified candidates?

We don't only recruit candidates with hotel training, we give a chance to candidates who demonstrate their motivation to come to work and learn the codes of our business. We work on the principle that motivation and desire are much more significant than initial training or experience.

At the Hotel de Crillon, it is possible to start a career in accommodation and move on to a position in the restaurant business. You can also start your career as a trainee and be promoted a few years later to the head of a team. As long as the motivation is there, anything is possible.

What profile characteristics do you particularly appreciate, and which make the difference in your eyes?

We are searching for candidates who share the values that drive us every day: passion, collaboration, transparency, responsibility, and innovation. Simple values, but essential to join our teams.

In your previous position, you managed senior social relations, how did this experience enrich your approach to human resources management?

I was lucky enough to hold various positions in Human Resources in my previous company. My last position in social relations enabled me to facilitate dialogue and communication as a means of motivating and retaining our employees. It also allows us to improve the working conditions of our employees.

Which positions are particularly open?

Positions in the kitchen, but also in the dining room.

What benefits are offered to the group's employees?

Our salaries are attractive, but that's not the main thing our applicants are looking for. They benefit from numerous social advantages such as 80% of the cost of health insurance, 80% of the cost of transport passes, bonuses and seniority days, a bonus for wearing the uniform, and also free nights in all the company's hotels.

This year, we are introducing a “knife bonus” for our kitchen and pastry staff. Each employee gets 12 nights per year. Moreover, we are offering 50% discounts to enjoy our outlets and experience the same as our guests!

Do you highlight the commitments of the Hotel de Crillon as part of your ESG approach to build loyalty among your employees? Do you involve them in solidarity or other actions?

Absolutely, this is reflected in Rosewood Impacts, a programme developed to highlight our employees through the various actions we undertake. Every month, our Chef goes to cook in the REFETTORIO Paris solidarity restaurant at the Foyer de l'Église de la Madeleine to help the homeless.

We sort waste, of course, but we also participate in other actions such as collecting unused soap and shower gel for the association “Clean The World”. We offer vouchers for an experience at Cafés Joyeux, a company that employs disabled people.

Our current challenge is to find a bike room for our employees, we are working on it and will find a solution!

How do you integrate new employees into the Hotel de Crillon?

All employees are welcomed with a two-day training course which allows them to familiarize themselves with our group and our hotel. During these two days, the Management Committee and each Department Head come to present their career path and their missions.

On the first day, we also offer a lunch in our Historic Lounges in my presence and our General Manager's so that the new employee can have a real guest experience and exchange with us. There is also a full tour of the hotel.

When an employee participates in these integration days, we give them a Welcome Pack which consists of a water bottle, a notebook, a USB key, a tote bag, each object bearing the Hotel de Crillon logo. All of these gestures are greatly appreciated by our employees.

Finally, we assign an in-house tutor to each employee so that they can be accompanied in their first weeks in our hotel. At the end of their probationary period, each employee is met by the Human Resources Department to assess their integration and their new position.

Do you offer specific support for your middle managers? Are training courses (leadership, management, etc.) or specific support offered to these employees?

We prefer to promote our employees internally and support them in their career development. To achieve this, we provide them with all the tools they need to succeed.

We support them with management and leadership training. The Rosewood group has created a development programme called Rosewood Academy, which is available for several types of people, young talent who want to move into team management positions within 12 to 18 months, managers who wish to take over the management of a team or more senior managers who intend to move into executive committee positions.

These programmes run for a year, with joint workshops for all employees who follow the programme in all Rosewood hotels. Each one benefits from individual and personalized coaching with a mentor who is part of the company's senior management. It's a real success story.

Do you have partnerships with schools to recruit apprentices?

Absolutely, we have a partnership with the Apprentis d'Auteuil for which we also raise funds. This is an association that helps young people and vulnerable families. We also have close relationships with hotel schools and business schools in Paris.

What do you think are the solutions to encourage young people to opt for a career in the luxury hotel industry?

I think that we must desacralize our professions. Some people may be apprehensive about applying for a job in the luxury hotel sector, but I would like to tell them that we are here to support them in their success.

I would also like them to be assured that we do everything we can to provide a pleasant working environment, which is critical.

What advice would you give to a young person who wants to work in the luxury hotel sector?

I would say that this sector offers wonderful opportunities for development and travel! It's a sector where you can work your way up to hotel management positions in a few years.
 

More about...




About the author

As a journalist and luxury hotel expert inspired by the men and women who embody it, Vanessa aspires to enhance and sublimate the beauty and elegance of palaces through her writing. "In a palace, simplicity serves the quest for excellence" she admires.


You will also like to read...







< Previous news Next news >




Join us on Facebook Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Instragram Follow us on Youtube Rss news feed



Questions

Hello and welcome to Journal des Palaces

You are a communication or the PR manager?
Click here

You are an applicant?
Check out our questions and answers here!

You are a recruiter?
Check out our questions and answers here!