Soon the Plateau de Spélugues had been renamed after the ruler of the principality – ‘Mont Charles’ translates into ‘Monte Carlo’ – and Blanc was following the strategy he had adopted in Bad Homburg. He oversaw improvements to landscaping and lighting. He launched a newspaper, Le Journal de Monaco, and arranged to have it distributed with Le Figaro. He invited journalists to the resort by the score. Rather than waiting for the railway to arrive, he started a regular steamer ferry service from Nice, as well as stagecoaches for those who wished to arrive by road. He engaged the architect Dutrou to build the Hotel de Paris, ‘the most beautiful hotel in Europe’. (Alexandre Dumas of Three Musketeers fame was one of its first guests.) Just across the street, the Café Divan – later the Café de Paris – opened its doors in 1868. In the casino, Blanc dropped one of the two zeros (one red, one black) from its roulette wheels, thus improving clients’ chances of winning. By 1870, Monte Carlo was attracting 170,000 visitors a year. At the time of Blanc’s death, in 1877, this had increased to more than 300,000. ‘The Magician’ had bewitched Riviera tourists with a heady brew of risk, pleasure and opulence – and conjured up a country founded almost entirely on hedonism.
Today, as I mentioned earlier, the Société des Bains de Mer operates under the brand name Monte-Carlo SBM. Majority owned by the Monegasque state, it has around 3,000 employees and an annual income of more than €450 million. Alongside the original Casino de Monte-Carlo it owns four other casinos, four hotels – including the magnificent Hotel de Paris and Hotel Hermitage – the Thermes Marins spa, the jet set nightclub Jimmy’z and no less than 32 restaurants, as well as a clutch of other bars and nightspots. Its conference venues provide space for hundreds of seminars every year. And it is expanding abroad. In 2003 it entered into a strategic alliance with the US casino operator Wynn Resorts, acquiring a 3.6 per cent share for US $45 million. The alliance includes ‘an exchange of management expertise and the development of cross-marketing initiatives’ (‘Wynn Resorts and SBM of Monaco enter into strategic alliance’, Business Wire, 20 June 2003).
More recently, Monte-Carlo SBM announced the opening of a branded hotel, the Jawhar (‘jewel’) in Marrakech. The 80-room establishment incorporates a spa and banqueting rooms. The company is also looking at locations around Europe.
The repositioning of Monte Carlo as a luxury brand really began in 2002, with the arrival of director general Bernard Lambert. He considered that although the Société des Bains de Mer functioned perfectly well as a business, it was not fully exploiting its potential. With the resort’s clientele becoming younger and more international – hailing from Russia, Central Europe and China – he felt that the name ‘Monte Carlo’ had an increasing global resonance. More than a mere location, Monte Carlo was a spirit, a state of mind. In order to explore this idea further, Lambert hired the company’s first marketing director, Axel Hoppenot, in 2004.
Hoppenot says: ‘When I arrived, it seemed obvious to me that Monte Carlo was not just in the business of selling gambling chips, hotel rooms, food and drink and conference spaces. There was an emotional element to the brand that attracted people above and beyond its various facilities. It’s the “fairy tale” of Monte Carlo. And I thought this element could be strengthened within the resort as well as exported to other markets.’
Asked to define the values of the Monte Carlo brand, Hoppenot lists five key elements: ‘The first is the thrill. We’re a place that makes the pulse race, whether you’re talking about casinos, the Monaco Grand Prix or the Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament. The second is the sense of liberty we engender. Since the early days, when people came here to gamble because it was banned in France, Monte Carlo has been associated with freedom. Thirdly – and this may seem contradictory – Monte Carlo offers a sense of security. It’s extremely stable, with very little crime. And allied with that is the sense that this is a place where you feel good. It is blessed with an extremely pleasant climate and there are many facilities devoted to health and well-being.’
Fourth on Hoppenot’s list is l’art de vivre – the French concept of ‘the art of living’ – by which he means the pleasurable lifestyle that Monte Carlo offers to those with the means to enjoy it: the boutiques, the bars, the gourmet restaurants and the nightlife. He adds that Monte Carlo has a reputation for glamorous social events, such as the annual Bal de la Rose (‘Rose Ball’) in aid of the Princess Grace Foundation, which raises money for children in need.
