Special RepoRt : Leadership
Serge Trigano ( center ) has inspired his children , Jérémie ( left ) and Benjamin ( right ), to lead the development of the next-generation , urban version of Club Med .
Family legacy carries on
Benjamin , jérémie and Serge Trigano , founderS , mama ShelTer
Mama Shelter ’ s story reads like a feel-good hipster fable . A vegan ex-philosophy professor turned entrepreneur named Cyril Aouizerate taps an ambitious executive from an iconic brand to help him move into the value-driven lifestyle hotel space . With the help of a design superstar , he transforms a rundown Paris parking garage into a quirky boutique property . Fast-forward a few years . The hotel blossoms into one of the darlings of the industry and spawns four stylish sisters . French hotel giant Accor takes note and comes courting with enough cash to buy a 35 % stake in the young , Paris-based company and help ensure that its 20-hotel pipeline will be up and running by 2020 .
But , it just takes one glance at the cast of characters to see this is more of a Fast Company feature than a Cinderella story . For starters , the man Aouizerate chose to oversee his hotel debut bears one of the most famous names in the hotel industry . He ’ s Serge Trigano , son of Club Méditerranée founder Gilbert Trigano and , himself , former CEO of the iconoclastic resort chain . Then , there are the benefits of Trigano ’ s friends , such as world-famous designer Philippe Starck .
Then , there ’ s the family connection . Trigano ’ s sons , Benjamin and Jérémie , are tapped into a target market of nextgeneration travelers and well versed in the family ’ s hotel-centric DNA .
The family legacy also didn ’ t hurt the confidence that the Triganos brought
24 HOTELS April 2015 www . hotelsmag . com