The Drawing House: when contemporary art meets hospitality
“In one word, my challenge today: develop. My people, my clients, and then operations.”
Right from the start, Florian sets the tone. As General Manager of the Drawing House and the Drawing Hotels Collection, he represents a new generation of hoteliers: pragmatic, curious, and above all driven by the desire to build.
For this new episode, we are just two minutes away from Montparnasse train station, at 21 Rue Vercingétorix in Paris’s 14th arrondissement. A hybrid and lively place where contemporary art meets hospitality.
1/ The Hotel: The Drawing House
A unique concept, between hospitality and contemporary art
Opened in 2022, the Drawing House was born out of urgency. “Carine took over this property three months before opening. She had to bring a concept extremely quickly.”
That’s Carine Tissot, founder of the Drawing Now fair – Europe’s leading event dedicated to contemporary drawing. In 2017, she opened a first hotel dedicated to this universe. In 2022, she did it again with the Drawing House:
“It doesn’t mean just putting decoration on the walls. It means creating tailor-made spaces with artists.”
The whole project is part of the Drawing Society, which combines art and hospitality.
At the Drawing House, the ground floor hosts the Drawing Hall, an art center where works evolve before your eyes. “Today, Jacques Merle is painting a 150m² piece. Every day I go down, and every day the artwork has changed. It’s fascinating.”
In the rooms, art is everywhere, from the carpet to the headboard.
“Remove the art and you have a very generic hotel. With the art, you create a universe.”
An evolving offer, built step by step
Few hotels allow themselves to grow in stages. The Drawing House was built layer by layer:
- first the 143 rooms and 2 serviced apartments,
- then the restaurant (100 seats),
- meeting rooms (now 10),
- and finally more unexpected spaces, like blind-test game rooms.
“We’ve always worked in an evolutionary way. We learn with the market, listen to our clients, and adapt the offer. It’s like building a Lego hotel.”
What started as a constraint became a method:
“This flexibility makes success. Each brick adds value.”
Optimizing every square meter
Where others talk about RevPAR, Florian prefers to talk about space.
“I never understood RevPAR. Today, we sell square meters. We divide a building, we optimize each space.”
In the basement, a 20m² cabin was transformed into a private spa. Result: €100,000 in annual revenue. “It’s a budget line in itself. Lunch service is not the same business as dinner service. Every space must live.”
Rooms, too, are reimagined. With an average of 30 day-use bookings per day, the hotel generates €450,000 in additional revenue and three extra jobs.
“A room must be occupied at night… but also during the day. (…) In the end, the building lives. When you walk in and see couples, people working, people passing through, you feel: something’s happening here.”
A real local connection
Montparnasse is not known as a village-like neighborhood, yet the Drawing House has built real connections. “Our restaurant bread comes from a nearby bakery. Guest chocolates too. And in October, for Halloween, we’ll hand out 250 pumpkins to kids in the 14th.”
But Florian remains realistic. “I don’t fantasize too much about local anchoring. In Paris, residents have a thousand options. Loyalty isn’t natural. What works is when you create quality.”
The weekend brunch speaks for itself: 200 to 250 covers per service.
“We’re starting to see locals coming back. But it’s not because we’re the ‘hotel next door’. It’s because they find something here they like.”
2/ The Director: Florian
A career shaped by operations
Norman-born and a “pure hospitality product”, Florian learned the ropes on the ground.
“I started at the very bottom. Five years with Marriott: the best experience of my life. In those big houses, you learn the real trade.”
By 20, he already knew PMS, channels, and the first hotel websites.
“I was doing the mappings on extranets myself. Not as training, but because I was given the chance.”
After Marriott, he switched to independent hotels: Dames du Panthéon, Monte-Cristo… always openings, challenges, and fast learning curves.
“I was lucky to work with bosses who told me: go right, go left. I worked, I proved myself, and they helped me grow.”
Listening and demanding: his vision of management
Florian describes himself in one word: listening. But he adds immediately: not passive listening. Listening to understand, frame, and then let people move forward.
“Before, I was doing 70% of the work for my teams. That doesn’t work. Today, I prefer hiring people stronger than me. I micro-manage three to six months, then I let them fly.”
Two examples illustrate it.
- Camille, who arrived in early 2023 managing three meeting rooms, now runs ten, generated nearly €1M in revenue, and leads a team of four. “She went from zero to one in a year. She learned to recruit, to make mistakes, to start again. She worked hard, and today she’s fully autonomous.”
