Four Seasons Hotel Madrid

Four Seasons Tenure

• Since 2013
• First Four Seasons Position: Rooms Division Manager-in-Training, Four Seasons Hotel Beirut

Employment History

• Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square; Four Seasons Hotel Beirut; Royal Military Academy Sandhurst; King’s College London; Defence Academy of the United Kingdom; International Institute for Strategic Studies, London

Birthplace

• Beirut, Lebanon

Education

• Postgraduate Diploma, Hospitality Management, Les Roches, Marbella; PhD and MA, War Studies, King’s College London; BSc, International Relations, The London School of Economics and Political Science; French Baccalaureate, Science, College Louise Wegmann, Beirut, Lebanon

Languages Spoken

• Arabic, English, French

“I think people are just now discovering Madrid, and we’re here to welcome them to the best of it,” says Raphaëlle Camilleri, rhapsodizing on the operation she oversees and the guest experience it offers at Four Seasons Hotel Madrid. As Hotel Manager of the luxury address occupying seven historic buildings in the city centre, it’s Raphaëlle’s job to ensure the property creates a scene all its own and brings the neighbourhood along with it. “Four Seasons has revived the district, and we’re being good about working with the community to offer everyone a true taste of the city.”

Key to that offering is promoting an air of accessibility, the better to draw locals and drop-ins who perhaps won’t be staying the night but will enjoy a day pass to the Hotel Spa or coffee and a pastry at El Patio restaurant. “It’s important for us to remember that we’re not just here for travellers,” she says, noting that the energy of the Hotel team, many of whom hail from Madrid or elsewhere across Spain, helps reel people in. “I sometimes stand outside, and passersby will ask if they can come in. I tell them they are especially welcome and to make themselves at home.”

Raphaëlle’s path to Four Seasons was atypical, to say the least. Born of a Lebanese mother and Franco-British father, she grew up in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. She recalls bombs falling in the city, but through a child’s perspective of excitement as much as of danger. True to her roots, she grew up intrigued by international relations and military operations.

She later took those interests to multiple outlets of higher learning and earned multiple degrees, not least a Master’s in war studies from King’s College in London, which led to work at research institutes. Then one of her professors informed her of a sponsorship opportunity from the UK Ministry of Defence that would pay her to earn a Ph.D. in return for teaching junior officers in the Royal Air Force.

Upon earning her doctorate, Raphaëlle landed as a professor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst outside London. But her academic career lasted only five years. “I woke up one day and said to myself, ‘I don’t see my life being like this forever.’” So, she took a break for a long backpacking trip through seven countries in South America. Upon returning to London, her twin sister suggested switching gears to hospitality. Hotels had always interested her – “they seemed much more exciting than dry and boring academia” – so at 28, Raphaëlle bid military strategy adieu and enrolled in a six-month program at a hospitality school in Spain.

Her instructors all told her that Four Seasons was the best route for a hotel rewarding career, but also that she lacked necessary experience and, as she remembers, “that my CV was a bit scary.” Never mind: She applied anyway, seeking placement in a management training program with Four Seasons in her hometown. “Not a lot of people wanted to train in Beirut at the time, but I was well-acquainted with the city. The Hotel took a chance on me, and I gave it all I had in return.”

As she rose through management in Beirut, Raphaëlle gravitated to the Rooms side of operations, drawn by her feeling that hotels are “really about the sleeping experience, and there are so many systems and processes that go around it.” She later became Director of Rooms at Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square just prior to the global lockdown, which gave her opportunities to benefit from task force assignments at other addresses, including Riyadh and Athens.

Now the point person for operations in Madrid, Raphaëlle envisions the property one day becoming a flagship Four Seasons in Europe as well as the place to be for dining, wellness, and cultural experiences with a local vibe. The important thing is to lead creatively and not let up, she says. “We have to stay fresh and to constantly fashion best practices to share with our sister hotels and attract the next generation of talent to enchant new guests.”