Fireside Chat with General Director of Es Saadi Resort Jean-Alexandre Bauchet-Bouhlal Part 2

This weekend at the Es Saadi Resort we caught up with General Manager Jean-Alexandre Bauchet-Bouhlal to talk about the resort that was established by his grandparents in the 1950’s and that he has run here since the early 2000’s.

In this second part, we talk about the events that the casino offers, as well as Bauchet-Bouhlal’s focus on poker and the future.

In the grounds of the Es Saadi resort right now there are around a dozen classic cars, ranging from Mercedez to Ferrari; Fiat to Mustangs.

“We are partners with a Moroccan cars magazine,” explains Bauchet-Bouhlal, “It’s the number one magazine for classic car owners in Morocco. There is a jury made up of people like four-time winner of Le Mans Henri Pescarolo and former F1 driver Yannick Dalmas.

“We have events here like this all the time, and tonight there is a gala dinner. There is a car out there that is similar to one that my grandfather owned; a Facel Vega. These cars can reach $5-6 million, such is the trend for classic cars.”

It’s not just cars that Bauchet-Bouhlal is interested in. He pays close attention to the poker tournaments that take place in the casino also.

“In 2005 we were one of the first casinos in Europe to offer Texas Hold’em – they called it ‘Vegas’ back then. And then we had the WPT arrive in 2009.

“The WPTDS Marrakech is our 44th international poker tournament to be organized here and we have really been involved in this development of poker. We thought first of all that it was a very interesting concept. It’s a game where you don’t play against the casino or the house, but where you have competition between the players.

“Also, even though you need a lot of luck, you can also base your results on skill. That is what attracts younger players; it’s like video games, they want to be able to use their skill.”

Bauchet-Bouhlal says that it is this young demographic which they must appeal to. The combination of skill and the fact that there is a community within poker which bring young people.

“We thought it was a great opportunity. We love bringing new things to Casino de Marrakech, and we were early adopters so we were on the map from the beginning. It will bring younger people inside the property, as well as it being something which lasts a long time.

“You have people who stay for a while here in Marrakech. Poker is time-consuming so when you attract poker players into your venue you know that they won’t be here for 30 minutes and then leave. This is all the advantages which we thought poker would bring.”

The French-Moroccan says that the interest in poker cannot be seen purely as a revenue tool, but it’s a lot more “sexy” and “marketable” than roulette and table games.

“This is why we decided to go for it! And it was perfectly matching with our strategy of promoting events, because you see we promote events in art, sport and gaming. It was a perfect fit for us.”

The Es Saadi resort has a new retail area, partly due to customer feedback where customers were after home-made chocolates and pastries, as well as Moroccan teas and clothing.

“People were asking for these things and now you can buy the towels and the pastries. It’s all about customer focus. We will always be developing new things; new restaurants, new events – always working on new projects.

“My favourite part of my job is to think about what next. We have a lot of projects on the way; we always have many things in development. However, we never like to talk about things before they are ready. It’s important to be creative and to bring things to the people.”

Bauchet-Bouhlal is very clearly in love with the city of Marrakech, and is ambitious in his plans for the future.

“We have a great opportunity here – a great city, with a great climate and with political stability. In our crazy world that can be really important.”