Paris 2024, Olympic Secret Services. 1300 Sofinord hostesses and security guards in the starting-blocks

Sofinord and four of its subsidiaries are welcoming the world to Paris 2024. The OCOG, On Location and a number of major groups will be relying on this French champion in hospitality, customer care and security. 1,300 of the group’s employees will be delegated to the site.

Fifty years after its creation, this fine French ETI specialising in customer experience and security is preparing for its first Olympic Games. Armonia, ICTS Europe, Aeria Airport Services and LMB, four of its subsidiaries, will be delegating staff to airports, stadiums and the opening ceremony. These employees have been difficult to recruit, given the tightness of the sector and also because the group must continue to serve its major clients, such as Le Louvre, Chanel, Dior, banks, AXA, etc.

Thomas Desplanques, Barbara Grandsire, Jean-Baptiste Thélot, Sophie Auger-Mongenot of the Sofinord Group

‘Sophie Auger-Mongenot and Jean-Baptiste Thélot, Managing Directors of Armonia and ICTS France respectively, said this morning: ‘We couldn’t fail to be a partner of the Olympic Games.

The new general management* of the group created by Patrick Thélot and several thousand employees of the hospitality and security specialist are in the starting-blocks: the Mahola agency will be present at 17 main sites to welcome the public, hospitality customers sent by On Location, and sell ice creams, four activities that the agency knows well: it already does them for major luxury groups and prestigious stadiums such as Roland-Garros.

CESG will provide close private security for VIPs and a number of Olympic venues.
At airports, ICTS will welcome tourists and manage security, its core business. ‘We are therefore the first ambassadors of France for those who will discover the country during this major event,’ said the management team, who welcomed the press this morning to its new head office.

Like the other major players in the security sector, ICTS has not been overly hasty in responding to the lots and invitations to tender issued by the OCOG, as the close security and safety sector is under pressure. ‘We have to make sure that we can provide the services and contracts we have with our major clients (BPCE, Dior, Chanel, Musée du Louvre, Axa etc)’.

The company expects 10% no-shows in its workforce, and has set up a hotline reserved for group employees who need advice or a rapid response to a managed situation. It has also trained its staff in the customer experience standards expected by organisers.

What is a good welcome and a smooth customer or traveller experience?
‘We have received videos and instructions from the OCOG on the proper management of customer paths and the right behaviours to adopt.
However, these are not formalised in the same way as they may be in other events or countries, such as Dubai or certain World Fairs where the Group is involved’.

Paris 2024’s ambition is to give France the image of a welcoming country, but it has not defined the criteria for measuring what constitutes a good welcome and a memorable visitor experience. While these items are defined and measured in other universes or sectors, such as airports and motorway service stations, they will not be during this major event. Is that a pity?

Here’s what you need to know:
In airports, ADP has undertaken to measure waiting times for boarding and disembarking and will communicate on the evolution of these waiting times. Read the commitments made by Augustin de Romanet, CEO of Aéroports de Paris, here.
At service stations and motorway service areas, smiley boxes will be set up to collect the opinions of customers and passengers.
*Guillaume Amar, who was CEO of the group for more than fifteen years, recently left the group and was succeeded by Sophie Auger-Mongenot.