L’Escale Resort Marina & Spa |26 April 2022
Most of the staff of L’Escale Resort Marina & Spa are Seychellois (Photo: Joena Meme)
Striving for success with 95% Seychellois employees
L’Escale Resort Marina & Spa is a brand new luxury boutique resort with 25 rooms and boasting the fact that 95% of its workforce is Seychellois.
Located at Roche Caïman (ex-Wharf Hotel & Marina), L’Escale Resort Marina & Spa opened its doors to clients in January 2021.
“We have managed a year after opening to establish L’Escale Resort Marina & Spa as one of the top five-star hotels in Seychelles, providing exceptional service, food and location. With 95% of the workforce being locals we strive to be an example of sustainable tourism. We employ 60 Seychellois staff and only one gainful occupation permit (GOP) permanent resident employee. We contract local companies for security, landscaping and spa,” general manager Cyrille Carofano shared with Seychelles NATION recently.
L’Escale Resort Marina & Spa also welcomes local clients.
“We actually welcome quite a number of Seychellois for normal lunches, business lunches, dinners, and special occasions and even for stay over but they have to call for reservations.
We also have a business centre with a boardroom which can cater for up to 12 persons. If the client is not staying overnight, he or she cannot have access to the pool,” Mr Carofano explained.
After a year of operation, Mr Carofano noted that they want the hotel to be known as the preferred luxury ‘escale’ for accommodation, yachting, culinary and wellness experiences.
“We started having good occupancy as of July last year and it kept growing. Since the war started, we have seen a gradual decrease but the upcoming months look good. Families are also welcomed as we offer two-bedroom pool villas and six interconnecting classic rooms,” Mr Carofano shared.
But what makes the hotel unique? L’Escale Resort Marina & Spa is the only hotel offering a marina. The architecture and interior style are reminiscent of resplendent of a super yacht luxury with its clean lines and nautical touches. The resort is the signature work of Winch Design ‒ a London-based design studio specialising in top-end design at the highest level.
They have an international reputation for designing and delivering iconic projects on land, in the air and at sea, around the world.
L'Escale Resort Marina & Spa marks Winch Design's debut into the luxury resort sector with L'Escale setting the bar high for their very first boutique hotel project.
Mr Carofano also stressed that the success of the hotel depends a lot on the dedication and commitment of the staff.
“The environment is nice and the staff love coming to work. We make sure that they also receive an attractive and motivating service charge depending on their attendance,” said Mr Carofano.
L'Escale Resort Marina & Spa has also joined Small Luxury Hotels of the World’s (SLH), unrivalled portfolio of boutique hotels as it is the only hotel in Seychelles that is currently part of their exclusive selection of hotels. The name of the game for L'Escale Resort Marina & Spa is barefoot luxury and ultimate comfort.
Mr Carofano added that now they can safely berth about 19 super yachts up to 115m long and recently they welcomed M/Y Nirvana 86m long, Lana 107m, Hermitage 69m, Savannah 83.5m, Danah Explorer 67.5m, Lionheart 90m, S/Y Vittalia2 36.8m, Hemisphere 44.2m, and Mystere 43.5m.
The hotel has garnered scores of 5/5 on Trip Advisory, 9.5/10 on Booking.com and 4.8/5 on Google. The luxurious establishment also received the AHEAD MEA 2021 award for best suite and has 2,308 followers on Instagram with 131 posts
