Interview: Carlos Diez de la Lastra
For the last eight years you’ve been Managing Director at Les Roches Marbella. How has your offer at Les Roches been developed, and specialised, over the years?
“27 years have passed since the founding of Les Roches Marbella, sister campus from Les Roches Crans-Montana which was established in 1954. Back then, in general terms, training in hotel management was virtually unheard of. However, institutions like ours, entities such as the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) based in Madrid, new entrepreneurs, and the push of the big hotel and luxury brands have managed to position education at the nerve centre of tourism in Spain. Today, nobody questions the role played by the professionalisation of the workforce in the growth and success of hotel establishments. Les Roches’ model is based on the Swiss-based dual academic model that distinguishes itself by both academic knowledge and training managers on real-world experiences in the core skills in which teams will need to lead. Commitment, reflection and self-criticism distinguish our students when they become managers. In addition, we have connected tradition and cutting-edge technology. The result is an intelligent campus, converted into a grand laboratory of ideas with students from more than a hundred nationalities and where the most cutting-edge companies on the planet come together to test their innovations and recruit the best talent.”
What are the most current skills and competencies that your management courses offer, which in turn meet industry demands?
“Millennials and generation Z, together with experienced managers from prior generations whose training is up-to-date, will be the protagonists of shaping the hospitality industry of tomorrow. An example of the need for managers to be continuously updated is that millennials will account for 50% of global high-impact tourism by 2025. Clever uses of technology will save time, create high individualisation, and anticipate travellers’ wishes. And this means that there will be more and more platforms, hotels and services that will break norms and step outside of the box. There is already real innovation taking place at Les Roches in which we already collaborate with organisations, such as OceanSky Cruises, the first commercial airship project of the 21st century for which Les Roches students will help craft the customer experience. As a consequence of the growth of new traveller types, new professional profiles will emerge that will place emphasis on ‘technologically intelligent’ managers who are highly qualified and have the ability to conceptualise and use digital tools without losing touch with the value in their leadership of people. From our point of view, the key is not so much in providing technical knowledge but in activating the student’s innovative entrepreneurship gene and boosting its capacity in managing emotion and customer experience. We must turn professionals into inquisitive talent, with motivation and the desire to constantly improve, to be decisive, and intuitive while possessing the ability to identify technological advances and knowhow to integrate them into the value chain.”
Tell us about how your courses are generally designed, and the principles behind them.
“Our programmes are carefully designed by our faculty and a management committee, both of which are made up of the best experts in their field. The involvement is such that we also have the support of the members of the Sommet Education Digital Board (Les Roches being part of Sommet Education, world-leading education group specialising in hospitality management and the culinary arts). This is a select team of industry players that includes Natalia Bayona, Director of Investments, Innovation & Education at the UNWTO, Frédéric Biousse, Chairman of Experienced Capital, former co-founder and co-CEO of Sandro-Maje-Claudie Pierlot; Roberto Eggs, Chief Marketing and Operating Officer and Executive Board Member at Moncler; Mathieu Lhomme, Strategic Transformation Officer at Danone; Rajay Naik, CEO of Skilled Education; and Olivier Younès PhD, Founding CEO of EXPEN and Professor at HEC Paris. Furthermore, Les Roches leads the future of hospitality education with sustainable integration of digital learning solutions and new technologies. We have reinforced our portfolio of studies with the creation of flexible undergraduate, postgraduate and Master’s degrees (called Hyflex) that adapt to the needs of the student body. We are also diversifying, thanks to the impulse of Sommet and collaboration with new partners, alongside our network of territories, and countries around the world.”
Let’s talk about executive management programmes. Which are planned for this year?
“One of our strongest commitments is focused on the Executive Master’s in International Hotel Management, taught exclusively at Les Roches Marbella and which begins in April 2022.The Executive Master’s is a six-module programme designed for active professionals who wish to expand their experience at their own pace and choice. It is offered in a hybrid format (remote and presential), as well as a 100% online. Hence, each module can be completed face-to-face or online. The professionals will come to campus for what matters most – to consolidate their acquired skills through industry networking with experts and peers as well Les Roches’ own international network. During this time, in addition to the unique experience of living and training in Les Roches’ exclusive facilities, students will go to networking dinners, visit luxury hotels to see and discuss international hotel management first-hand, and meet with CEOs of top brands. Packed with high-level business and management content, including marketing, finance, modelling, revenue management, analytics and leadership behaviours, the programme also focuses on international hotel management essentials, such as HR, business strategy, project management and real estate/investment. It concludes with a hospitality business capstone project that challenges learners to find actual solutions in a real-world context and an optional six-month professional internship.”
Hotel management is also asking for more flexible teaching and learning methods. How does Les Roches manage these needs?
“There is a new generation of students who demand learning that adapts to the new reality of the sector. Universities that lead in management training of the hospitality sector must also lead this transformation. Our responsibility, as an educational institution, is to ensure that our students are prepared to lead towards positive change and to face future challenges of one of the most powerful industries in the world. Their leadership abilities have recently shown us, in an incredible way, just how resilient the hospitality and tourism industry is. Opportunities often resurface with force. For example, Accor, the largest hotel company in the EU and the sixth largest in the world, will open 300 hotels and resorts in 2022. At Les Roches we have adapted to respond to this need for flexibility, with the integration of 100% online programmes and mixed models into our study options. All our Master’s already include the option of studying with the highest possible degree of flexibility for March/April and September/October intakes. These include the Master’s in Marketing and Management for Luxury Tourism, Master’s in International Hotel Management, Executive Master’s in International Hotel Management, the Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing and Management for Luxury Tourism, and the Postgraduate Diploma in Hospitality Management.”
Finally, you’ve been appointed as the new CEO of Les Roches Global Hospitality Education, overseeing campuses in Switzerland (Crans-Montana) and China (Shanghai), as well as Spain (Marbella). How do you feel about that challenge?
“I welcome the challenge of leading one of the best educational institutions in the world and taking over from Dr Christine Demen Meier’s magnificent legacy that will enable us to start this promising new stage of Les Roches with a strong foundation. We are in challenging times, yet full of opportunities in the industry. Education will not only act as a springboard for hospitality and tourism growth, but also as a renovator of many of its longstanding concepts. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to lead this new stage at the global level with Les Roches.”
