INTERVIEW - FANNY GUIBOURET, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE FOUR SEASONS HOTEL KYOTO: "TRUE LUXURY IS KNOWING THAT YOU ARE UNDERSTOOD" (Japan)
Fanny Guibouret is living her lifelong dream, a dream of the Orient. After 25 years of patience, she recently stepped into the role of General Manager of the Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto |
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INTERVIEW - FANNY GUIBOURET, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE FOUR SEASONS HOTEL KYOTO: "TRUE LUXURY IS KNOWING THAT YOU ARE UNDERSTOOD" (Japan)
Fanny Guibouret is living her lifelong dream, a dream of the Orient. After 25 years of patience, she recently stepped into the role of General Manager of the Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto |
Category: Asia Pacific - Japan - - Interviews
Interview made by Vanessa Guerrier-Buisine on 2023-07-28
With two parents working for Club Med in New Caledonia, Fanny Guibouret grew up in a lively, cosmopolitan environment. She rubbed shoulders with Japanese guests on a daily basis, and quickly came to appreciate their natural kindness and caring attitude. It was at this early age that she identified her ultimate dream: to live and work in Japan.
After studying at the Besançon hotel school, she joined the Hyatt group as a receptionist at the Hyatt Regency Paris Charles de Gaulle. Her goal still in mind, after five years' experience, she asked to move to Japan within the group. Instead of the land of the rising sun, it would be the sun of Morocco, in Casablanca. In the White City, she spent ten years blossoming alongside her mentor, Christian Le Prince Monfort, then General Manager of the Hyatt Regency Casablanca. She joined the hotel as front desk manager, and worked her way up to the position of hotel manager.
As she once again spoke of her desire for Asia, she landed in Paris, at the Hôtel du Louvre, for her first assignment as General Manager. It was a challenge she rose to brilliantly, a hotel she fell in love with and for which she developed a sincere attachment. She voluntarily extended her stay to help transform the hotel and manage its renovation.
She still describes the experience as exceptional, and it kept her in Paris longer than she had expected. But the call of the east was too strong, and after 25 years of waiting, she decided to embrace her destiny and pursue a dream that was so far away and yet so deeply rooted in her. She left Hyatt to join Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts. The group offered her a double opportunity: to stay in the luxury hospitality industry, and to finally take off for Japan.
Last January, she took over the reins of the Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto. The Journal des Palaces met with Fanny Guibouret to find out more about this unfailingly determined hotelier.
Journal des Palaces: You started in the role of General Manager at Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto in January. What were your objectives when you were appointed?
Fanny Guibouret: When I arrived in January, it may seem surprising to Europeans, but we were still living with COVID-19 conditions, meaning that everyone was still masked throughout the hotel. Japan is one of the countries that opened up to the world the latest.
So, my job was focused on gradually getting the guest experience back on track. I also had to take care of the teams, who had been severely tested by the three years of COVID-19, which was excessively long here.
What are the most authentic experiences that you provide?
When travellers come to Kyoto, they are there first and foremost to discover Japan and its traditions, and to experience Japan as much as they can.
We are fortunate here in the hotel to have a strong imprint. The hotel was built around a pond over 800 years old, with little bridges, little islands, koi carp and turtles. When they look out of the window, our guests have almost the same view as in a Kyoto temple. They are immediately immersed in the heart of Japan. In addition, a tea house has been built on the pond, where a tea master officiates at traditional ceremonies.
Several times a week, maiko (apprentice geiko) also perform dances for guests.
At the Hôtel du Louvre, you have worked to preserve the soul and identity of the hotel, notably by joining Hyatt's Unbound Collection from the outset. How important is it today to determine a hotel's identity before making any changes?
The Hôtel du Louvre didn't fit into any box because it had a very strong identity. The first project was to turn it into an Andaz hotel, which often includes much more modern properties, and this would have impacted on the soul of the hotel. Hyatt therefore decided to create a new brand, the Unbound collection, which met the needs of the Louvre hotel.
For years, luxury guests have been looking for more than just a comfortable bed and a good location. Above all, they are searching for an experience, something different.
When you're lucky enough, as the Hôtel du Louvre is, to have such a long history and such a strong identity, you have a treasure trove. Making the most of it, using it, is a matter of course because no one can copy this charm, this history. By working on it, you stand out from the crowd, and that's what guests expect.
How did you experience the change from Hyatt to Four Seasons?
I was really very happy at Hyatt, where I experienced some wonderful years. But Four Seasons is a company that I've always admired, for its consistency in the luxury hospitality industry in terms of quality of service and products, value and corporate culture. My brother also worked there for 15 years. I always thought it was the only company that could make me leave Hyatt eventually.
I was very excited about the change because I was quite curious to see how Four Seasons worked from the inside, how we managed to deliver such a personalized guest experience. In the end, I felt very little apprehension because, with all the discussions I had before joining the hotel, I felt really confident. I met some very nice people who immediately gave me their support and confidence.
