Port-Cros National Park Philippine Leclercq, Executive Assistant Hôtel « Lily of the Valley » – La Croix Valmer

A native of a small village near Lille, Philippine Leclercq, an enthusiastic and willing young woman, is, at just 27, assistant manager of the 5-star "Lily of the Valley" hotel opening in June 2019 in La Croix Valmer. After a master's degree in communications and marketing, followed by a second in business and luxury tourism, she's looking for a summer internship.

I've been lucky enough to spend all my vacations since childhood in Sainte-Maxime, where my parents had a pied-à-terre. Even as a child, I used to say: "This is where I want to live". So naturally, this is where I wanted to look..

And it worked! She was hired for the season at the Byblos, the legendary Saint-Tropez hotel run at the time by Stéphane Personeni, current manager of Lily of the Valley.

It was he who recruited me in February 2019 as a trainee assistant when he took charge of the Croix Valmer project. I'd just graduated. I arrived for 6 months, it's been 4 years.

"Pipa", as everyone here calls him, doesn't come from a hotel background..

But I was instantly won over! I love excellence and making people dream. I like the attention to detail, the care, the made-to-measure... I also like the spirit of mutual aid, sharing and conviviality among the staff of this house. Perhaps it's because it's the fruit of a love affair: the owner has been vacationing here for as long as she can remember.

For her, the hotel's strong point

Is the environment! We're right in the middle of nature, and designer Philippe Starck came up with a hotel that blends right in. There's no noise, and you have a panoramic view of the Golden Isles..

The year-round establishment specializes in wellness and fitness, and part of the hotel is dedicated to it..

We have a team of specialized coaches who accompany guests wishing to take part in sporting activities: kayaking, paddle-boarding, mountain biking, hiking along the coastal path at Gigaro, where our two beach restaurants are located.

The hotel participates in the life of the community with children and the elderly, and sponsors events.

I also organize beach clean-ups with the staff, and we hunt for cigarette butts and litter with the coaches. So the link with the agents of the Cap Lardier National Park was forged very quickly.

When the Park came to her to introduce her to the brand

We immediately decided to get involved. We're very happy to be part of this network, even though we're already involved in this dynamic: we're careful to save water and energy, and to choose the right cleaning products. We have our own vegetable garden, and 90% of our produce is local. But the brand will enable us to evolve even further. I've also taken a training course from the National Park so that I can communicate more effectively about its missions and the brand; this fully meets one of our objectives, which is to make our customers more aware of the environment around them. In the collective imagination, a 5-star hotel is synonymous with opulence and waste... Our role is to dust off this image and show that even in a 5-star hotel, you can have convictions and still offer excellent service. We're also going to raise awareness among all our staff and relay the messages on our social networks and the establishment's website, which has a very large following... This will give the National Park and the brand a great deal of visibility.