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Peninsula Paris’ acting GM relishes the competition

“I ended last year as hotel manager and, with no end in sight, started this year as hotel manager and acting GM,” says Brice Delclos, temporary boss of the 208-key The Peninsula Paris.

The departure of the previous GM was announced to the executive committee on November 20, and quickly news permeated throughout the property.

Brice Delclos in the lobby of The Peninsula Paris
Brice Delclos in the lobby of The Peninsula Paris

“All our 580 colleagues were immediately supportive. As is the French way, some used to call me Brice and others Monsieur Delclos. The same people still call me by my first name, the others continue to call me, more formally, by my family name. No change there,” he explained.

What has changed is his daily schedule. Before, he would arrive at work around 7:45 a.m. and now it is at least 30 minutes earlier. “I am working six days a week, typically through to 9 p.m., but I love every minute of it,” he shared. For the past few years he has been running every morning, at 5:30 a.m., with his wife, a fellow marathoner who is spa director at another top Paris hotel, but as luck would have it in September he collided, pre-dawn, with a car. He is off crutches but still hobbling and could not currently do that daily early workout even if he had time.

The hotel runs as it always has, with the efficiency associated with the brand. Rooms business sees a staggering 45% repeats, which includes corporates, and 85% of F&B covers are from outside.

“Every day I ask myself what we can all do better for both the rooms guests, and for local diners, as well as how can we improve the working environment for the whole team. I oversaw F&B and housekeeping before, but I have had to do quick immersion in spreadsheets, finance, distribution and sales and marketing. Our finance controller has been here since the hotel opened in 2014 and has been tremendously helpful.”

He has been supported by weekly telephone calls – Tuesday, 8 a.m. Paris time – with Peninsula COO Peter Borer, who is based in Hong Kong (The Peninsula’s parent, HSH, has 20% equity in the property). He also really appreciates the advice he is getting from representative of Katara Hospitality, which is majority owner (“Omer Acar ran Harrods Food Hall before becoming GM of The Ritz Paris, and he has detailed intuition for F&B and for the challenges facing hotel operations”).

One of his first opportunities was carrying out internal promotions, but sadly he also had to let one team member go. This is all part of a learning curve that continues every day. He always used to meet and greet many hotel guests, but now he is even more on the floor.

“It is a far cry from when I started, cooking at the age of 13 for my family in Toulon, near St-Tropez, France, but I soon realized I wanted a life in hospitality, and this current challenge has just made me even more competitive. More than ever I want to be a renowned GM of a luxury hotel. Meanwhile, with no end of this current phase in sight, I set myself a daily challenge. For today, Wednesday February 11, I am determined that The Peninsula Paris will be in TripAdvisor’s top 10 for Paris. Yesterday we were only number 11,” he laughed.

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