Interview with Candice Jabouille La Salle

How was Hospitality Reset Solutions born?



• Our service offer was born out of the desire to help independant hotels and tourism stakeholders overcome the Covid-19 crisis by focusing on innovation. Also, during my 20 or more years of experience in luxury hospitality, in recent years I have observed in several 5* Swiss hotels, organisational, financial and human dysfunctions that have an inevitable impact on profit. In all these businesses I discovered complicated situations and weakened structures. I wanted to use my experience to offer solutions that focus on optimisation and innovation. 


What types of dysfunctions have you observed?

• Many hoteliers, because of lack of time, perspective or resources, because of the complexity of the technical tools (I am thinking in particular of Revenue Management), because micro-management is still very present, and because the authority of managers is restricted, do not have an overview of the operation of their hotel that would allow them to make the right decisions. 
Also, many hotels, previously managed by hoteliers who knew their profession very well, are now managed by external managers who are primarily interested in short-term financial profit. There is a conflict between the external financial managers on the one hand, and the hoteliers on the other. The hoteliers are certainly interested in financial results, but in the human aspect also. Hospitality is a human-based profession.

What do you recommend ?

• I recommend optimizing the organization by acting and finding the right balance between 4 components: STRUCTURE – PEOPLE – MEANS – PROCESS. I advocate giving the means to the teams to deliver success. I encourage innovation at all levels: in restaurant concepts, marketing & communication, customer relations, methods of operation etc. I advocate a global and creative vision of the customer experience, from the sales approach to the customer feedback on social networks, because if one link in the chain is faulty, the impact on online reputation is immediate, and consequently on results also. Finally, in order to release the energy of the employees & thereby increase their commitment, I encourage a more horizontal & less of a vertical structure, which is still very present in the hotel industry. I believe that the organizations that favor a human approach are the ones that will perform the best. 
There can be no sustainable profit without a corporate culture that puts people first.

So your approach is not focused on just increasing the revenue? 



• I believe that there can be no profit if only revenue is considered to the detriment of the human aspect, the customer, and the product. Profit comes from the whole. 



Should the hotel industry adapt to new trends and evolve?

• The hotel industry is changing rapidly. The Covid crisis only accelerates a necessary process of evolution and the paradigm shift. Some hoteliers will board the train, others will remain at the platform without changing anything. In particular, the industry is lagging behind in digital terms and this imperative to develop digital is not always understood, with many hoteliers still attached to classic brochures and paper visuals which are expensive and which customers no longer want. I consider “paperless” to be the future.

What was your background before creating this service offer?

• I developed a passion for hotels very early, thanks in particular to the occasions when our grandfather – who was Swiss and one of the hotel’s most regular customers – invited us to stay with him at the Hôtel des Trois Couronnes, a legendary palace on the shores of Lake Léman in Vevey. Then I had the chance to study at the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne which gave me a very solid base before moving to various 5* in Paris and Switzerland, firstly in the Rooms Division and then in the Sales & Marketing department. During the past five years, I have led the Sales & Marketing teams, and been part of the Executive Committee, of several 5* in Geneva and Gstaad. In each, I have restructured the department to make it more optimal.

Who do you work with and how do you help them?

• My wish is to support the owners and general managers of independant 3 and 4* hotels who want to boost their results and the overall functioning of their organisation: committed hoteliers, ready to invest time, energy and money in order to bounce back from the crisis, and who are open to a perspective that challenges their vision.



What added value do you bring compared to other consultants?

• An expert eye that has experienced and observed a lot, a dynamism and enthusiasm that my teams have been able to experience on a daily basis, a dusted vision that challenges the established order of the hotel industry, and a point of view that favors innovation. I am capable of challenging the status quo. More concretely, I bring tangible and lasting results. I favor action, common sense and efficiency.

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