Hospitality Roots
Zaylan: Nico, let’s start at the beginning. Tell us a little about yourself and where you grew up.
Nico: I’m French. I grew up in Normandy, in the north of France, with my parents, my younger brother, and my younger sister. My father was a purchasing manager for a small company, and my mom mostly took care of us while also doing side jobs in hospitality.
My mom had a dream growing up. She worked a lot as a waitress, and one day she wanted to have her own hotel. My parents saved money for years until they finally decided to buy one. So our whole family moved down to the French Jura, near Switzerland, where they opened a small family hotel in a ski resort — just 26 rooms.
Moving there with all of us kids as teenagers was a real adventure. And that’s really how I discovered hospitality.
Zaylan: Wow, that’s a really cool upbringing. Sounds like you got to meet a lot of people traveling through the hotel.
Nico: Yeah, definitely.
“That experience taught me the most about myself. It was the first time I truly stepped out of my comfort zone.”
Zaylan: What’s your favorite place you’ve travelled to so far?
Nico: I’ve been lucky enough to travel a lot already. Growing up in the hotel with my parents, I actually wanted to do anything except hospitality at first because I saw how difficult the job was. My parents worked seven days a week, all the time.
I continued my studies and did a master’s in leadership, studying finance, marketing — everything related to business. Then I started doing internships behind a computer in human resources and marketing, and honestly, I felt bored. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life.
Then I had an uncle living in Bangkok, Thailand. He was working for Accor Hotels at the regional headquarters as VP of Human Resources for Asia. One day he called me and said, “Hey Nico, why don’t you come to Thailand and see what it’s like? We can get you an internship here.”
I said, “Okay, why not?”
Two months later, I was in Thailand. I was 22 years old, and it was my first real destination abroad. I was supposed to stay six months, but I ended up staying five years. My mom wasn’t super happy at the beginning.
But that experience changed everything for me. I discovered a completely new culture. Thai culture is very warm. It’s Buddhist, very welcoming, and it gave me a new way of seeing the world that I immediately connected with.
That experience taught me the most about myself. It was the first time I truly stepped out of my comfort zone, and I felt deeply connected with the culture, the food, the people, and the lifestyle.
Zaylan: Awesome. And what’s still on your bucket list? Where do you want to go that you haven’t been yet?
Nico: I actually haven’t been to America yet, so the U.S. is definitely on my bucket list. I’m hoping I can go sometime in the coming months.
Moments That Shaped the Journey
Zaylan: Awesome. And what’s your favorite hotel you’ve visited?
Nico: So far, the hotel that amazed me the most was Nujuma, a Ritz Carlton Reserve in Saudi Arabia.
That was also the first time I met Chris Adams, and it was my first time visiting Saudi Arabia, so I was discovering another culture at the same time. What they’re building there in the Red Sea is unbelievable. There are multiple projects directly on the sea, and for this hotel specifically, there’s a natural sandbank extending right out into the ocean. They built ultra-luxury villas literally in the middle of the Red Sea.
It was a completely new discovery for me.
And that’s also where I first worked with Chris. At the time, he was the lead F&B trainer, and I was just starting as an F&B trainer myself. That became a turning point for me — seeing his leadership, his vision for service and hospitality, and the genuine care he has for people.
I connected with that immediately because it’s how I see hospitality too. That was the moment I thought, “Okay, maybe one day I want to join this company.”
Zaylan: Favorite food, favorite drink, favorite book, and favorite movie?
Nico: Food, for me, is all about memories. I was raised a lot by my great-grandmother when I was a kid because my parents were always working, and she used to cook an amazing blanquette de veau.
It’s a very traditional French dish — veal with cream and mushrooms — and it’s absolutely fantastic. Anytime I see it on a restaurant menu, I order it immediately because it brings back so many memories.
For drinks, definitely champagne. Champagne is about celebration. It’s not something you have every day — it’s for special moments, New Year’s, achievements, milestones. I love that feeling of celebrating.
For movies, I’d say Interstellar. I love anything related to space. I can spend hours watching YouTube videos about black holes and the universe. It helps me disconnect from hotel operations and everything happening day to day. It reminds me there’s something much bigger around us, and I find that relaxing.
