Prix Meurice for Contemporary Art 2010/2011

Franka Holtmann

General Manager of Le Meurice and President of the Jury

This energetic and audacious manager began her career as a hotelier in the 1980s as a student in Munich. Franka Holtmann then left Germany for Paris and a role as sales manager for the Méridien Étoile, a position she held for five years before being appointed Sales Director in 1991. Between the two, she gained further experience as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Westminster Hotel then at Jet Hotel in Paris, while studying marketing and finance at Cornell-Essec business school.

Franka Holtmann's career took on a new dimension in 1995. After serving as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Ritz for almost five years, in February 2000 she moved to Avenue Montaigne as second-in-command at the Plaza Athénée. After a summer session for managers at INSEAD business school in 2003, she took over the reins at Le Crillon as General Manager until June 2006 when François Delahaye, Chief Operating Officer for the Dorchester Collection, appointed her at the head of Le Meurice. The hotel was caught in a deep slumber, waiting for the good fairy that would bring it back to life. Franka Holtmann knew not to rush headlong into change. Instead she patiently and carefully analysed the mood. Manage while encouraging initiatives, never lose sight of profitability while emphasising quality, synchronise services, activate networks, multiply partnerships and be creative… these were the essential ingredients if magic were to take place from within. In was in this new context that Franka Holtmann commissioned Philippe Starck to imagine a new atmosphere that would stunningly reawaken Le Meurice's rich past.