Who's Who ; Marianne Estène-Chauvin President Groupe Belles Rives Hôtel Belles Rives - Hôtel Juana (France)
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Who's Who ; Marianne Estène-Chauvin President Groupe Belles Rives Hôtel Belles Rives - Hôtel Juana (France)
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Category: Europe - France - Industry economy
- Trends / Expert's advice
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2009-01-30
Her allure reads will-power, her dark eyes shine with astute liveliness. Marianne Estène-Chauvin has become a figure among the French Rivera's luxury hotel managers, well to lead her two properties with grace and dynamism.
Today, the hotels Belles Rives and Juana embody eternal charm. More than hotels, they can be considered homes, full of warmth and life. That is thanks to the rigueur and finesse of a cultivated woman, who strives to preserve their history all the while letting a whimsical wind of pure folly blow through their doors.
Indeed, a sweet mix of "sense and sensibility" purveys on this road to the mythical Cap d'Antibes. A road Marianne has come to know from her early childhood on, falling in the footsteps of her grandfather Boma and uncle Casimir, founding fathers of the Belles Rives.
The responsibility of nurturing this legend would be bestowed upon her eventually. But first, she studied Art History with a preference for Egyptology, in Paris, where she was born. Then, as if guided by the hand of fate, a gallery owner asked her for advice on a small Egyptian statue he had just acquired. He ended up hiring Marianne, who was thrown into a whirlwind of cultural enlightment. Those were the first days of Beaubourg, when soon to be famous designers and artists, such as André Putman or the Poirier's, were close acquaintances.
The young woman's world was no less binary. Winters, her job and studies lay in the heart of Paris' throbbing art scene, whilst summers would be spent by the sea, under Juan les Pins' warm sun, working hard at the Belles Rives. No doubt, the ideal way to wake up to reality: ever since she was 17, Marianne would stay backstage at the hotel, giving a hand at reception, in the laundry room, waking up early to go to the market.
Then came the Moroccan years: "I left on a ten-day vacation to Morocco, joining the man who would later become my husband... and ended up staying ten years! The best in my life!" At the time, European spouses were not meant to work. But that didn't stop her from starting her own art gallery, a first in the country, with the wife of a renowned local architect, Leila Faraoui. The "Nadar" gallery came to host many an unknown artist, who would later become the pride of Paris' Institute of the Arab World.
After a photography exhibit on 1930 colonial architecture, Marianne gained acute awareness on the "importance of the current for Morocco, and especially for the Belles Rives, a landmark of the genre." That would explain why the hotel is now listed among France's twentieth century historical monuments.
Throughout her life, two underlying themes come to light: attachment and perseverance. Loyal to her family, Marianne thus returned to France so as to help her uncle Casimir, who ran the Belles Rives with character and stamina.
First and foremost, the hotel was a family business. It was Boma, who left his homeland Russia and bought the Villa Saint-Louis in 1929, transforming the property into a 44-room hotel, right by the sea - the first ever on the Riviera, for that matter. It was not until 2001 that Marianne managed to gain full ownership of the hotel, a dream her grandfather had held close to his heart for over 60 years.
Tenacity and perseverance. Marianne's story as an hotelier is out of the ordinary. This is a domain she did not have to learn, she was born and raised with it. The hotel itself seems to stick to her personality. The Belles Rives truly runs through her veins: "It is a place where an artistic concept can be applied. It is a world of complementarities: on one hand, the down-to-earth, backstage and technique; on the other, the show, props and imagination!"
Preserving the site, without turning it into a museum! Such is the challenge in any place of historic import: maintaining tradition while pushing towards modernity. "Knowing our past to better forecast the future. Today, it is all about reaching out, going out there with new ideas to develop your business." That is why Marianne created her cultural association "The 1930's - Cap d'Antibes - Friends of the Belles Rives". That is also why, she acquired the Hôtel Juana in 2006 and ran the next door Provencal Beach.
"The overall idea is to take part in this era of renewal in Juan les Pins, to function as a resort, stretching our offer to provide diversified services to our clientele." "We are not lacking projects: real-estate, gastronomy, seaside activities... The Belles Rives should be a place you 'see for a very long time that actually (still) looks like something blooming'" ...
Crédits photo : Jean-Michel Sordello.
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