Hoppenot is keen to stress another kind of art, too. You’d be wrong, he says, to assume that Monaco is a philistine place. The Opéra de Monte Carlo was inaugurated in 1879. Diaghilev came here with his Ballets Russes in 1911, with scenery designed by Jean Cocteau. The opera house still has a varied and innovative programme, specializing in staging little-known operas. Monte Carlo has its own symphony orchestra and ballet corps, as well as a 25-year-old spring programme of classical music recitals. Meanwhile, the concert halls at the Sporting Monte Carlo entertainment complex feature headline names like Eric Clapton, Grace Jones and Leonard Cohen. ‘The power of the Monte Carlo brand means that we can attract the world’s most famous performers,’ says Hoppenot.
The final element is, of course, aspiration. The fabulously wealthy could vacation anywhere – but many of them choose to come to Monte Carlo. ‘I believe there’s a sort of “wow factor” that attracts them. When you tell people you’re going to Monaco for a vacation, you can expect a certain reaction. We underline this by constantly striving to surprise our guests with new events and innovations.’
As an example he cities the Monte Carlo Jazz Festival, created in autumn 2006 as a way of spicing up the low season. In a similar vein, the Moods Studio & Music Bar – located below the Café de Paris – is a new live music venue for jazz, blues and rock artists.
Having rebranded as Monte-Carlo SBM, Hoppenot and his team deployed a number of tactics to promote the brand in a more concrete manner. An internet portal, montecarloreseort.com, brought the group’s offerings together under one digital roof. A new logo was designed to emphasize the name ‘Monte Carlo’ in the company’s communications. And in 2007 it worked with a Paris advertising agency to create a campaign using the slogan ‘Be Monte Carlo’. It spent more than €2 million on media placement in the upmarket international press (including the Financial Times, Forbes and Fortune), on the internet and on TV, notably CNN and CNBC. In addition, Monte-Carlo SBM also launched its own glossy lifestyle magazine, Monte Carlo Society, distributed throughout its various properties.
Monte Carlo’s clear positioning as a brand has given it the legitimacy to embark on projects like the hotel in Marrakech. In the future, there seems no reason why it shouldn’t expand into areas such as cosmetics – related to its spa offering – souvenir gifts and premium online gambling sites.
Axel Hoppenot says: ‘François Blanc said that it was not the prospect of winning that attracted people to Monte Carlo, but the sense that they could throw off their troubles and devote themselves, even for a short time, to the pursuit of pleasure. In that sense, when you come to Monte Carlo, you can’t lose.’
HOTEL WORLD
I’ve been staring at the view from my balcony at the Hotel de Paris for long enough – it’s time to go down to the lobby and do some work. With 182 rooms, 74 suites, three restaurants and a bar, the hotel is one of those dauntingly grand edifices that feel like miniature cities. You could get lost in its lobby – a vast marble-floored piazza whose domed ceiling swirls with plaster representations of turtles, stingrays, octopuses and giant gape-mouthed fish. Its supporting columns are crowned with seahorses.
I move through to the American Bar for a meeting with Luca Allegri, the hotel’s general manager. Allegri is a genial yet suitably suave gentleman whose trim salt-and-pepper goatee beard goes perfectly with his dapper suit. The hotel trade is in Allegri’s genes: his father was the head concierge at the Splendido in Portofino, part of the Orient Express group and one of the world’s most glamorous hotels. ‘I worked t
here during school holidays, carrying bags and helping out in the kitchen,’ Allegri recalls.
There is not enough room here to list all the famous hotels at which Allegri subsequently worked. They include the Mayfair Regent in New York, the Connaught in London, the Palazzo Sasso in Ravello and Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole. Midway through his career, Allegri decided that he wanted to learn more about the restaurant business, so he went to France and back to basics, working once again in a kitchen. During this period he made the acquaintance of the great French chef Alain Ducasse (see Chapter 16), with whom he developed an informal working partnership. When Ducasse signed a contract to open a restaurant at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris, Allegri joined him as food and beverage director – later rising to executive assistant manager.
