Maud Bailly of Sofitel on rediscovering ”French luxury”

There’s a particular kind of courage required to stand before 170 hotel owners at a black-tie gala and offer them nothing the unexpected. No keynote. No reel of figures. Instead, a catwalk of models and Sofitel employees walking side by side in a bespoke collection by Cordelia de Castellane of Dior Maison, indistinguishable in their poise, neither party performing for the other. For Maud Bailly, global CEO of Sofitel, Sofitel Legend, MGallery and Emblems at Accor , that evening in Paris last June carried its own quiet message. It was proof offered to the people who own her hotels, that the brand they had bet on was not merely surviving, but alive.