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Benoît Maton et ses camarades vainqueurs du Hyatt Student Prize

Benoît Maton, Runner Up of the First Hyatt Student Prize
An Exclusive Eshotel Interview By Constance Konold
January 2, 2009

Benoit Maton, on December 18, 2008, you were a winner of one of the three Hyatt Student Prizes in Paris for “Best student in hospitality management” (“meilleur élève en gestion hôtelière”).  The competition was open only to schools in France offering a Master Degree in Hospitality Management.

This was a double honor for you, first to be selected by your own school to represent it in the first edition of the Hyatt  Student Prize, and then to face off with the top students of seven other major French hospitality schools:  ESTHUA of Angers, the École Internationale Supérieure de Savignac, the École Supérieure de Management en Hôtellerie et Restauration of Strasbourg, Essec-IMHI of Cergy-Pontoise, Institut Paul Bocuse of Lyon, Institut Vatel of Paris and the La Rochelle Business School of Tourism.  

You and three other candidates were then tossed together into the arena, as it were, to parry among yourselves questions put forth by a prestigious jury consisting of Fabrice Seiman, associate manager of Lutetia Capital Young Global Leader 2007; Elisabeth Sandager, international managing director of international Helena Rubinstein; Samuel Salvisberg, deputy director of the École hôtelière de Lausanne; Georges Panayotis, CEO of the MKG Group;  Alexandre Bader, managing director of Champagne Billecart-Salmon;  Michèle Alguacil, managing director-France of Cabinet Profile; as well as journalists Nikos Aliagas, Anne-Sophie Lapix, Christian Luc Parison, Guillaume Rebière, and Henri-Jean Servat.

We would like to know what winning this prize means to you?

It means a lot to me. I was very happy to give both my school and my classmates reason to be proud. This goal inspired me to do my very best.
I was also proud of myself to have proven that when one believes strongly in something, it’s likely to happen. Once Eshotel had shown confidence in me by selecting me for this competition, I never doubted that I could win at least one of the three prizes. I knew I had a little sparkle and a driving willingness to succeed that would be my competitive advantage.
I dedicate this victory to my parents. But I am also grateful to Mr. Bouvier for having put his trust in me, and to you, Mrs. Konold, and Mr. Merell for having prepared me for the competition.

How did preparation for this competition help you?

It helped me relax and be perfectly at ease with the jury during the interview. Like the other participants, I obviously experienced the stress of anticipation. But, as Professor Mr. Merell told me, success in an interview is 90% due to preparation. In fact, this probably gave me a strong advantage because it turned out that I was perhaps the only one who had actually prepared for this competition. I was very surprised to learn while talking with the other candidates that they knew nothing about the jury members, nor had they given much if any thought to potential questions prior to the event.

What do you think the jury’s main criteria were? 

The members of the jury were not just looking for students with outstanding grades in their master’s program; they were above all looking for students with strong, positive personalities – candidates who could bring added value to any company they work for. That was their definition of the perfect hotelier.
I think that my enthusiasm, my self-confidence, my spontaneity and my knowledge of the hospitality and tourism industry helped me to convince the jury that I was a winner. Also, I was very impressed because sometimes the members of the jury asked questions in rapid succession with the intention of testing our reactivity and our spontaneity. For instance, Mr. Salvisberg, deputy director of the École hotelière de Lausanne, asked us right after we answered another question to name the three main strengths needed by a general manager. Unfortunately, for anyone who lagged answering that question, it was already too late to win. But to me, it was the type of question I best appreciated because I had already given this topic some prior thought in classwork and thus replied with apparent spontaneity.

What was the hardest question you were asked or the most difficult aspect of being in this competition?

Most of the questions were reasonably challenging. The most difficult aspect was the format – being interviewed together with four other candidates and not on a one-to-one basis. We were asked to question our peers about their background, with the jury interacting and also questioning us. Some candidates who were not hospitality/tourism oriented were asked very harsh questions by their peers.

What question(s) were you sorry the jury didn’t ask?

None, because that was precisely what they asked us at the end of the interview.
I had to laugh to myself and make a quick decision about the advisability of revealing the superb if considerably mixed personal metaphor that I had worked on with you the previous day.
To the jury’s question, “What question would you have liked us to ask that we didn’t ask?”, I replied: “If you had to sum up yourself in few words, what would you say?”
When they encouraged me to answer my own question, I said: “If I had to define myself, I would picture a race horse, pawing the ground at the starting gate, impatient to run the race; bound to personal values like a priest to his faith; passionate as an artist about his art; as different as classic music is to rock and roll, and with an indomitable drive to succeed.”
As I recall, the members of the jury smiled approvingly. I remember Laure Brovelli, the first prize winner saying: “Well, it is going to be difficult to kick off after what you just said”.
This led to a moment of over-confidence, when I actually thought I might be the first prize winner. Camille Bertrand, the representative of La Rochelle Business School of Tourism, said, “I’m sure you will win because you have a way of speaking that makes your audience believe everything you say. You actually live what you’re saying and few people have that skill”.
Such peer appreciation overwhelmed me and was, in effect, as rewarding as winning third prize itself.

How has this event changed your outlook - on yourself, your school, your career, and your life in general?

I am now more confident in myself. This was definitely a win-win opportunity. I came out stronger for it. I feel privileged to have experienced something rare for students my age. I met many extraordinary people and I definitely experienced this challenge as one of the best times in my life.
I have no regret about not having been awarded the first prize; second runner up is still an honor. I know I delivered the best of myself. My old family recipe appears to be right: “Work hard, try to be the best in what you’re doing, reappraise yourself when you have to and don’t be self-oriented”. So I’m just going to carry on and keep a cool head. And you know, Time Magazine has just awarded its three personalities of the year and do you know who has been ranked third? Nicolas Sarkozy, our president and “Chef de l’État”. Does it make him a loser? I don’t think so…
Obviously, Eshotel’s Master program provided me with the hospitality knowledge and maturity of reflection that helped me win. But I also really appreciated the support that I received throughout the evening from my classmates who couldn’t help calling me every few minutes, even when Nikos Alliagas was talking to me in front of 100 people! (Laugh) I’d like to thanks them officially, if I may, because it’s always good to be psychologically buffed up before starting a battle, to know that you have people behind you.
Participating in this prize also provided me with an opportunity to stretch my long-range view of life, to look further down the career path than I had previously. After my interviews with the jury, I was approached by several Hyatt executives such as Alain Schauder, HR Vice-president division EAME; Gebhard Rainer, Senior Vice President and Managing Director Global Hyatt EAME; and Michele Alguacil, managing director of International Profile, a private agency offering top of the line jobs for many international hotel companies. I now feel a certain serenity about finding a job in hospitality; I just hope I will find a job that will introduce me rapidly onto my dream career path: branding management.

Eshotel salutes your success, Benoît, and wishes you the career of your dreams.