MAX ANIORT, CEO, LOOKS BACK AT THE GROUP'S BEGINNINGS AND INCREDIBLE GROWTH
AN INSPIRED BEGINNING FROM A PERSON-AL EXPERIENCE
The company, which will celebrate its tenth anniversary next year, was born from both an observation and a personal experience. My partner had experienced a rental in Barcelona, which, although supposed to be high-end, turned out to be disappoint-ing with faulty equipment and a lack of cleanliness. This experience planted the seed of an idea: to create a company that would fill this gap in the luxury property rental market, adding impeccable and at-tentive service. Thus, Le Collectionist was born, not only as a response to a market need but also as a celebration of travel, luxury, and exceptional service. Today, Le Collectionist doesn't only offer sumptuous properties among the 2,500 listed on our site. We also provide a range of services, from car and ski rentals to organi- zing personal events, such as marriage propos-als, birthdays, or other celebrations. Our flexibi- lity is our strength, allowing us to meet the specific and varied needs of our clientele. Since then, we have been developing more services for our owners, including a Property Management service, man-aging the houses throughout the year.
A JOURNEY OF LEARNING AND ADAPTA-TION IN THE HOSPITALITY SECTOR
Surprisingly, none of the three founders of Le Collectionist had a background in tourism. The first had established his own investment fund, venturing into various fields, from startups o the film industry, and of course, real estate. The second had a pen-chant for marketing, having worked with Gemyo, a jewelry brand, in its early days. As for me, my expertise lay in consulting for banks, immers-ing myself in process and resource optimization. None of us had expe-rience in hospitality, yet we learned on the job, recognizing that it is a true profession. Today, the ma-jority of our employees, especially the hotel schools such as Lausanne and Vatel, highlighting the im-portance of expertise in this field. operational teams, come from
OBSERVING MARKET TRENDS AND CYCLES
We have observed interesting trends related to destinations, often influenced by fashion and the economy. When a destination becomes particularly trendy, ownerstend to raise their prices, often leading
to a season where clients, refusing to pay excessive prices, turn away, forcing owners to lower their prices. It's a fascinating mar-ket cycle to observe, and we see populations migrating between different destinations in response to these fluctuations. As for the typology of houses and villas, that hasn't really changed for us. We have always had four to five bedroom houses, suitable for groups. However, this year, we have seen a strong demand in the event and corporate sector, especially for offsides and seminars.
THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW TARGET
There is also a notable trend in content pro-duction for social networks, which has be-come crucial for all brands, and even more so for luxury brands. Brands need to con-stantly produce and animate varied and dif-ferent content. Thus, many rent houses to obtain unique settings, avoiding the repeti-tive clichés of places like the Eiffel tower. This is great news for us and for the owners, as these rentals often take place outside of school holiday periods, thus providing an additional source of income.
COMMON VALUES AND MUTUAL RESPECT
With Joffray from Maison VALLAT, we share a fundamental value: hospitality. We are both determined to offer our cli-ents an exceptional experience, whether through the accommodation or the ser-vices offered. Ambition is another value we share. Joffray is an impressive self-made man. He built a formidable compa-ny, and we have mutually admired each other for our respective successes and different approaches. He, having built his business without external investors, and us, having managed to attract consider-able investment funds. The third value that brought us together is the belief in talent and skills. We believe it is essential to identify what one does well and to ded-icate oneself to it. Thus, we do not deal with real estate transactions, but we pass them on to VALLAT, for their expertise. Conversely, Joffray prefers to direct his rental clients to us to ensure a virtuous circle of positive business.