Meet The Set Collection & Executive Director Jean-Luc Naret

When it comes to the most luxurious, beautifully composed, and inspiring destinations, Jean-Luc Naret is a man in the know! A hotelier by profession and a gourmet by passion, Jean-Luc Naret has over 30 years in the hospitality industry. He has traveled over 1 million miles and across all continents discovering the nuances that make a hotel or restaurant truly excellent. Recently Jean-Luc joined The Set Collection as Executive Director. A venture that is sure to put all of his exceptional knowledge of luxury hotels and resorts to use! Lh had the pleasure of asking Jean-Luc some questions about his career, from his last role as CEO of La Reserve Hotels and his 7 years as Managing Director of the Michelin Guide to his new position and why The Set Collection is a luxury seal to note!

Lh Exclusive Interview with Jean-Luc Naret, Executive Director, The Set Collection

Love Happens: As our name, and the tagline of our publisher KOKET denotes, at ‘Love Happens’ we are firm believers that you cannot achieve any level of success without love. When did your love affair with luxury living begin? And how did it make you feel?

Jean-Luc Naret: My love affair with this industry started very young as I preferred to visit hotels than museums as I found these buildings and décor so fascinating. In fact, some investors turn sleeping buildings into real museums using architects, interior design, and sometimes with a curated selection of art. Loving this industry makes my life easier as when you are lucky to find that your passion is your job, you do not feel to work any day.

Lh: Tell us a bit about your path and what led to your role today as Executive Director of The Set Collection?

Jean-Luc: Before The Set Collection, I was the CEO of La Reserve Hotels in Paris, Geneva, and Ramatuelle. Before this, I was the Managing Director of the Michelin Guide for seven years. During that time I travelled worldwide from Paris to Tokyo, New York to San Francisco. I’ve also been fortunate to manage many luxury hotels worldwide, and I started my consultancy ( jlnandco.com) in 2019.

My current position involves carefully curating The Set Collection and deciding which hotels have the spirit, location, design, and values we feel would fit with the others represented. My current title is Executive Director, but I like to call myself Chief Creative Curator/Officer.

I never thought I’d have the ability and pleasure of choosing my dream job. When you’re lucky enough to choose your passion as your job, it becomes everything you work on in your life.

Lh: In your opinion, what is most important for a restaurant to achieve excellence?

Jean-Luc: When I used to be the CEO of the Michelin Guides, we had a full list of criteria to ensure that the Michelin Stars were not only revealing the talent of the chefs but also the products used, the techniques, and more important the personality of the Chef. One important criteria was consistency. Across the entire dishes offered on the menu. But also across the days of the year when the Chef was there or not!

Lh: Do you have a favourite hotel in terms of top-notch luxury? Personal favourites welcome!

Jean-Luc: As you can imagine, my favourite hotels today are all part of The Set Collection or will be soon! The Conservatorium in Amsterdam, the Lutetia in Paris, The Café Royal in London, The Mamilla in Jerusalem, the four hotels of the House Collective in Asia also…. And many more to come. So, stay tuned to the ones we reveal that we love!

The Lobby at the Conservatorium in Amsterdam

Lh: What makes a hotel worthy of The Set Collection status?

Jean-Luc: Our agreement is a refreshing alternative to previous hotel agreements’ one size fits all approach. Firstly, The Set Collection is run by hoteliers for hoteliers. We offer our partners the services they may need with a performance-based competitive fee structure.

By becoming a part of The Set Collection, our partners benefit from such services as our unrivalled distribution tools, 24/7 online and phone reservations systems, access to worldwide travel partners, marketing solutions, industry relations, customer loyalty programmes, and concierge services. In return, our partners support the growth and development of our industry-leading brand. Whilst we expand our footprint across the world.

At The Set Collection we believe that it is the artistry of our people; our combined talent, skills, expertise, and flair that create these inspiring environments that feel beautifully composed.

Hotels wishing to join The Set Collection must be luxury hotels in destinations complementary to our existing properties. Their owners wish to keep the management of their hotels but entrust us with their marketing. As well as with the fabulous network we have built around the world.

The hotels in our collection will be the independent leaders in their destination. And we will help them to position themselves globally. In addition to these quantifiable criteria there is of course something that cannot be transcribed, a feeling of a like-minded outlook or similar attitudes, one could even call it chemistry.

At The Set Collection we believe that it is the artistry of our people; our combined talent, skills, expertise, and flair that create these inspiring environments that feel beautifully composed, and it is this that we seek in our collaborators.

Conservatorium, Amsterdam

Lutetia, Paris

Mamilla Hotel, Jerusalem

Hotel Café Royal, London

Lh: What’s next for Jean-Luc Naret and The Set Collection?

Jean-Luc: After the announcement of The Set Collection’s expansion, the objective is to work on new members joining that have the same spirit as The House Collective and our founding members over the next few months. A carefully curated selection of properties worldwide is being created by destination, with the initial goal of 20–30 new members by the end of the year.

Expansion is high on The Set Collection’s agenda right now; our focus for growth is worldwide and wherever our clients would love to travel to.

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Originally published at https://www.lovehappensmag.com on April 6, 2022.