Jean Claude Wietzel (IMHI 91) is the Regional Vice President & General Manager at Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris and was kind enough to share his experience with us.

AAIMHI:

Jean Claude, we are quite interested in how you started in the hospitality industry? We read your parents were bakers, was that the trigger?

Jean Claude:

Yes, my brother and I lived above my parents’ bakery! 

I remember being 15-16 years old and listening to the stories of my father’s friend who was a pastry chef, based in Maui. I thought this experience was wonderful, hearing about all these destinations, his passion. I told my parents that this was the perfect way for me to combine my passions for travelling and food, and that I wanted to start in the hospitality industry.

So, I did the BTH (NDLR: Brevet de technicien en hôtellerie) the technical baccalaureate, in Food & Beverage, followed by a BTS (NDLR: Brevet de technicien supérieur) in the “Ecole hôtelière de Nice ». 

I did all the exams to enter IMHI, but despite the additional classes I took to prepare for the exams, my English was very rusty. I learned all the questions for my interview by heart and I did great. But then Michael Nowlis asked me a question I wasn’t prepared for, and he realized that my English was not that good… Finally, they accepted me to IMHI under the condition that go abroad for one year to learn English before I start the program.

So, to improve my English, I started to work in London in a small hotel, where I served breakfasts in the mornings. But my colleagues spoke a very thick Cockney English and I couldn’t understand anything. I realized that my English wasn’t going to improve there, and I moved to Orlando to work for Disney. I definitively learned more there until I was transferred to the French Pavilion. So, I returned to London and did a couple of months of intensive classes in English while working as a waiter in the evenings.

AAIMHI:

What do you remember from your time at IMHI?

Jean Claude:

IMHI was amazing! What most impressed me was the mix of nationalities. Naturally the academics were excellent, with a diversity of professors coming from different schools, from the UK, from Cornell, the ESSEC group... But I think I learned most from the interaction with the different students. I was fascinated by the diversity of cultures and nationalities. Having group assignments with people from China, India, Spain, learning from their different way of thinking and having to adapt…That prepared me for a future in an international career, and it opened my mind.

I also believe that compared to the French system, where you are told what to write and what to learn, you learn to be more independent. You know your readings, you must understand them and then you have the debates at school, an approach which I found very interesting.

In regards of your fellow students, you keep in contact after many years, and while we have had many different careers we stay connected from the different parts of the world. 

AAIMHI:

You left France very quickly after graduation, didn’t you?

Jean Claude:

Yes, when I graduated in 1991, I had to do the military service for one year. At that time there was a collaboration between French companies and the French army, where you could do the service while working abroad for that company. Le Meridien Hotels offered this possibility and I worked for them in London for one year as part of that agreement and continued working for Le Meridien for ten years in San Diego, California, Phuket in Thailand, and Melbourne in Australia. 

Then, 20 years ago, I moved from Le Meridien to Four Seasons where I started as a hotel manager at the Four Seasons New York. I moved to Paris again as the Hotel Manager of the Four Seasons George V, then to Egypt as a General Manager of the Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh, to Morocco as the opening General Manager of the Four Seasons Marrakech, Hawaii as the Regional Vice President and General Manager of the Four Seasons Maui and finally moved back to Paris four years ago. 

I met my wife in Phuket, and we have two children who were born in Paris when I first worked in France. Most of my professional career was overseas and we moved to different locations with the family.

IMHI allowed me to be exposed to different topics, such as development, finance, marketing, which really helps you when entering the industry. The ability to understand these topics quicker than people that haven’t been exposed to them, allows you to grow faster.  The program gives you knowledge, a toolbox, that can act as an accelerator, even though I believe that you learn on the job, with the experience you gain. 

AAIMHI

Which advice would you share with the new IMHI graduates?

Jean Claude

No matter where you go or what you do, listen, and understand the needs of the different people you work with. 

Connect. It is easier when you enter a workforce and you connect with the people you work with and they appreciate you, they will always help you succeed.  Show that you are a team player and that you want to help as well. 

As you grow as a manager, understand the specific needs of the people in the different countries are, understand different cultures and never assume that your management style in one country will work everywhere. 

I made some mistakes myself, laughing about it now, but there where instances where I wish I had understood the culture before starting. 

For example, when working in California, we had meetings around a table where everybody expresses their opinion, everyone has something to say. Moving to Thailand in the 90s, I tried a brainstorming session after a couple of weeks and asked various questions to the group. After the meeting, the Human Resources Manager asked me why I did that, because the team was under the impression that I asked them what to do because I didn’t know my job. 

Make sure you understand the culture, you meet the people you work with and understand the type of business you get into. Will you have to realign the business, or will you just have to sustain it because it is going well, or is it a start-up, an opening? These require different approaches, and you need to understand in which situation you are in. 

AAIMHI

Are you finding it difficult to finding and retaining talents nowadays?

Jean Claude:

It is a challenge, and the industry needs to realize it. Of course, you must be passionate when you enter this industry, it requires a lot of personal investment, sacrifice. You need a natural sense of hospitality, the drive to help others, to care about others. 

To attract talent, you need to make sure the company culture matches their expectations. You must create an environment where we look after each other, respect one another, give people the opportunity to grow. Especially the younger generation, who are keen to know what the next steps are, who have maybe less patience than our generation. 

We also must make sure that there is a work life balance, even if it might be difficult in our industry. A company like Four Seasons has a certain structure to make sure that people have time as well for their families. A company must respect that, give the people the chance to invest in their work but have as well the ability to disconnect, which is essential. Managers need to show the example, show that it is ok to leave earlier, show that it is ok to take time off, make sure we don’t contact them during their time off. 

We need to pay them competitively, and make sure when talking about growth that we promote the advantage of working internationally. 

AAIMHI

What would you require when looking for candidates?

Jean Claude:

All our employees go through an interview process of meeting four to five interviewers, it is a collegial process to find the right person. More than the technical skills we are looking for the ability to connect, the eye contact, a genuine care, a friendly personality, skills that we can’t teach. 

AAIMHI

Thank you Jean Claude for your time!