Laurent Ebzant started his education and career in hospitality in large part as a challenge to himself to overcome his shyness.
Now general manager of the Park Hyatt New York, Ebzant says the hotel industry has given him much more than he expected — leading him on adventures from school in Paris to a London luxury hotel serving the royal family on a monthly basis and a stint in Brazil.
Through it all, the constant lesson has been the importance of cultivating a spirit of delivering excellence, he said.
Ebzant assumed the general manager role at Park Hyatt New York just three months ago but carries more than 20 years of global experience with the Hyatt Hotels Corp. brand family.
Ebzant was born and raised in Paris and graduated from the Paris Hospitality School with an MBA in hospitality management.
Following his education, his first foray into luxury hospitality was through a role he secured at the Connaught Hotel in London, where members of the royal family would come for lunch on Sundays. From there, he joined Hyatt as a night room service attendant at the Hyatt Regency Paris Charles de Gaulle.
Prior to his role at the Park Hyatt New York, Ebzant worked at the Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
In this Q&A, Ebzant shares more about his upbringing in luxury hospitality and his outlook on the hospitality industry.
What inspired you to pursue a career in hospitality?
Many people have different reasons why they embark on an international hospitality career. I can see two main reasons why I [did].
The very first one is linked with the fact that back in the day, during my childhood, I was a shy guy, very much introverted. Somehow, by a challenge, I decided to embark on hospitality school. A lot of people were questioning me, "Laurent, you're getting red every time; you're really introverted." It was very difficult for me but it was a challenge to me, to say I'm going to make it.
The second reason is more related to, also my childhood, where my great grandfather was the maître d' for French President Charles de Gaulle at the Palais de l'Élysée. I remember my time with him ... telling me stories about [people] visiting [including] Buzz Aldrin.
What were some key lessons you learned from your first hospitality job at London's Connaught Hotel?
Working at the Connaught Hotel in England [was spurred by] the desire to improve my English but also this very first professional experience was my first time out of my home country. That was a new venture for me. I was 21 years old, hardly speaking English. One of the key lessons is excellence [in service] that is still very much valued today. Back in the day, the Connaught Hotel was very old fashioned. We used to have, once a month, the entire royal family [arrive]. It was like an institution [with] excellence in service delivery and a high degree of discipline.
Another lesson I learned back then that is still very much valued today is consistency. Getting out of hospitality school, you really needed to work consistently.
The third one I see is really adaptability. Back then, for me, I was shifting from one country to another. When you turn 21 and hardly speak the language and end up being in a luxurious environment, where the hierarchy is very strong, you need to adapt. That was not so easy but over time through my career with all the different countries I've worked, I believe I have developed a sense of adaptability. And I would say, because it's not only shifting from one country to another, it's [also] being able to question and to challenge the status quo. In a post-COVID environment, that's even more important to have this skill.
What are some recent wins you feel your on-property team has achieved?
I'm going to speak of my three months in New York, but the thing teams should be proud of is really the fact that [they] gave a lot and [were] able to extra deliver during very challenging times. A year ago, there was omicron. I would say, we should be proud of how much our colleagues showed strong resilience.
When we look at the guest survey, being able to see that the metric has progressed compared to pre-pandemic level shows how much care and how much efforts were made by our colleagues to perform. I've got an extreme gratitude for the teams in doing so.
How do you go about taking roles in different countries?
To tell you the truth, out of my 30 years in hospitality, I never made any plan. In all cases, I always move from one country to another without even knowing. When I was in Morocco, I was not even dreaming of working in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And when I was in Rio, the hotel was doing really great; I was not expecting to move. That's the beauty of our industry. In my best dream, I would have never thought of working at Park Hyatt New York, but that's why when the opportunity came along, I was so thankful.
What are your expectations for the return of group and corporate transient business?
First and foremost, we kept saying pre-pandemic that the booking pace was shortening but I would say it's not even comparable to what we experience today. When we look at what we have on the books for February, March, April, it's nearly zero; it doesn't mean that it won't be coming [but the booking window] will be much shorter.
We saw already faster recovery of transient business but as for group, it will take longer to get back to pre-pandemic levels. There's still some resistance, [though] we can see there are some good leads coming.
Truly speaking, the thing that really offset everything is leisure. We keep seeing strong demand on leisure.
I think there has been a reshuffling of the different market segments. For corporate, you need really to distinct transient from group. The hybrid segment that's leisure and business, we can really see it. I like to sit down [at the hotel] during breakfast time, sometimes I connect with guests and I can see one is sitting with his wife and kids, then the day after is having a breakfast meeting. I think this is not a fad.
Are there any new guest trends you're noticing?
One thing that we saw and we still see is the personal well-being and self-care; it's no longer something you question. People are much more eager for true, authentic connections. Food and beverage is probably the best leverage that I see where we can create an authentic experience.
What do you feel will be the most underestimated challenge for general managers this year?
I would say attracting and retaining talent is certainly the challenge. I've connected with my counterparts and it's on everybody's lips and minds. But it's not only in New York, it's worldwide. How can this industry be much more attractive? It has so much to offer. I tend to believe the marketing that we deploy to attract talent is not optimal. How many [young graduates] will embark into hospitality?
It's very difficult to solve. Everything that we promote around well-being, personal self care, experiences ... someone, not a robot, needs to deliver the experiences. And to deliver the experiences ... there's a famous phrase that's still in my mind: To lead people, you have to love people.