‘The hotel had very strong brand. For instance, the bar at the Plaza Athénée was a popular socializing spot for fashionable young women, so we were able to sign a merchandizing deal with Lancôme to produce a branded lip-gloss range based on the flavours of our cocktails.’
Branding is important, says Allegri, because luxury travellers often regard hotels as destinations in their own right, rather than just beds for the night. ‘There should be nothing standard about the hotel. Everything should say: “This is different, this is why you come here.” For instance, the George V in Paris [where Allegri worked during its pre-opening period] is famous for the beautiful flower arrangements in the lobby.’
This sense of detail comes right down to the products in the bathroom. When Allegri arrived at the Hotel de Paris, he negotiated a deal with La Prairie, the Swiss skincare and cosmetics brand, because he wanted something that was ‘at the same time premium and trendy’. These arrangements are considered mutually beneficial as they express messages about both the hotel and the brand. And because the young rich have grown addicted to spa experiences, they devote more time to bathing rituals and are apt to judge a hotel by the luxuriousness of its bathroom – including the quality of the brands on display.
Allegri confirms that the first duty of a manger when he arrives at a hotel is to ensure that every square metre of the property is being capitalized on. Are the rooms priced correctly? Is the mix of accommodation varied enough to appeal to different tastes, or should some new concepts be introduced? Are the bars and restaurants of a high enough quality? Have they been successfully marketed to non-guests?
But all this, he says, is basic management. At the ultra-luxury level, it’s the human dimension that makes the real difference. ‘For instance, I learned from my father that the concierge is the most important person in the hotel – certainly as far as the guests are concerned. A good concierge is a guide, a diplomat and counsellor; they smooth over problems and book restaurant tables. They arrange theatre tickets and excursions. A concierge can actually make the difference between an excellent vacation and an average one.’
He adds, however, that every single member of a hotel’s staff should consider themselves a brand ambassador. ‘They should be elegant in their manners and formal in their approach. Sometimes there is an opportunity to adopt a more relaxed manner with a client, but in my view you should always keep a certain distance. It’s a tricky balance: provide excellent service without being overwhelming; be friendly without being familiar. These are the talents of the true professional.’
Allegri’s words bring to mind the motto of Horst Schulze, who helped to found the Ritz-Carlton group: ‘We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.’ This was accompanied by an entire customer service credo that Ritz-Carlton staff are still expected to carry on their person. It includes such gems as ‘I build strong relationships and create Ritz-Carlton guests for life,’ ‘I am empowered to create unique, memorable and personal experiences for our guests’ and ‘I own and immediately resolve guest problems.’
The latter is not just an empty phrase: even the most junior members of staff are allowed to spend up to US $2,000 to take care of a guest’s problem without having to seek permission at a higher level. Like many hotel groups, Ritz-Carlton has used technology to refine its approach to customer relations. The requirements and preferences of each guest – from specific requests to the type of fruit they selected from the basket in their room – are entered into a database, so their room can be personalized for their next stay. Employees are encouraged to remember names and use them.
With so many grand hotels dotted around the world – run, it seems, by groups who have raised customer service to an art form – new luxury establishments must work hard to compete. Some do so by offering a smaller ‘boutique’ format that provides guests with the quirky charm of a family-run hotel. Others package the hotel as ‘an experience’ that goes far beyond mere shelter. Often the result is an overblown ‘theme’ hotel of the sort that has long been familiar in Las Vegas. Until the recession put a brake on development, the Gulf was becoming a prime location for these sorts of projects. The Burj al Arab in Dubai led the trend: the sail-shaped profile of this 321-metre-tall hotel is familiar to architecture buffs everywhere. The hotel considers itself to be a ‘seven-star’ establishment due to touches like butlers appointed to every guest room. A more recent addition is the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, a blend of Arabian Nights fantasy and European grand hotel. The sand on its private beach was imported from Algeria, the local desert sand being too coarse.
