Leadership Spotlight: Marine Matringe

Our latest leadership Spotlight features Marine Matringe!

Marine is an experienced digital marketing leader who has worked with several well-known organisations across the hospitality industry. As well as possessing extensive experience across the food and restaurant industry. Her most recent roles were with The Wolseley Hospitality Group as their Digital Marketing Manager; and she currently leads the digital marketing strategy for Rocco Forte Hotels as their Digital Marketing Director.

In our Q&A with Marine, she discusses her career journey to date, transitioning to the UK, likening working in digital to “trying to find and maintain the perfect recipe while your ingredients are constantly changing” and why a flexible work setup is key from an employer's and an employee's perspective.

Read the Q&A below.

Why did you join the Digital Leaders Club?

I think we all achieve the best when collaborating with others. The Digital Leaders Club is a great opportunity for our digital community to learn and grow together. We are working in a fast-changing field, and remaining up-to-date on the latest technologies and strategies is part of the job. It also allows us to indirectly push third-party agencies and third-party systems to ensure the services they deliver are as good as possible.

What's your career journey been like to date?

I moved to the UK ten years ago, shortly after graduating. My specialty has always been digital marketing, and through my past and current experiences, I have specialized in digital marketing for the hospitality industry. It is an industry I am passionate about, as the decision-making process for restaurants and hotels can be complex, often relying on several people and multiple external factors for a single conversion. It is an industry where you can have a lot of fun, though budgets and margins are tighter than in other industries, forcing us to be creative in our approach and ensuring that every penny spent leads to a result.

My previous two experiences were with UK-based restaurant groups, which have been a real rollercoaster, between working on multiple restaurant openings and having to set up a restaurant delivery business in a week during the pandemic. I have now been at Rocco Forte Hotels for just under three years, and it has been exciting to expand my responsibilities to luxury hotels.

Tell us about your current position

I am directing the digital marketing strategy for Rocco Forte Hotels. We currently have 14 hotels and more than 40 restaurants and bars in Europe. I lead the strategy and budget related to SEO, paid strategies, website content, UX optimisation, social media, new website development, and integrations with the team based all over Europe.

What do you love about working in digital?

Our world is ever-changing. I sometimes describe working in digital as trying to find and maintain the perfect recipe while your ingredients are constantly changing.

Have you overseen any projects that you are very proud of? Tell us about your best success story.

There have been a lot of projects I'm proud of that have made a difference to the business, but to be honest, after a while, the most important memories remain the human ones. Throughout my career, I have often been the only and the first digital marketing employee, and I had to take my development into my own hands, which ultimately led to leaving companies I enjoyed working at because there was nothing else to continue learning.

I have always been convinced that by offering the right development opportunities, we increase employee retention, improve productivity, and decrease the cost of new hires. At Rocco Forte Hotels, I’ve created and delivered digital marketing courses that are relevant to our business, and I also offer one-on-one sessions to those who request them. Created to develop the marketing team’s skills, the sessions are now attended by our sales and revenue teams. I am always pleased and touched when I receive lovely feedback and messages from the team. I’m really happy to offer them an opportunity I didn’t have. Ultimately, people may leave the company for another role, but I want to make sure I give them what they need to leave for the right role for their career, rather than leaving because they are bored.

What is your view on companies wanting employees to return back to the office 5 days a week? Will we ever go back to 'normal'?

The hospitality industry is more traditional than others in this regard, and most hospitality businesses require employees to be present five days a week, as they have since the end of the pandemic's restrictions. I believe flexibility is key, both from an employer's and an employee's perspective.

Which trend do you predict will dominate 2025?

Everybody is talking about AI in general, but for digital marketers, I believe the next big thing lies in our understanding of artificial intelligence optimisation and how we can leverage it in our search engine and social media optimisation strategies.

What are your hobbies and interests outside of work?

Outside of work, I really enjoy cooking and often cater for large groups of friends and family on the weekends, whether it's 15 or 20 people... the more the merrier! While French food will always remain close to my heart (especially anything with cheese), my preference these days is cooking Sichuanese, Hunanese, and Korean food.

What's your plan for the future?

I've been in London for 10 years now, and I feel I would benefit from a change of scenery. I think this is important in order to remain creative. I'd love to continue my career in digital within the hospitality or luxury industry from Geneva, Switzerland, to be closer to my family. I miss the mountains, the lake, and the fresh air. But who knows?  

What would you be doing (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?

I would consider something drastically different, like becoming a forest ranger in the French Alps, like my dad, or starting a mushroom farm for the pharmaceutical industry and fine dining restaurants.

Connect with Marine on LinkedIn