How would you define luxury hospitality?
In my opinion, true luxury is knowing that you are understood, without even having to express your needs. This requires our teams to learn to understand our guests, to guess what they are thinking, to read the hidden codes and to be able to adapt to each type of guest.
Some guests need to be recognized and are happy for us to take the time, while others want us to preserve their privacy.
It may be as simple as checking the weather forecast for them, or advising a guest leaving in the morning to borrow an umbrella. The guest doesn't have to ask for anything, we're there to anticipate.
What do you see as the main challenges and opportunities facing the sector? Does Japan have its own special characteristics, or are the issues much the same?
Unfortunately, it's the same challenges here as in Europe and everywhere else in the world: recruitment. This is a real challenge for all hoteliers, and the hospitality industry is not the only sector affected by this phenomenon.
Clearly, the main challenge is to restore the attractiveness of our sector, to encourage young people to choose this industry.
What's different about Japan is that we're on an island, and we can't easily recruit from neighbouring countries, like we could recruit Italians or Spanish in France. We're much more isolated, and it's not always easy to bring in foreign workers. In the local market, fewer and fewer people want to join the sector.
You say you wish to have a positive impact on people. What are your methods?
I constantly try to understand the person and see how you can be helpful. It's a question of paying attention to the person, being really connected to them, being sensitive to the signs that can make them happy. Empathy is a very good tool for this. It means guiding someone in the street, helping a parent with a pushchair on the underground, helping an employee in his or her career development, making a guest's stay exceptional, and so on.
I find it rewarding to make a small contribution, to try to be benevolent.
You're a child of Club Med, as your parents both worked there. What has the Club Med culture given you?
The Club Med culture has given me an enormous amount, almost as much as the education I received from my parents. It's what built me up. If I hadn't been immersed in the Club Med culture from birth to the age of 17, I'd be a very different person today.
I was lucky because my parents, who met at Club Med, both worked there. My dad was responsible for the catering in the Asia zone, and that's where it all started.
From the age of 12, I lived at Club Med in New Caledonia, at the resort. All day long I was surrounded by guests of Asian origin, Japanese in particular, but also Chinese and Australians…. I had lunch and dinner with them. That's when I became fascinated by Japanese culture. By the age of 12, I had already decided that Japan was where I was going to live. It was there that I started to learn Japanese and to speak Japanese whenever I saw Japanese people in the resort, at lunchtime and in the evening.
The Club Med opened me up to the world, to different cultures and diversity. I was excessively shy, and Club Med cured me of that.
That's why I chose the hospitality industry, to continue to experience what I had experienced from the age of 12 to 17, surrounded by different people. It's such a rich experience that I absolutely didn't want to leave this environment. My brother and sister followed the same path.
Japan was your dream country. What do you find most appealing about it?
It's the Japanese people and Japanese culture that I like so much. And above all, respect, which I find tends to disappear in many societies. In Japan, these values are deeply rooted, especially respect for others. The Japanese always think of the group, of the community, before themselves. There's this desire not to disturb others, not to bother them in any way.
In addition to this respect for others, there is respect for nature and for property. Politeness, empathy, courtesy and mutual aid all flow from this. We are not individuals, we live in a group and we help each other. Whether at work, with our neighbours or in everyday life, there is genuine kindness, although unfortunately, like everywhere, there are exceptions.
Safety is absolute. You can go for a walk anywhere, at any time of day, take the metro, and so on. You see many children walking alone in Japan. All the adults look after them, it really is a different way of life. It's very soothing, especially in Kyoto.
How did your family cope with the move?
Exceedingly well. I'd been preparing my husband and children for 10 years to come and live in Japan. We had a Japanese nanny in Paris for 10 years, who spoke only Japanese to the children. So, our children already speak good Japanese and eat Japanese food. For their 10th birthday, my two eldest children spent two weeks alone with their nanny in Japan, with her family.
I have a Japanese family at heart in Tokyo, who came to visit us every year in Paris. Japan has always been part of our lives, and I've passed on this love of Japan to my children from an early age.
When I told them we were going to live there, one of my daughters burst into tears of joy. My husband was already familiar with Japan, having been there twice before. He loves Japanese culture too. He's even thinking of living there permanently.
As a Frenchwoman, what do you think are the benefits of an experience abroad?
It really makes you question yourself. It's a great source of learning because you have to learn the codes, a new culture, habits and customs, the way we work… You can get completely overwhelmed.
It's also a real lesson in humility because in the end, we're still newcomers, we're guests in the country. It's up to us to adapt. I love learning and experiences like this open you up to the world and to other people. It makes you much more understanding.
That's why I really wanted my children to come and live abroad, so that they could experience what I experienced when I was younger, and acquire the open-mindedness that is so crucial for me today.
What do you think is the difference between running a luxury hotel in France and abroad?
