“When you love heritage, land, people and service… the hotel business is innate.”
An entrepreneur in the digital sector for 20 years, Jean-Philippe Cartier wanted to sell his company and considered buying a country house. But he had the opportunity to buy the Mas de la Fouque, a hotel he had known for more than 20 years, located in a region he particularly liked, the Camargue.
Despite not having experience in the hotel sector, Jean-Philippe was doubly motivated, both by the elegant and relaxed place he had created with his friends and by the entrepreneurial factor he had given to this project.
He signed in 2011 and so began the H8 Collection adventure.
A passionate man inspired by the feelings of history
Jean-Philippe Cartier has invested a lot in the concept, in marketing and decoration and has created a first place that seeks to succeed.
His initial goal was not to create a hotel group, so the story might have ended when he bought the country house. But he was presented with a new opportunity: the Hauts de Loire estate was for sale. And given the history and geographical location of the estate, the expectations of the new owner were very high. Jean-Philippe already knew this exceptional place, a Relais & Château full of history, located in the Vallée des Rois, in Loir et Cher, on the road to the most beautiful castles in France.
As a lover of land and heritage, he acquired the estate in 2014, at the same time creating the H8 Collection group. He then began a subtle phase of transformation in order to avoid losing the essence of the place, so he endowed the group with modern attributes in order to attract a demanding clientele and make them want to prolong their stay.
A financial partner with innovative practices
“Financing is the driving force and an essential part of the project”.
For the acquisition of the premises and their transformation, Jean-Philippe Cartier played with complementarity, combining traditional bank operators, BPI, and discovering October, a platform that fascinated him thanks to its innovative codes of efficiency: “It is a new fintech actor that offers a simple and extremely fast solution… And it covers the need for speed, which is everything”
October financed all the complementary activities that enrich the customer experience in its hotels: a cooking school, a bistronomic restaurant, a Kids Club and a spa in the Hauts de Loire region.
Mission: To revive the beautiful places that exist all over France
“We have wonderful sites all over France that deserved the investment needed to revive them.”
Today, October has accompanied Jean-Philippe Cartier in the acquisition of 3 of the 8 prestigious H8 Collection hotels, including the Hermitage de Saint Tropez, the Hôtel Mont-Blanc in Chamonix, the Vieux Castillon, the Maison d’Uzès… The group’s ambition is to continue to develop in France, with several projects already underway: “We consider France to be the most beautiful country in the world and that we have treasures to discover in each region”.