Interview with Véronique Crefcoeur, managing director of the Baverez hotels
Interview with Véronique Crefcoeur, managing director of the Baverez hotels
By Katia Kulawick-Assante
Tell us about your family’s history in the Parisian hotel industry.
Véronique Crefcoeur: My great-grandfather, Constant Baverez, originally from Doubs, arrived in Paris at the end of the 19th century. Together with his partner, Léonard Tauber, they bought a building which they converted in 1900 into the Hôtel Regina, inaugurated for the Universal Exhibition. At the time, it was much larger than it is today. In 1904, when Isabel II of Spain died, the duo bought the Palais de Castille at 19 Avenue Kléber in the 16th arrondissement. It was demolished and in 1907 they built the building that would become the Hôtel Majestic (renamed The Peninsula Paris in 2014). In the 1920s, they bought the neighbouring building at 17 Avenue Kléber and built the Raphaël Hotel, which opened its doors in 1926. In 1937, the crisis hit, and the walls of the Majestic Hotel were sold, but the hotel’s name and outbuildings (including the one now located at 30 Rue La Pérouse for the Majestic Hotel) were retained. Constant had a son, Paul, who had a daughter, Françoise, who had a daughter, Véronique – myself – who had three daughters, and so we arrive at… 2026.
Do your daughters want to take over one day?
Véronique Crefcoeur: Only time will tell. For now, they are too young, even if they are already involved in the business to some extent. The eldest, Héloïse, specialises in communication and marketing, and she manages the social media accounts. Constance and Eleonore are attending a management school in Glion, Switzerland. It’s not just a question of whether they want to. It’s a company with 300 employees, which means just as many families to take responsibility for. There’s no room for error. You need to have the skills of an administrator, a manager and an entrepreneur.
Did you ever consider pursuing a different career path?
Véronique Crefcoeur: I studied business law, finance and English proficiency in London. Then my parents told me to get a job. I did some work for law firms. Then, at the time of the ISO 2000 standards, my mother asked me, given my legal background, to handle the internal procedures for the three hotels: Regina, Raphaël and Majestic. This assignment lasted several months before I was entrusted with the hotels’ communications. I got married, had my children, and took over the business in 2010.
One hundred years after its creation by your great-grandfather, the Baverez group, which you now run, is one of the last independent French hotel groups in Paris. Are you proud of that?
Véronique Crefcoeur: I don’t see it that way. I manage this company as if it weren’t mine, because my mission is to take it further. As soon as I walk in, of course, I feel at home, because this is where I learned to walk! I grew up in these hotels. But I’m not sure that the fact that it’s a family business changes the way I run it or manage it. This company is an entity in its own right, it has a life of its own. It was passed on to me, and I should pass it on in the best possible condition – even better than when I received it.
What are the challenges for the reopening of the Raphaël in a few months?
Véronique Crefcoeur: The Raphaël’s strengths are also its weaknesses: its history and respect for heritage. This means that there is very little room for manoeuvre when it comes to decoration, for example. I’m not selling a star interior designer. I worked with a decorator who made some superb proposals, but I felt like I was at the Shangri-La or the Peninsula. When we reopened Regina, we made it soundproof to airport hotel standards. Raphael is going to become hyper-ecological. The hotel retains its 18th-century cocoon spirit, in an even more luxurious version but with a major innovation: the hotel will be the first to recover all grey water (from sinks, baths and showers), which will be reused as non-potable water in toilet flushes. And we will be the first hotel in France to do so!
The operation is expensive and, to tell the truth, it was even prohibited by law until last summer. I know that I was the first to request an exemption from the ministry, which was granted, but in the meantime, a law was passed. It’s important to note that at home, a shower uses between 20 and 23 litres of water. In a hotel, a shower uses between 55 and 68 litres of water.
That’s three times more! Why is that?
Véronique Crefcoeur: We don’t necessarily know how to use it, we allow ourselves more time because we feel good – or because we have more time – we savour the moment, whereas at home, it’s often over in three minutes… It’s not that people don’t care, they just make do with what they have, and as a result, you use more water in a hotel than you do at home. That’s just how it is. And it’s important to remember that one flush uses 10 litres of water – in the best case scenario – 10 litres of drinking water! So the reduction in water consumption at the Raphaël is going to be drastic.
