Filip Boyen has a long history within the luxury hotel sector. He spent 18 years with Orient-Express in various roles. Most recently, he served as CEO of Small Luxury Hotels of the World before joining Forbes Travel Guide as CEO. This Belgium native started his career in food and beverage working in European Michelin-starred restaurants.
It was a great pleasure for Vendôm to exchange about the values of the most famous guide dedicated to luxury hospitality. But most of all, Filip Boyen shared with us his beautiful vision of excellence with a great sense of humanity and a touch of humour.
Vendom.jobs - Could you tell us about the selection criteria for Forbes Travel Guide? What about the philosophy?
Filip Boyen - The guide verifies luxury, that means that we champion, support and celebrate all those with a passion for extraordinary service. We inspect about 2000 hotels every year, and we evaluate over 900 standards. We have three categories : five star, four star and recommended. 75% of our standards focus on the emotional aspects of service. So for us, it is all about how do you make your guests feel in your hotel.
Most luxury hotels as we know have beautiful facilities, rooms, public areas and food and beverage outlets. For us, the difference between a good and a great hotel is service, the amazing feeling a guest expériences when he is truly cared for. We don't care about the type, the style, the design or the size of the hotel, that is really not important to us.
What is important is the level of service. We set the bar very high. And that's the reason why only 283 Hotels in over 70 countries have achieved the Forbes five star rating so far.
V. J. – Regarding your standards, what was your position during the crisis?
F. B. -, We are here to support the industry. We are not here to punish the industry. So during COVID. We have been extremely flexible. We have been very understanding of what hotels have to go through and what the challenges are that are being brought on by this terrible virus.
V.J. - Do you perceive an evolution of the clientele post-crisis? If so, what could be their new expectations?
F. B. – Definitely! Travelers want to feel safe. Guests want to feel like they made a smart choice of hotel. So they expect the hotels to deliver an experience that matches pre arrival communication, because that is the hotel's promise to their commitments of health and safety.
Now with the recovery, as far as we have seen, especially resorts and country house hotels in the United States and Europe are already running at very high occupancies, and rates that are considerably higher than in 2019. But one thing is for sure, guests expectations are very high, especially after the challenges they went through over the last 18 months, more than ever, luxury clients wants to be cared for. Service will have to be even more intuitive and anticipatory because expectations of every guest will be different. So, employees need training to make sure that they can handle these situations and these different expectations.
V.J. – Do you perceive any other new trends for luxury hotels and restaurants to come?
F. B. - Obviously we feel that a level of health security will be with us for the foreseeable future. In terms of being eager, travelers are much more focused on their own well being and their health, both from a mental and physical aspect.
We also feel that the ability to integrate with a community will play a much bigger role in the future, especially the younger generations. They are much more responsible. They are much more interested in how their stay is benefiting and impacting the local community and economy. So they are looking at what and how is the hotel giving back, and how are hotels also supporting the communities that they are in.
More and more travelers are focusing on the environment. And they expect the hotels to play their role in protecting the environment and in looking after the destinations for the next generations. In restaurants, the trend that local and seasonal produce will dictate the menus will only get stronger.
And in food and beverage in general, guests want excellent, and exciting food in an informal, relaxed and fun environment. So we feel that formality, will continue to be challenged.
Another great opportunity for hotels the nomad community, modern professionals who move from destination to destination, because they are no longer bound by an office thanks to technology. It allows them to be highly effective in their jobs. And we feel that extended stays and residences are a good opportunity for hotels in the future. In terms of technology, high touch will continue to win over high tech.
V.J. – Could factors you just talked about have an impact on geographical distribution of Forbes five stars?
F. B. – 2019 was our biggest year ever of expansion, we went into 35 new destinations. Obviously with COVID that came to a halt. In 2022, we are planning to get back to growth and to continue our expansion of our brand obviously the more we expand the more opportunities there are for hotels, and the more consumers will be able to discover new destinations.
V. J. – Do you think some kinds of hotels and destinations, such as urban hotels, will have to find new ways to attract customers?