In the end, there isn't much. The guests are the same, whether they're at the Four Seasons George V in Paris or the Four Seasons in Kyoto. The expectations are the same, as are the codes of luxury.
What's different is the culture in which we operate. It's a question of adapting to everyday life to adapt to ways of working, which involve more or less the same procedures.
We don't communicate in the same way either, so as not to offend. In France, we tend to be more direct than in Asia. This means that we need to observe and understand how our employees work, to limit the risk of blunders. It's all about adapting to the local culture.
How do hoteliers in Kyoto, and in Japan more generally, perceive French profiles?
The Japanese have always had a great deal of admiration for French culture in general. Paris, the French gastronomy, our architecture, our luxury brands arouse their interest.
The French are very welcome. Our two cultures are both distant and close, particularly when it comes to luxury, elegance, and refinement.
Many Japanese hotel owners are looking for international general managers, and some want Japanese people. But not specifically French profiles.
Is there such a thing as French-style management? If so, how would you define it?
Having pursued a career with an American group, and now with a Canadian company, I've never really identified what you might call French-style management.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I chose the hospitality industry because of its openness to the world. I like being surrounded by people. My office door is always open because I don't like to be alone. In the hospitality industry, between the employees, the guests, and the diversity of personalities and origins, there's a great richness, it's a considerable source of learning. It's clearly a job that's all about people, so if you like being surrounded by human beings, it's a good place to be.
What I find exciting about my job is that no two days are ever the same. You can be in the kitchen testing dishes with the chef and working on the new menu. A few moments later, you may be greeting guests and having a drink with others to get to know them better and build relationships with them. Then you can work on a marketing strategy and analyse the competition, our costs, decide how we can better control our spending…
And then you can work with the technical department, looking at the boiler, understanding the problems, optimizing maintenance. It's an extremely broad field.
You create brooches, which reveals a strong sense of creativity. How do you use this sensitivity in your work?
In our profession, there's a whole area where you can exploit your creativity. And Four Seasons also gives its directors a great deal of freedom in terms of decoration, uniforms, the items we sell in our shop, the exhibitions we want to organize, the partnerships we want to create, etc.
There are many opportunities to create, like activities for guests. You can always be innovative and invent something different.
Could you mention a few professional encounters that have marked your career? Do you have any mentors, and if so, can you tell us about them?
One person who springs spontaneously to mind is Christian Le Prince Monfort, then General Manager of the Hyatt Regency Casablanca, now retired, who was a mentor to me for 10 years in Morocco.
It was he who offered me my job as hotel manager. He put all his trust in me and gave me the reins of his hotel so that I could grow and learn. He let me make mistakes and always took responsibility because it was still his hotel. It didn't matter what mistakes or bad choices I made.
He was always there if I had the slightest question, if I needed advice, he was there for me and looked after me. He sometimes redirected my attention, but didn't interfere, just left me to it, and that's the best way to learn. To learn a little by yourself, and to try, to learn by experience.
Are there any mantras or quotes that accompany you?
I actually have three mantras that I always refer to:
- “What doesn't kill you makes you stronger”, by Nietzsche, and all about resilience
- Lenin's “Where there's a will, there's a way”, all about determination
- “Impose your luck, squeeze your happiness and go for your risk. By watching you, they'll get used to you”, by René Char, all about taking risks and believing in your luck.
What advice would you give to luxury hospitality industry professionals who want to work abroad, particularly in Japan? And to young people just starting out in their careers?
The doors are wide open, due to the lack of talent, employees and interested parties. Here, we're looking for a room service manager, a head concierge, assistant receptionists - we're looking for a wide range of profiles who don't even have to speak Japanese any more.
I would have loved to have had this opportunity 20 years ago, I would have seized it immediately. What fascinates me is that so few people apply. There are two ways to work in the hospitality industry in Japan: you need a Master's degree or 10 years' experience in the hospitality industry.
Here in Japan, housing is very easy. Most employees found accommodation in Kyoto within a week. Rents are much cheaper than in Paris, for example. Salaries have always been in line with those in France, and although they are suffering a little from the exchange rate of the yen currently, life is cheaper here. The people who come here find it a perfect fit.
What advice would you give to a young person wanting to make a career in the luxury hospitality industry?
I'd say take the time to choose your company carefully. Because these days, there's so much on offer, even in the luxury industry. Back then, I didn't necessarily choose based on financial conditions or working conditions, but much more on philosophy, values and what the company stood for.
I recommend taking the time to choose, to assess whether you are the right person for the company. If only by going for an interview, you can get a feel for the atmosphere at reception. By observing the employees at work, whether they look happy and smiling or very serious. It's important to listen to yourself: do I feel at ease here? Do I feel part of this team?
There really are all types of hospitality, including chains that I'd never work for because they're too standardised or too traditional for me and don't suit me. When you find a company where your values are aligned, you can go very far. That's how I chose Hyatt at the time, and I've been extremely happy there.
It really is an extraordinary job.
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