There are plans for luxury underwater hotels (the Hydropolis, in Dubai, looks the closest to opening at the time of writing) and even a luxury airship hotel called ‘Manned Cloud’, envisioned by French designer Jean-Marie Massaud. ‘[His] plans foresee the 20-room sightseeing hotel accommodating 40 guests and 15 employees. A restaurant, bookstore, fitness studio and bar will provide entertainment, should watching the world go by through the enormous panorama windows... become boring’ (‘Luxury airship lets tourists enjoy the high life’, Spiegel Online International Edition, 7 February 2008).
These examples veer dangerously close to gimmickry. But what do you do if you plan to open a subtly smart hotel in a city with a genuine history and plenty of competing establishments? This was the challenge facing The Mark Hotel in New York as it prepared to reopen in the summer of 2009 after a top-to-toe overhaul. (In fact The Mark is a hybrid – the elegant building on Madison Avenue at 77th Street comprises 42 apartments and 118 hotel rooms.)
The solution was to blend French chic with zingy Manhattan hipness and a dash of whimsy. Izak Senbahar and Simon Elias of real estate developer Alexico Group have a track record of working with renowned designers and artists to give their properties a cultural touch. For The Mark, they called upon the services of Paris-based interior designer Jacques Grange.
The choice was unusual enough not to stumble into cliché, while elitist enough to appeal to a discerning target market. Grange made his name designing apartments for private clients like Valentino Garavani, Yves Saint Laurent and François Pinault. His style combines an haute couture sensibility with a bric-a-brac eccentricity, the edges rounded off by faultless sophistication. (If you don’t know what I mean, take a look at The Mark’s black-and-white striped marble lobby, which manages to be both startling and classic.) Grange’s American adventures began when Louise Sunshine, ‘a New York real estate marketing strategist’, visited his office on the rue du Faubourg St-Honoré in 1999. She persuaded him to work on an apartment complex called One Beacon Court, opposite Bloomingdale’s. And in 2006 she introduced him to Alexico and The Mark (‘A French star reinvents a New York classic’, The New York Post, 1 November 2007).
Grange designed all of the hotel’s 118 hotel rooms and 32 of its apartments (the remainder come unfurnished), along with its bar and lobby. His partner, Pierre Passebon, whose gallery in Paris exhibits the work of leading contemporary designers, also came on board as ‘curator’ of the project. Passebon commissioned star furniture designers like Ron Arad and Vladimir Kagan to create exclusive pieces for the hotel. The French duo and their collaborators have spearheaded the marketing of The Mark: appro
ving articles appeared in the US press months before the hotel was due to open. Writers enthused about the cloud-shaped bar, the oversized beds and sofas, the ivory taffeta curtains and the carpets whose design was based on Iznik lace.
To add to the stylish buzz around the hotel, French cartoonist and illustrator Jean-Philippe Delhomme was commissioned to create a lavish press kit and brochure, as well as to provide images for the website. The multimedia package was peppered with teasing ‘franglais’ slogans such as ‘l’adresse plus chic de New York’ and ‘c’est un landmark de l’Upper East Side’. These created the ambience of whimsical elegance that the developers and branding agency Pandiscio Co hoped to evoke.
But The Mark also had a secret weapon. Having blended Paris with Manhattan, the developers added British stiff upper lip in the form of the hotel’s general manager, James Sherwin. With ironic humour bubbling gently under his steely accent, Sherwin must go down a storm in New York. Having worked for the Savoy Group for many years, he has lived in the city since 1991 after ‘falling for the excitement and buzz of the place’. But his British sense of correctness remains intact: his staff will wear Turnbull & Asser tailoring and shoes by John Lobb. The hotel’s private car is a Bentley.
‘I believe I know what guests want from a luxury hotel – and it’s not vanilla,’ Sherwin says. ‘People are bored of corporate blandness. When they stay with us, they will be staying at a hotel with an identity.’
The hotel’s unique design may also tempt potential customers to abandon their usual choice of accommodation when they’re in town. Wealthy consumers – especially of the more mature variety – are notoriously set in their ways and may be loath to let go of a place where everyone knows their name. Sherwin himself has played an ambassadorial role by telling his own contacts and regular clients about The Mark.
Luxury World: The Past, Present and Future of Luxury Brands Page 12