As for books, I’m honestly not a huge reader yet, but it’s something I want to change this year. One book that really impacted me though was Radical Candor. I think we often avoid opening ourselves up fully or having difficult conversations with our teams because it feels more comfortable not to. But if we really want to grow, we need to be honest with each other, exchange feedback openly, and stay true to who we are.
Discovering the Energy of Openings
“Bringing a team together, building a culture from nothing, the pressure of having only a few days before the first guests arrive — I loved it immediately.”
Gaby: What first drew you into the world of openings, and what keeps you passionate about it today?
Nico: After Thailand, where I progressed quite quickly through the F&B department and eventually became Assistant F&B Manager, I moved to Macau, China. I was still pretty young — around 25 or 26 — and I became Assistant Director of F&B there.
Macau was a completely different world from Thailand. It’s basically the Las Vegas of Asia — the only place in China where casinos are legal — so the hotels are huge and extremely busy. The property I worked at had around 400 rooms, and we were serving between 1,000 and 1,500 covers a day.
Then COVID happened.
I was actually in France on holiday with my parents when the borders suddenly closed, and I couldn’t return to China. I only had two suitcases with me because I thought I was gone for two weeks.
At the time, it honestly felt like failure. But I managed to bounce back pretty quickly, and that’s when I joined Marriott as Assistant Director of F&B at W Verbier in Switzerland.
After two years there, I felt ready to step into a director role. One day, I was browsing careers online and saw an opening for Director of F&B at the pre-opening of W Prague.
I applied, and suddenly I was stepping into my first opening as a director — honestly without fully knowing what I was getting into, but with a lot of motivation.
I still remember arriving in Prague. On my very first day, the GM told me, “Nico, the opening has been delayed. We need to save money, so we’re sending you on task force assignments.”
One week later, I was at the opening countdown for W Budapest.
And that experience completely changed something in me.
The emotions during an opening are unreal. Bringing a team together, building a culture from nothing, the pressure of having only a few days before the first guests arrive — I loved it immediately.
Gaby: Would you say COVID actually ended up being more of a blessing than a curse for you?
Nico: Looking back, yes. At the time, definitely not. Everything I had planned was in Asia. I wanted to stay there long term.
But when something like that happens, you only have two choices. You can complain, stay stuck in the past, and not move on — or you can bounce back stronger. That’s the choice I made, and it completely changed the direction of my life.
Building Destinations Through Care and Simplicity
“The goals were intentionally big from the beginning because they helped set the tone and inspire the team every single day.”
Gaby: How did your personal background and early experiences shape the way you approach hospitality and team building today?
Nico: My vision of hospitality is actually very simple.
I think we sometimes overcomplicate something that, at its core, is not that complicated. We’re not trying to send people to the moon — we’re trying to make people happy and make them want to come back.
Operations should be simple. The way we explain things to teams should be simple. Procedures should exist to make life easier for employees, not harder.
And honestly, guests want the same thing now. More and more, we’re going back to things that feel genuine and simple.
Another really important word for me is care.
If we care for our team, care for our guests, and care for our owners or leadership, then usually everything else follows naturally.
Gaby: You described W Prague as becoming a true destination for the city. What was your original vision for the F&B program?
Nico: From the very beginning, our vision was clear: if we could attract the right locals, we would naturally attract the right tourists too.
So attracting locals became our first mission.
We spent a lot of time benchmarking what already worked in Prague. The local F&B scene is heavily centred around meat, and the market is also particularly price sensitive, so pricing had to stay accessible and competitive.
For breakfast, I wanted the experience to feel more like a trendy coffee shop you’d find in any major city — simple, fast, high quality. I told the team that any breakfast dish on the menu needed to hit the table within 10 minutes because guests don’t want to wait in the morning.
We had the same philosophy with beverages. I asked our Beverage Manager to focus heavily on pre-batched cocktails so the team could serve drinks quickly and efficiently, especially because I was convinced we’d be busy from day one.
And we were.
