Hospitality Daily Podcast The Secrets of Modern Luxury Hospitality in London - Eugene Leonard, Hotel Cafe Royal
Oct 31, 2025
Eugene Leonard, General Manager of Hotel Café Royal, shares his journey in luxury hospitality, emphasizing a people-first leadership style. He discusses balancing the historic charm of the hotel with modern guest expectations, like sneaker cleaning. Arrival rituals create unforgettable first impressions, while empowering staff sparks innovation in service. Eugene values every role in enhancing guest experience and shares insights on attracting talent in London's competitive market. He believes in the power of small gestures, illustrating this with a delightful Maldives sand-crab race story.
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Heritage Meets Modernity
- Hotel Café Royal sits at the intersection of heritage and modernity, attracting a younger guest profile despite 160 years of history.
- Its central but discreet Regent Street location creates a serene luxury oasis distinct from surrounding city energy.
Update Classic Touchpoints For Today
- Embrace the current zeitgeist and update classic service touchpoints to match guest lifestyles today.
- Implement relevant services (for example, sneaker cleaning) to stay genuinely useful and relevant to modern guests.
Empower Teams To Innovate
- Empower every department to suggest guest-focused improvements and listen to ideas from front-line staff.
- Treat guest-first thinking as the responsibility of the whole team, not a single department.
