Laurent Delporte – Keynote Speaker

Laurent Delporte is a leading light of the French hospitality industry.

A graduate of HEC Paris, he has nearly 17 years experience in the hotel and event-planning sectors. He was also one of the original founders of the European Youth Parliament-France and oversaw the strategic partnerships of the Comunica festival. Following an active role in the HEC Entrepreneurs Program, he joined Accor Group to work for the Sofitel chain.

A man with hands-on field experience, Delporte knows all the ins and outs of a hotel. As Assistant Director of Accommodations and Reception at the Sofitel Paris Porte de Sèvres, he led a team of 120 personnel and supervised nearly 20 service managers. His mission: to restructure the management of the hotel and improve the performance of services delivered to the client (quality certification, etc.).

Laurent Delporte has impressive operational and behind-the-scenes expertise in the high-end hotel world. He has overseen strategy development and event-planning offerings in line with the luxury repositioning of Sofitel hotels across the world and designed Sofitel’s InspiredMeetings offer, which has since been deployed in more than 150 hotels. He has participated in the renovation of some of the most prestigious and renowned Sofitel hotels across the world including The Grand Amsterdam, the Grand Ducal Luxembourg, Sofitel Vienna and Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah.

He has visited and audited more than 350 hotels and even participated in ‘mystery guesting’ to ensure quality control in the finest hotels. This experience allowed him to develop event-planning services by helping him acquire marketing expertise in the luxury sector.

Delporte has been passionate about sustainable development since his student years when he participated in the Earth Summit at Fontainebleau. Under the Accor Group, he has nurtured the sustainable development movement on the part of the Sofitel label.

Alongside his professional activities, Laurent Delporte accompanies entrepreneurs to thrive through the MERCURE HEC Booster Program, which he organises as part of an association of fellow HEC alumni.