Beyond the concept itself, we also set very ambitious goals early on. One of our targets was to become number one in guest satisfaction for W Hotels across EMEA, and we achieved the #1 global ranking within W Hotels during our first year of operation.
The goals were intentionally big from the beginning because they helped set the tone and inspire the team every single day.
“I love creativity. I love out-of-the-box ideas and taking risks. But everything still has to work operationally. That’s always the priority.”
Zaylan: What were some of the strategic or creative decisions that helped your team achieve that level of success?
Nico: Honestly, it all starts with pre-opening preparation.
One of the most important things for me is related to understanding the guest journey. It’s basically mapping every possible scenario a guest can experience throughout their journey in the F&B outlets, and ensuring the team is well trained on it.
It starts with basic questions: What are the outlet opening and closing hours? What’s the last food order? Last beverage order? Are we taking reservations? If yes, how?
Then it goes into very small details. If it rains, does the restaurant have umbrellas or does the guest need to get one from reception?
It sounds simple, but those details matter because when your team joins during onboarding, they immediately understand exactly how the operation works.
The second thing is having a very strong F&B deck that clearly defines the mission, vision, and concepts so the team fully understands what we’re trying to build.
And then the last part is training.
Before an opening, you never have enough time. But whatever time you do have, you need to focus on the essentials: sequence of service, product knowledge, storytelling, role clarity — making sure everybody understands who does what, how and why.
Leading Under Pressure, Looking Ahead
Gaby: You often talk about building culture, trust, and consistency under pressure. What does that actually look like during a hotel opening countdown?
Nico: The pre-opening phase is honestly chaos in the best possible way.
Every day, information comes at you from every direction — ownership wants something, the GM wants something, corporate team has requests, team members have questions, project management has updates. And everything keeps changing constantly.
So under pressure, the key is staying calm, organized, and structured. Personally, I keep everything up to date in Excel sheets during openings. I track everything because otherwise things disappear or get forgotten very quickly.
The other important thing for me is balancing creativity with operational reality.
I love creativity. I love out-of-the-box ideas and taking risks. But everything still has to work operationally. That’s always the priority.
“I still want to keep discovering the world, different people, and different cultures.”
Gaby: In your posts, you often spotlight the people around you and call team members out by name. What role does recognition play in your leadership style?
Nico: Recognition is extremely important, especially during pre-openings or the first months after opening.
Big goals and big visions don’t happen overnight. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes years. So if you only celebrate the final result, people lose motivation along the way.
You must celebrate the small wins too.
That’s how you keep energy high and keep people engaged in the journey. Because for me, it’s not only about achieving the objective — it’s also about enjoying the process of getting there together.
Gaby: How do you build trust quickly with teams during high-pressure openings?
Nico: It starts with connecting with the team immediately. Spending time with the leaders. Listening. Understanding the challenges they’re facing and helping solve problems quickly.
Most importantly, we need people to understand that we’re not arriving to judge them or completely change everything they’ve built. We’re there to support them and help them succeed.
That mindset makes a big difference.
Zaylan: What actually creates a truly unforgettable guest moment for you?
Nico: More and more, hospitality is moving toward personalization.
The key element is connection.
Guests want to connect with people. They want to know the team members, their names, where they’re from. Those human interactions are what create memories.
That’s what people remember long after they leave.
Gaby: You just joined Ellis Adams Group in 2026. What excites you most about this new chapter?
Nico: Honestly, it’s joining a group of people I genuinely look up to.
I’ve already had the opportunity to collaborate with most of the EMEA team members before joining, and these are people who taught me a lot throughout my openings journey.
The opportunity for continued self-development here is great.
I also feel EAG is at a real turning point. There’s enormous potential in the EMEA region, not just this year but long term, and being part of that growth is something I really value.
I’m looking forward to bringing my openings experience into the EAG environment, helping properties translate brand vision into operational reality through training, culture, and guest experience.
I also see a strong opportunity to contribute earlier in the process, particularly in concept creation and development, where operational insight can help shape kitchens, bars, service flows, and guest experiences from the beginning.
And finally — travel.
I still want to keep discovering the world, different people, and different cultures. That part still matters a lot to me.
