Page 22 - December 2020 January 2021

Experience the

Experimental

Henrietta Hotel
Covent Garden, london

The Experimental Group was founded by three friends
in 2007 with a vision to share a contemporary hospitality
experience to an exacting clientele the world over. Here,

RLI speaks with Co-Founder Pierre-Charles Cros about
how the company has grown in the last 13 years and how

it is now focusing on its hotel portfolio.

livier Bon, Pierre-Charles Cros and Romée de properties in Paris, France, one in London, UK, one in
Goriainoff, three childhood friends with a taste Verbier, Switzerland, one in Venice, Italy and one in Menorca
for innovation launched Experimental Group in the Balearic Islands.”
O with the first Experimental Cocktail Club on Before Covid-19 landed in Europe earlier this year, the
a small side street in Paris and changed the face of the city. company had been busy with three openings in three
The team expanded in 2010 when Xavier Padovani different countries in 2019. Additional expansion plans
came on board as a fourth partner and from here the were in place for 2020 before these were cut short due
company has worked its way up the hospitality chain, to the virus. Now, the focus is on managing the losses
moving from one location to multiple cocktail clubs, to sustained due to hotel closures.
bar & restaurant sites and finally to hotel sites. Today, they Cros explains that the difficulties sustained because of
operate a portfolio of fifteen venues across six countries, Covid-19 were not so much about performance, but about
with their main markets being Paris, London and New York. damage control. Operating hotels in six different countries
“The idea today is to be hotel led whilst retaining a presented a huge challenge for the founders, as each
strong F&B complement,” explains Pierre-Charles Cos, country had its own approach to dealing with the virus and
Co-Founder of Experimental Group. “We now have three its own set of rules.

22 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2020 / JANUARY 2021