Leadership series: Guillaume Marly

Admiralty Arch is about to become one of London’s most talked-about five-star hotels, and General Manager Guillaume Marly joins Krishnan Doyle to explain what’s going on behind those three famous arches.

Commissioned by Edward VII in memory of Queen Victoria and finished in 1912, the Grade I listed building once housed the First Sea Lord. 

Churchill and Mountbatten both lived and worked there. It’ll now hold 114 rooms and suites (including a Royal Suite looking straight down The Mall to Buckingham Palace), a seafood restaurant from Clare Smyth, Café Boulud on the rooftop, two bars, a 300-cover ballroom dug around 30 metres underground with a Murano glass chandelier brought over from Rome, and a spa beneath that.

Guillaume talks about why he personally interviews every single hire, the group exercises he uses to spot real team players, and his one-line philosophy for the whole team: we’re here to please people. 

He also shares his route into hospitality, from the French Marines to Grosvenor House, Café Royal, The Dorchester, Claridge’s, The Connaught, The Ritz, Chiltern Firehouse and seven years at Hotel Café Royal, plus his advice for anyone who wants to be a GM one day.