RENNES — The queue grows longer until it spills over into the Place des Lices. In this northwestern French city, on one Thursday last June, the heat slowly gives way to a midsummer mildness that is perfect for nightlife. An ideal location for the hot new address in the heart of the city and that is attracting a young, trendy clientele.
The Mama Shelter in Rennes, the chain’s 17th hotel, has only been open for three months and got off to a rocky start. Protests against France’s pension reform, which caught the establishment in its crosshairs, left two security guards seriously injured and forced management to barricade the hotel.
Since then, however, the machine seems to have been set in motion, with serious reasons to believe that the venture will be a success.
Synonymous with success
“At Mama Shelter, we now have the hindsight to anticipate the profitability of each opening,” says Cédric Gobilliard, head of lifestyle brands at Accor, which now owns the hotel chain. Experience has shown that, with very few exceptions, the Mama Shelter brand is always synonymous with success.
But Serge Trigano, the concept’s creator, tries to remain modest and discreet. Several months ago, he gave himself a new challenge with his sons Jérémie and Benjamin: to reinvent the budget hotel business.
The first Oh Baby hotels — modular, wooden buildings — are due to open soon. All will be financed by the Atream fund, which has committed to the first 15 sites. A new adventure, after Mama Shelter’s incredible success. But not even that achievement seems to erase, in Trigano’s mind, the bitter memory of years of hardship that preceded the opening of the first Mama Shelter in 2008.
“Shelter,” evokes a place open to all, without distinction. “Mama,” for the protective aspect.
More than 10 years earlier, in 1997, Trigano was brutally ousted from the presidency of Club Med, co-founded by his father, Gilbert. The severe ordeal left its mark; his standing in business circles was not at its highest, and bank doors were closing.
After considering launching a new vacation village project, Trigano settled on another idea, which he felt would revolutionize the hotel industry. An urban establishment, with a strong restaurant component, that would become a real place to live, offering near-luxury services at affordable prices.
As for the brand name, “Shelter,” evokes a place open to all, without distinction. “Mama,” for the protective aspect, in the form of “a tribute to the woman we love most in the world.” The one who loves us unconditionally, who cooks while we wait, then forces us to eat even when we’re not hungry,” he writes in his book Trigano Loves You.
Going against the grain
Its business model was daring for its time, as a large part of its sales were to come from “food and beverage,” going against the grain of the traditional hotel model. The food had to be of high quality and the atmosphere relaxed, to attract the local population and create a happy mix with hotel guests.
The rooms, while not very spacious, had to offer optimum sleeping comfort and be tastefully decorated. But superfluous amenities and costs, such as room service, were to be banned.
Trigano imagined this project along with several people: designer Philippe Starck (his travel buddy since he left Club Med), and entrepreneur Cyril Aouizérate, were on board from the outset. They set about canvassing the major hotel chains, including Accor, which politely declined.
One afternoon, the three met with a delegation from Marriott. To their great surprise, Bill Marriott, CEO of the powerful American group, was present. Fascinated by the success of Club Med, Marriott was intrigued by this new project. “We were a bunch of French slackers, who spoke a few words of English,” Trigano says with a smile, still impressed.
Restaurants with rooms above
In the end, the project was not selected, but Marriott summed it up this way: “You’re going to make bars with rooms above.” This formula, which became “restaurants with rooms above,” would later be used to define the Mama Shelter concept.
The encouragement was appreciated, but the situation was no rosier: the flamboyant former Club Med boss was no longer “bankable” in the eyes of investors, and one rejection followed another. While looking for several million euros to build the first Mama, Serge Trigano was even refused a car loan.
Then his luck changed: the Caisse d’Epargne banking group, for which he manages a training center, was seduced. Its directors proposed a scheme to get the project off the ground. The idea was to offer investors the chance to buy one or more rooms, with the promise of monthly rental payments. It was based on the model that made the French holiday rental company Pierre & Vacances a success. Legally, the first Mama Shelter will not be a hotel, but a tourist residence.
The 2008 crisis: “an opportunity”
For his first location, Trigano — joined in the meantime by his sons, Benjamin and Jérémie — made bold choice: rue de Bagnolet, in Paris’s working-class 20th arrondissement. Not exactly idyllic, let alone touristy. But the land was affordable and the location perfectly suited the idea of mixing locals with customers.
Many long years after it was conceived, the brand’s first establishment was finally inaugurated in 2008 — just as Europe entered its worst financial crisis since 1929.
“It was actually a stroke of luck, as companies were asking to reduce hotel costs,” Trigano recalls. The Mama Shelter, less expensive but nearing high-end standards, seemed an ideal solution. The establishment quickly built up a reputation, filling up, with queues forming to dine in. The break-even point was reached in the very first year. The machine was launched.
“We’ll never have 3,000 hotels, we’ll only have a hundred or so.”
Capitalizing on this initial success, a new hotel opened in Marseille, then Lyon. Another was opened in Istanbul, where Jérémie Trigano had established networks. Then to Bordeaux, under the benevolent eye of then Mayor Alain Juppé.
As the years go by, the lifestyle trend in the hotel industry gains momentum. In the United States, Ian Schrager and his “boutique hotels” have made a name for themselves. This is less the case in Europe, where Accor is now taking an interest in the phenomenon. It’s 2014, and the newly-named CEO of Accor, Sébastien Bazin, wants to be part of it. Trigano doesn’t hesitate for long.
Accor enters the equation
At a time when hotel chains were beginning to develop the concept, Mama Shelter needed to grow, and the proposal was honest: Accor would initially take a minority share, and the Trigano family would remain at the helm so as not to betray the “Mama spirit.”
“Usually, when a big group comes in, they appoint you a general secretary. In this case, our hands were free,” Trigano says. The rest is history. Accor increased its stake from 35% to 49%, then 100%, under the watchful eye of the Triganos, who continue to act as advisors.
And Mama Shelter continues develop, with recent openings in France — Rennes, Dijon and three Paris locations — and internationally — in London, Rome, Lisbon and Los Angeles. This change of dimension will soon accelerate.
“The next step is to conquer the world,” Accor’s Gobilliard says, listing Mama’s future destinations. Its expansion will continue in the United States, with a second hotel in Los Angeles, and projects in “secondary cities,” such as Nashville and Austin. In Africa, openings are planned in Casablanca, Tunis and Abidjan. Elsewhere, Dubai and Singapore are also in sight.
“Mama Shelter is not a trend that will fade, because it was conceived by enthusiasts.”
At 15 years old, Mama is having a serious growth spurt, but its owners have no intention of turning it into a giant. “We’ll never have 3,000 hotels, we’ll only have a hundred or so,” Gobilliard says.
In the meantime, the model imagined by Trigano and his associates still seems to be working. The restaurant business accounts for around 60% of the establishment’s revenue, and more than half the customers are locals.
But there are some challenges to overcome: “We’re positioned between the mid-range and the high-end. The challenge is to remain accessible, while the market is moving upmarket,” the executive says. Is this a trend that would fade over time? “There’s a risk, but I don’t believe in it. Quite simply because the project was not conceived by a marketing team, but by enthusiasts,” Trigano says.
Now out of the operational loop at Mama Shelter, Trigano is betting on Oh Baby to keep the flame burning — and to savor his revenge, as well as his renewed credibility.
