Mr. Bottois

Olivier Bottois

Managing Director & COO

The Whiteface Lodge Resort & Spa

Olivier Bottois is managing director and chief operating officer of the 94-suite luxury resort The Whiteface Lodge Resort & Spa in Lake Placid, New York. A seasoned veteran of the hospitality industry with extensive management experience at luxury properties around the world, including 10 years with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Bottois oversees all resort operations and plays a key role in real estate sales and marketing for the private residence club.

Under the stewardship of Bottois, The Whiteface Lodge, the Adirondack region's only luxury resort with a private residence club, has within its first two years of operation been lauded as a Robb Report "Best of the Best" for 2006, has appeared on Conde Nast Traveler's 2006 "Hot List," and has been awarded the AAA Four-Diamond Award in the first year of operation, among other accolades. In addition, the resort has been branded one of The Leading Hotels of the World and was invited to join Virtuoso and The Kiwi Collection.

A native of Normandy, France, Bottois brings a lifetime of luxury hospitality experience to his position: he grew up at the legendary Hotel George V in Paris, where his father was hotel manager. He moved to the United States in the late 1980s and has focused his career in the Lake Placid region since 2002.

Prior to joining The Whiteface Lodge in 2005, Bottois served as chief executive officer and managing director of the JPO Group, where he oversaw the repositioning of Long Island"i? 1/2 s Oheka Castle Hotel as a Small Luxury Hotel of the World. He also served as general manager of the exclusive Lake Placid Lodge, a Relaise and Ch'teaux property that was named one of the top 10 resorts in the world by Departures under Bottois' leadership. During his tenure at Four Seasons, he worked at the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta from 1997-2000 and at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. Bottois also held posts at The Ritz Carlton Hotel Chicago, The Ritz Hotel and the Presidential Palace in Paris, The Connaught in London, The Vier Jahreszeiten in Hamburg and the Peninsula in New York.

Bottios is a graduate of the Ecole de Chambre de Commerce et 'Industrie in Paris and has completed management courses at Cornell University. He served as vice chancellor culinaire of the Atlanta chapter of Chaine des Rotisseurs.

Mr. Bottois can be contacted at 518-523-0520 or o.bottois@thewhitefacelodge.com

Coming Up In The June Online Hotel Business Review


Feature Focus
New Trends in Hotel Architecture and Design
On any hotel design project, architects are generally serving at least three masters - the owner/developer, the hotel operator, and the general public who will utilize the hotel - and each have their own goals, objectives and demands. The owner/developer is concerned with brand standards, the target market and the hotel's locale, while the operator is concerned about achieving the highest possible revenue through efficient design. The public is demanding that architecture and design be fully integrated into the guest experience, based on prevailing tastes and preferences. The architect's role is to respond professionally and efficiently to meet the demands of all and to develop a unified solution. Though each project has its own prerequisites and obligations, there are some general design trends which seem to be prevalent across the industry. First, there is an increased emphasis on the importance of the lobby. The principle here is that first impressions matter and that a hotel has only a few minutes to convince a guest that they have made the right decision. Hotel lobbies are being completely re-imagined - from eliminating front desks altogether to turning lobbies into warm, intimate social spaces, replete with fireplaces and comfortable furniture. There is also an increasing use of ambient natural light, even in large spaces like ballrooms and meeting rooms. In addition, there is greater emphasis on incorporating the distinctive attributes of any given location into the hotel design, which guests are defining as central to their experiences. The June issue of the Hotel Business Review will report on all these exciting developments in the fields of architecture and design.
In this issue...
Experiential Design Across All Sectors
By Ellis Katz, Principal, John Portman & Associates
Challenges of Contemporary Design in Historic Buildings
By Gary Meadows, President, HCI Architecture, Inc.
Ideal Meeting Spaces Should Offer Flexibility, Flexibility and Then Some
By Ronald M. Lustig, Design Architect/Principal, Earl Swensson Associates, Inc.
The Hotel Lobby
By Jennifer Skaife, Senior Associate, DiLeonardo
PLUS: Keeping an Eye on the Return on Design; Check In To the Future; L'AND Vineyards Wine Resort; How to Preserve Architectural Detail; Catering to Women in Hotel Design; Sustainability Retrofits, and much more.