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During the recent launch of INTEHL at the Ecole Hôtellière de Lausanne, Cleverdis Editor in Chief Richard Barnes had the honour of meeting with one of the greatest legends of the business, Mr. Paul Dubrule… the man who braved all odds to launch the Accor Hotel Group. In this interview, Mr. Dubrule gives us a candid look at some of the secrets behind the group’s success…
Here at the Hotel school at Lausanne we are seeing an even greater effort to launch into entrepreneurship and innovation with the official launch of INTEHL. How do you feel about this in the hotel business? How important is it? It is important for the young students to be able to develop their own enterprise, hotel restaurant, any other kind of activity linked to the hotel and restaurant business and very often they need support and coaching. Of course they need money, but they will need more than that. Coaching is important, because there are a lot of obstacles and if we can help them during that period of development, then I think there will be more and more entrepreneurs in the industry. You see there are a lot of hotels and restaurants that are closing because they are too expensive to buy and some young people think it is too difficult to work in the industry, which is not true. As you said, technology has changed the business so one needs to use the knowledge of business to run it differently. Just before getting more into the technology aspect of things, business models are changing greatly and we’ve seen this in the Accor group as well… the way the hotels are being managed, run, and owned. This is going to change the way entrepreneurship plays a part, as well as the different types of businesses becoming involved in the hotel businesses… building businesses, financial businesses, getting involved in the hotel business as backers… So then we supposedly need more entrepreneurs in the business itself… I don’t think that the change is that important. Of course the world is changing so the business needs to change. People are changing too so you need to adjust. The only problem is that there are people who do not want to change and then if they change it is only with their environment. There are now cell phones, the Blackberry for example, and the Internet to make reservations. There are many different new technologies but there is some opposition to help the hotelier develop these things. So you start the business with consulting, learning, and teaching, but in the business itself you always have to add the new technology in the hotel and we have to be on top of how to put it into use to give better service, comfort, and to ease the work of the employee which is one of the most important things. When I decided the Ibis room I did not design it for the customer, I designed it for the employee, because it is very important that the employee could work easily with no difficulties. When I look at a new room by a designer and they ask “do you like it?” I often say I don’t mind because it is irrelevant to know if I like it or not. What I am doing is counting the length from the table to the chair and to the bed, because every foot is a problem for the chambermaid with the vacuum cleaner. Now new tech is helping staff, with new communications tools in hotels such as PDA’s and things like that to help the staff communicate on the different floors in the bigger hotels, the use of IP telephones for example to assist the staff, the booking systems have been streamlined to help the staff… We have to try putting into work those new devices. Some are useless but only because customers do not want to use them now. But that does not mean they will not be used in two years from now. You cannot reject any new innovation. You just have to work a lot to put it in the right place and right situation. What is the general philosophy to the Accor group with the regard to new technologies? How important is it today? It’s fundamental. The success of Accor has always been based on new technology. You would probably laugh at me about what was in the first Novotel, but the first Novotel had the second cash register in all the Lille area, with a million inhabitants; the first telex; it was the first hotel with a full bathroom; the first with a swimming pool; the first with a direct telephone from the room to the outside. Today it seems ridiculous but at that time it was a complete innovation. I’ve always said to our people that we have to look at any new innovation that can be applied to our hotels. We have to learn if we can use them properly and with a profit. Obviously the last word is the key… speaking of profit and Return on Investment, is it difficult to calculate this with this kind of thing? It is not easy, because sometimes you can give something to your customer but that does not mean you can increase your price. At one time, 20 years ago, the marketing manager came with a project for Ibis, saying, “That’s what we have to add for the customer” and there were about 20 items. All the franchisees were happy, applauding, saying “fantastic”, and I said “ok, that is very interesting but for me it is bullshit! Roughly, we have to increase our price just to amortise this, by 15 French Francs! Are the customers ready to pay 15 Francs more?” Everyone said no, so I said, “…What do you want to do with that? You’re going to reduce your margin, probably be in deficit, so it’s useless… that’s not the way to do it.” You have to have some idea of what profit you are going to get back. Maybe it is better for the employees, or maybe you can put a few francs more in the rate of the room, or maybe just the customer will have more loyalty but you have to measure it. Have you been able to measure things like that in the past? With, as they say, the finger in the wind! Sometimes it’s easy because there is a real price on the return, but most times, no. What is the biggest challenge in the future? In the next 10-15 years? There will be a new generation of customers and we don’t know exactly what the needs will be of these new generations… New generations and new countries… for example if you take India and China there are about a million customers that will be travelling. So what are their needs in their country and what are they outside the country when they travel? That is not very easy. Also the young that are 20 -30, they think a little bit differently. They behave differently, so we have to understand what their needs will be in the future, because when you build a hotel it’s not like launching a new product as hotels are a long-term investment. You have to anticipate the technology, but the technology is only a part of it. A personal welcome is always important? Yes and no. There will be a category of people who will need that personalised service but there will be others that are content without the personalisation, because they do not need it. But then again the same people have different needs when they travel for business and luxury. So the industry will be more complex. |
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 Paul Dubrule, Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors and Founder of Accor SA © photo: Cleverdis |
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