F. B. - We already see from our hotel that the demand for smaller groups is already coming back, corporate demand is slowly coming back, because we are strong believers that we live in a world of personal relationships. But most people I speak to miss the personal connection. The human connection. So I'm 100% sure that travel will come back. I spoke yesterday to one of our big resorts in Las Vegas, and they have said the larger exhibitions are not quite yet ready to return. But at the same time, he tells me that demand for 2022 is absolutely going through the roof. So, yes, the urban hotels are coming up with new ways to adapt to the situation. I'm sure this community of Nomad travellers is a great opportunity for them to invite longer stays into their properties.
V.J. Could we come back to the concept of "excellence in service", how would you describe it?
F.B. - We feel that service should feel, first of all natural and spontaneous. You have to have the feeling that service should be enjoyed both by the employee providing it and by the guest receiving it That's where you normally have the feeling of wonderful service. We also know from our records and from our data that hotels that really take care of their employees usually score higher marks than others. When we treat all our employees and guests with the same level of dignity and respect, employees are naturally going to feel better and good about themselves and, with the right training, they will ultimately perform at a very, very high level.
But for me, excellence in service, is about the little touches and the details. It's about being thoughtful. For example, just before COVID I was in the Plaza Athénée. I was having breakfast and my cappuccino was getting cold. I did not have to call the waiter, he was already behind me with a fresh cappuccino. For most people that might be a detail, but it does not happen in many hotels. Another example, last year I was at the Raffles Istanbul. The Butler was a lovely young lady. First of all she did what was expected of her she unpacked my luggage. When I got into my room, my shirts and my suits were ironed, my shoes were polished that was all beautiful, but then I went into the bathroom, I found a handwritten note from the butler saying : "Dear Mr Boyen, while I was unpacking your luggage, I noticed that your toothpaste was running low. So I took the liberty to replace it with the same brand. Kind regards, Your Butler." This is a good example of extraordinary and thoughtful service ! Very inexpensive to provide but very impressive ! Ii is all in the detail !
V.J. - Would you have some piece of advice for a young professional, regardless of his position or his department, or for a young professional?
F. B. - I have pages and pages, and I can talk about that for a long time,... ! They have to have a passion for people, and they have to possess the conviction that serving others is a noble and fulfilling profession. There's lots of countries around the world where people feel that the service industry and the hospitality industry are not the greatest industries to get into.
The second piece of advice I would say that a great professional has to have is a strong dose of humility and common sense. The realization that we are in business for only one purpose and that is to make the life of our customers, just that little bit better.
V. J - What are the possible future developments that you are considering for the guide?
F. B. - We created Health Security Verified, which is now used by over 1000 hotels and 1700 restaurants in over 80 countries already. What this does is it amplifies the amazing work that the hoteliers have already done creating and implementing their health security protocols. What is really important about this, once they have answered all the questions, and once they have been verified, they get the badge on their website. Also, this year for the first time we implemented wellness and sustainability standards. They will evolve, of course, over the years. And as we do with all our standards they will become harder and harder to achieve. But we thought that this year was a good time to implement them. We will in the future enter sustainability standards that will be part of the evaluation. And, of course, we will start expanding again, our network of hotels. Restaurants and spas.
V. J. - What is your driving force in your profession?
F. B. - The realization that hospitality is the best industry in the world.I always felt privileged to be part of this business. I've been in it now for over 40 years, and it gave us the opportunity to work all over the world to explore new cultures, to make new friends, and while we're doing to enjoy all the amazing experiences that all those different countries have to offer. So, in principle, I would not dream of doing anything else. But what is really important for the future that we now have to convince younger generations, that the opportunities and hospitality are endless, and building a career in our amazing industry is the best choice that they will ever make.
V. J. - Could you share with us any anecdote about one of the destinations you lived in?
F. B. - I was General Manager of the Orient Express at Bora Bora, on a private island.The first year was a fantastic year. The second year we had two cyclones, within four weeks. The strongest with wind speeds of 285 km/h. Needless to say that all our overwater bungalows were destroyed, but some of them had just been lifted off their pilotis. They floated in the lagoon to the main island. The next morning, I get a call from one of the general manager on the main island, a good friend of mine. He said : "I have two of your bungalows on my beach". I answered : "My friend, you never had any luxury rooms, why don’t you keep them??"
2021 Forbes Travel Guide Star Award Winners
(Photo: Photo: Erica Fong/Hong Kong Tatler)
