Maud Bailly, CEO Sofitel, MGallery and Emblems was in Sydney recently attending the reopening of Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, and to provide an update on clarifying the brand promise, cleaning the network, and its CSR roadmap. Karryon Luxury attends the briefing.
At a press conference Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, prior to its star-studded reopening party, the personable, French-national Bailly addressed a select group of media, jesting that she felt like a “giant black cupcake” in her formal dress and telling us that there no question that was off limits.
Appointed in 2023 as CEO after eight year with Accor, her refreshing candour seemed in alignment with the overall refresh and desire of Sofitel to update its brand persona to a modern version of luxury: retaining its high standards but adopting a more ‘approachable’ vision of luxury hospitality.
In the same week as the Sydney press conference, Bailly had been in Cairo signing a new hotel “the biggest Sofitel of my network”; as well as Dubai for the opening of new Sofitel residences; then on to Hanoi; before arriving in Sydney.
The hotel group is celebrating its diamond jubilee in 2024, 60 years since its creation in 1964.
Bailly spoke frankly about the 60-year old brand being a “gift” – but acknowledging it can also be a “bit tricky because it can be a legacy.”
Her mandate has been to reignite the brand globally, finding Sofitel at a crossroads when she took the reins.
“I want to share with you a very transparent statement. We had a two-speed network and discrepancy was killing credibility and luxury.
“Luxury can’t cope with any compromise and quality of the product or the service. So my mandate consisted into reigniting the brand promise, clarifying the brand promise, but also cleaning the network: i.e meeting each owner and trying to convince them to renovate, or to rebrand, or to de-flag,” she said.
She pointed to the challenges of new competition from lifestyle brands, a lack of ‘sexiness’, and “sometimes people looking at us as a bit of an old, arrogant French brand, a bit dusty, if I may say…. and a lack of global ambition,” she said.
Sofitel currently has 120 hotels in its portfolio, and 31,000 rooms. Some 24 per cent of Sofitel’s brands are located in Asia Pacific, with 29 hotels and 7,600 rooms.
Bailly announced that 30 new Sofitel hotels are set to open worldwide by 2028. And that 26 per cent of the Sofitel network is currently engaged in renovations.
“I’m validating each new lead, no matter if it’s in Japan, Seoul, Australia, Manila or Sao Paulo. We are scanning each new project according to our brands and people standards. It’s ensuring a key element in luxury, which is consistency,” she said.
Sofitel welcomes four million guests per year and Australia represents an equal feeder market for the brand as the United States – each accounting for 15 per cent of room revenue; followed by France (12 per cent); UK (eight per cent); and Germany (three per cent).
The top destinations for Australian guests are Australia (61 per cent); Fiji (12 per cent); Indonesia (4 per cent); New Zealand (4 per cent); and Singapore (3 per cent).
Accor has seen a shift for the Sofitel brand following the pandemic – moving from being more of a business hotel to a leisure hotel brand (stays have now shifted to 64 per cent leisure and 36 per cent business).
“Luxury is about consistency of the product and the service culture. The Pacific is obviously a super important market for us. Sofitel is a very powerful luxury brand in the Pacific. Nevertheless, the competition is fierce and dynamic and we need to be humble. Here in Australia, it’s number one in its segment with seven hotels and 2,500 rooms,” said Bailly.
Following in the footsteps of the 436-key Sofitel Sydney’s AUD$70 million renovation, Bailly announced that Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort will be undergoing a full renovation.
She spoke about Sofitel’s CSR Roadmap. Some 70 per cent of the hotels have been certified in 2024, and they are working towards a goal of 100 per cent by the end of 2025.
“In the Pacific, I know that sustainability matters. I’m travelling all around the world, and I can tell you that still, in some parts of the world… it’s not the case.
“We are not going to wait for any regulation to try to be pioneers of a sustainable luxury,” she said.
“With so much power, so much money, it’s almost unbearable to think that our luxury segment doesn’t give a ‘hmmm’… excuse my French. So we’ve been embedding sustainability into the very core of our Sofitel DNA. “
“We need to be clear and understood, creative, consistent and committed,” she said.
“Luxury should lead the way in sustainable hospitality. I’m getting rid of any single-use plastic. I’ve been testing 43 different models of types of plastic free slippers. Guess what? Breaking news: plastic free slippers are slippery! We’ve been working with a audit body to test the relevancy and the sustainable dimensions of plastic free slippers
“We identified 48 single-use plastic items in the rooms of the guests; and now we’re working on getting rid of any single-use plastic back of house.”
Bailly says the team has also been working on supporting diversity, equity and inclusion through the people working in the Sofitel business.
“Let’s not forget people. I’ve been working very hard on diversity, equity, inclusion. I’m pushing very hard on female GMs. I appointed 10 female GMs this year – I lost 10. So I’m trying hard, but it’s not that easy. They are hunted. They are wanted.
“I don’t want to be just surrounded by women, don’t get me wrong. I want men and women; senior and junior; with different national and cultural backgrounds – because as a leader, I believe that diversity is a wonderful lever of collective intelligence,” she said.
For more information, visit sofitel.accor.com