- Coralie, revenue manager based in Rennes, set three conditions when she was hired: build the budget together, come to Paris two days a week, and have her train tickets paid. Unusual deal, but a winning one. “After eight months, I don’t even need to ask her anything. It runs on its own. And all my N-1s tell me: she’s amazing!”
The lesson is simple: recruit strong, set a clear framework, give trust. And it works.
Facing crises with creativity
While at the Coq Hotel in Paris’s 13th, the pandemic could have slowed him down. Instead, it revealed his temperament. “Three days after closure, a nearby hospital called: could we house healthcare workers? We said go.”
For two and a half months, the hotel ran with a reduced team, hosting and feeding medical staff. A proof of resilience – but above all, agility.
Then came the more unexpected ideas: privatizing the swimming pool, turning the rum bar into an “anti-Covid” tasting lounge, even a partnership with Volkswagen to launch the first “hotel van.”
“While others were waiting, we were busy reinventing.”
The entrepreneurial adventure: Maison Urbaine
In parallel, Florian runs his own project: Maison Urbaine, a 19-room hotel in Paris’s 19th, acquired in a club deal with his wife and associates : “We couldn’t afford a big Parisian hotel, so we bought a small one. We renovated it and set one rule: it had to be autonomous within two years.”
Today, the property runs with six employees and an organization designed for autonomy.
“What matters isn’t titles or ownership. What matters are the humans who wake up every morning to run the hotel.”
A measured growth plan
Florian isn’t chasing a hotel empire at all costs. His objective is clear: 8 to 10 hotels by 2027. “Not 50 in 5 years, that wouldn’t make sense.”
His motto: consolidate before expanding.
“My job isn’t to say: it’s great, we’re strong. It’s to see where the breaking point is, and what risk we take if it doesn’t work.”
This prudence translates into three priorities:
- Consolidate what exists: “Don’t depend on a single nationality, supplier, or distribution channel.”
- Retain collaborators: “Without my N-1s, I can’t move forward. Today they’re six to eight. None have left. My role is to keep them.”
- Stay reasonable: “In my business plan, I don’t promise 30% growth per year. If we do 5 to 10%, that’s already a success.”
Once again, his frankness dominates: “Many sell dreams with unrealistic numbers. I’d rather tell the truth and build for the long term.”
The entrepreneur who shares advice
After several openings, a health crisis, and now leading a growing group, Florian sums up his experience in three tips for hoteliers who want to get started:
- Never launch alone.
- Always know your numbers.
- Don’t lose sleep.
“Life’s too short to lose sleep over a hotel. At worst, it fails, and you lose money. What matters are the humans. If they’re fine, the machine works.”
The Drawing House is not a frozen concept. It’s a hotel that moves, adapts, lives. Art is not decoration – it’s the engine. And every square meter, every idea, every brick added creates value.
Florian doesn’t sell dreams. He builds, step by step, with his teams. No smoke and mirrors, no unrealistic promises. Just one conviction: if you recruit strong, set a clear framework, and trust, it works.
To go further into the Jungle...
Where are you from, Florian?
“I’m from Normandy. A pure hospitality product: hotel school, and I started at the very bottom.”
How old are you?
“37”
3 words to define the Drawing House?
“Modern. Flexible. Artistic.”
How many rooms?
“143 rooms, 2 serviced apartments, 10 meeting rooms, a 100-seat restaurant, 3 blind-test rooms… and maybe more to come.”
How many staff members?
“Officially 49… but up to 80 at full capacity.”
Your biggest challenge today, in one word?
“Develop. First my team, then my clients, then operations.”
The first thing you do in the morning?
“I hug my wife, check on my son… and then I take a shower.”
A place that inspires you?
“Place du Panthéon.”
A book or a movie you’d recommend?
“Think and Act Like a Cat. Not very intellectual, but funny. And I’m a cat lover.”
One word to describe your management style?
“Listening.”
An artist or artwork that recently marked you?
“Jacques Merle, who’s creating a monumental piece in our Drawing Hall. Every day I go down, and every day the work has changed.”
Your favorite sport?
“Not a sportsman at all. But I walk at least an hour a day, 15,000 steps.”
Skill #1 for your job today?
“Understanding what makes people want to get up in the morning and be happy to come to work.”
Crédit photos : Drawing Hotels Collection et personal archives.
Date Interview: 25-Aug-2025
Translated from French
Hotel Website: https://www.drawinghouse.com/
Group Website: https://www.drawingsociety.org/
Maison Urbaine: https://www.maisonurbaine.com/
LinkedIn Florian : https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-bitker/
