A wake-up time?
7 a.m. on weekdays. 8:30 a.m. on weekends, because I love sleeping.
To discover
- Join La Fabrique Littéraire Madame Figaro, between writing workshops and exclusive meetings with prestigious writers
The pitch of your position?
Redesign, harmonize the codes of a well-known brand to bring it into the hotel industry of tomorrow. Onboard and recruit talent, imagining their interaction to create a strong collective. I am half-"constitutional council" of the purity of identity, half-conductor.
Any figures to give?
In nine years, Accor has grown from 13 to 42 brands with luxury and lifestyle acquisitions. My mission concerns Sofitel (120 hotels worldwide), Sofitel Legends (6 hotels, with an opening in Panama at the end of March), MGallery (120 hotels) and the creation of Emblems and its first properties in 2024 and 2025. In 2022, the group's turnover increased by 4% compared to the pre-pandemic level (2019).
If we go back to the origins?
A childhood in Enghien-les-Bains, in the Val-d'Oise, a mother teacher of letters who made me grow up in books and taught me happiness as a discipline.
The Inspectorate of Finance taught me curiosity, effort, rigor, openness to the world
Maud Bailly
A school that started it all?
Not really. After ENS (in literature), Sciences Po and ENA, I didn't necessarily have the idea of what I wanted to do.
An accelerator?
The financial inspectorate taught me curiosity, effort, rigor, openness to the world. In four years, I have known the audit of the customs center in Strasbourg, the public finances of Choisy-le-Roi, but also Burkina Faso to work on the transformation of local finances, and Haiti, after the earthquake, within the French humanitarian delegation that worked to rebuild the country. This is the chance given by a public course!
Obstacles?
Being referred to the fact of not being from the seraglio. When I left the inspection to join the SNCF, I was the enarque on duty. When I started, at Matignon, in charge of Manuel Valls' economic pole, I was the station master who had not spent ten years at the Treasury and, at Accor, I had not done forty years of hospitality! This trial of latent incompetence makes us deliver even more.
Who trusted you?
Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor. I came into charge of digital and tech. After three years, I was appointed CEO of Southern Europe, the biggest hub, a good way to show that I knew how to do operational work in the private sector. Since January, I have a global scope.
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A woman in a man's world...
We all have biases, including whether a woman will make it. It pains me to admit it, but women don't always feel good.
A digital addiction?
I'm trying to fight against it. I strongly believe in disconnection as a pillar of well-being in the hotel industry.
The coach, as at the dentist, it is not necessarily pleasant, but when you go out you smile better
Maud Bailly
A moment off?
Family weekends. It's healthy to show that you set your own limits. I find it normal that some people sign "I don't read emails on weekends". At dinner, with my daughters and husband, everyone lists the three favorite moments of their day.
Your definition of influence?
A natural capacity for conviction, the opposite of constraint.
The friendly hand that helps you?
At each position, a coach. Like at the dentist, it is not necessarily pleasant, but when you go out you smile better. It helps to reconcile who you think you are and the perception you are sending back.
An escape?
In Brittany, eating pancakes, walking in wax, without makeup.