For everything to change, nothing must change… Is that the philosophy behind the Raphaël’s renewal?
Véronique Crefcoeur: The first thing we were asked to do? “Don’t touch the Raphaël’s decor”. We will go from 83 to 85 rooms, the rooftop will still be open on sunny days with one of the most beautiful views of Paris, and the ground floor will not change either – for the moment, the restaurant concept has not yet been decided. Room rates will increase from €600 to €1,000 for the lowest price, which will go hand in hand with a real upgrade in terms of service and quality, enabling us to attract new customers. But the soul of Raphaël will always be there.
You worked with artisans and numerous French craftsmen for the renovation…
Véronique Crefcoeur: We had the wardrobes, seats, furniture, stretched canvases, etc. restored, so absolutely everything in the hotel will be renovated. The artists did a remarkable job of restoration. During the work, we found some gems in the storerooms, wallpaper hidden in the wardrobes. I didn’t want the old bathroom decorations to be destroyed, so we’re going to seal them away and in 100 years’ time, when someone else renovates the hotel, they’ll still be there as a testament to history. We asked the painter Servane Le Cornec to take inspiration from our stretched canvases to paint 10 “grotesques”. She digitised them and printed them on traditional kiln-fired bathroom tiles. All the rooms will have original paintings created for the hotel. We repainted 189 doors and 2.5 km of baseboards… Raphaël’s style is very romantic, with his Louis XV furniture evoking 18th-century classicism and a touch of the 19th century. I had our armchairs reupholstered with fabrics by Cordelia de Castellane x Thevenon, among others. It wasn’t a question of distorting the hotel’s character, but of adapting it to the times. One day, one of our shareholders said to me, ‘When are you going to go modern?’ But never, sir! We are a niche hotel chain and each hotel must retain its personality.
There will be no auction of the Regina’s furniture…
Véronique Crefcoeur: Much to the chagrin of all the auctioneers who courted me in an extraordinary way.
What are you most proud of?
Véronique Crefcoeur: While waiting for the Raphaël to reopen, I would say the Regina. We’ve gone from 4 to 5 stars, it’s been renovated, it’s fashionable, it’s beautiful, it’s glitzy, and people are finally talking about its sublime views of the Louvre and the Tuileries. We’ve turned it into a very beautiful address in 10 years!
Both the Raphaël and the Regina Louvre have an impressive filmography. They often embody the Paris of travellers’ dreams in films and on television…
Véronique Crefcoeur: Yes, recently, the opening scenes of Netflix’s Christmas film ‘Champagne Problems’ were shot here. We hosted ‘Emily in Paris’ and ‘Jason Bourne’ at the Regina, Luc Besson’s films such as “Nikita” at the Regina and ‘Anna’ at the Raphaël, etc. The power of platforms and cinema is colossal. Right now, people outside are taking photos of the hotel’s façade!
What lessons have you learned since you started in the hotel business?
Véronique Crefcoeur: That people don’t need a room number, they want an experience, personalisation. I think we’ve had enough of sterility. We need to focus more and more on customer relations. Twenty-five years ago, people didn’t have the same relationship with travel. It was harder to travel, people were a little afraid to discover local places, and they preferred hotel chains. Today, that relationship with travel has changed radically, so we, as independent hoteliers, have the wind in our sails!
What are your fondest memories of the hotel?
Véronique Crefcoeur: One of my fondest memories at the Raphaël was the evening before it closed for renovations a few months ago, with all the staff. We sang in unison, and the guests filmed the last song… But I have so many memories. When I was little, I used to come and make my photocopies – the ancestor of the photocopier, which smelled of alcohol – at the Regina, in my mother’s office, because I was just across the street, at art school, every Wednesday afternoon. My mother’s office was then in what is now the dining room of the restaurant Chez Suzy.
The Raphaël Hotel will reopen in the summer of 2026.
