Laurent Delporte keynote speaker

Laurent Delporte does not approach hospitality as a sector, but as a way of understanding how people, places and experiences come together. Over more than twenty-five years, he has developed a perspective shaped as much by observation as by practice: experience is not delivered, it is designed.

A graduate of HEC Paris (Entrepreneurship), his early engagements were already pointing in that direction. As co-founder of the French section of the European Youth Parliament, he conceived and led international gatherings where cultures met, often for the first time. It was there, long before hospitality became a profession, that a simple idea took form: welcoming is never neutral. It is constructed through space, through intention, through attention to others.

His path into hospitality itself came almost incidentally. It became central. At Accor, he chose first to remain close to operations within hotels, alongside teams, where experience exists in detail rarely seen but always felt. This grounding led him to international roles, notably as International Brand Manager for Sofitel, where he contributed to a significant transformation of the brand. His work spanned service standards, experience frameworks and close collaboration with architects and owners ensuring that experience was considered not at the end, but at the very beginning of each project.

That dual perspective — operational and strategic — now underpins DELPORTE HOSPITALITY, the advisory structure he founded. From real estate to healthcare, from luxury to service industries, he works with decision-makers to align environments, cultures and uses, shaping experiences that are both distinctive and coherent.

His thinking continues through DH-Mag, a bilingual publication dedicated to the evolving landscape of hospitality and luxury. There, through essays, interviews and field observations, he explores how the principles of hospitality extend far beyond hotels into any context where relationships define value.

At the centre of his work lies the concept of Generous Hospitality. A framework built on three dimensions: the sense of place, the quality of human connection, and the client’s lived experience. Not as separate elements, but as a system — one that, when aligned, allows organisations to move beyond process and towards something more enduring: engagement, loyalty, and a form of performance rooted in human experience.

As a speaker, Laurent Delporte addresses international audiences of executives, investors and academic institutions. His interventions focus on three themes: hospitality as a lever for organisational transformation, the design of experience within places and services, and the evolution of luxury in response to new expectations around well-being, technology and meaning.

Internationally recognised, Laurent Delporte is listed among the world's top hospitality opinion leaders by the International Hospitality Institute and the American magazine Global Hospitality, and among the Top Luxury Speakers of the World by the World Luxury Chamber of Commerce, based in New York.

Recent speaking engagements include FYU Miami, HEC Paris, Luxury Hospitality Conference Milan, Digital Enterprise Show Malaga, and Medi Wellness Congress Geneva.

His talks offer more than perspective — they provide the keys to rethink how organizations welcome, design experiences, and create lasting value.