“I’m not a typical deputy manager. I don’t think a role like mine exists at any other campsite.”
– Sabine
From Innsbruck to Agay
I’m Austrian, originally from Innsbruck in Tyrol. It was through Alessandra, my childhood friend, that I ended up at Esterel Caravaning.
We first came to France together on holiday and met Jeff and Michel, two best friends. What was meant to be a holiday romance lasted seven years – long distance. We’d come to the Côte d’Azur from June to August, while they’d come up to the mountains in winter. After seven years, we decided to live together. So I left Austria.
Alessandra started working at Esterel Caravaning on reception. I had found a position as head receptionist at Pierre & Vacances in Port-Fréjus. Then in 2000, Alessandra called: Aurore had just renovated the bar and was looking for someone for the morning shift.
I had experience in catering, but it wasn’t a field that particularly appealed to me. I came to the interview anyway. I was won over by the hours and by a role that was different from anything I’d done before. And that’s how it all began.
An unexpected return
I worked at the bar for six years. Then I fell ill and missed an entire season. I came back afterwards to work in the shop. And after six years, real boredom set in – the kind that gnaws at you. I was taking jewellery apart just to reassemble it, sewing pieces onto leather bags that wouldn’t sell, just to keep my hands busy.
I left Esterel Caravaning to work in professional training – advisor, permanent contract, five weeks’ holiday. What everyone calls a normal life. But it didn’t suit me. What I missed most? The exchanges with families from all over Europe – Belgian, English, Danish, German… That diversity of faces, of accents… That openness nourishes and enriches me every single day.
So I decided to go back to school and train as a Tourism Establishment Manager. On the first day, the director asked about my plans. I had none – I simply wanted to learn. So I improvised: “I’m going to work at Esterel Caravaning, as deputy manager.” Pure invention!
Aurore agreed to take me on as an intern, but with no prospect of a permanent position. At the end of the three-month placement, she said: “You’re not leaving – you’re staying. I’ve seen what you can do.” That was nearly ten years ago.
The trio
My role is hard to define. I manage quality, the mobile home technicians, the receptionists, customer disputes, human resources, recruitment, contracts, and payroll preparation. I’m the go-to person for every question without an answer. It’s exhausting, it’s varied, and it’s exactly what I need.
Between Aurore, Véro and me, there’s a chemistry that has built up over time. Three different personalities, three ways of approaching problems, three ways of resolving them – that’s what makes us effective. We form a complementary trio. Aurore knows our strengths and gives us free rein, with no micromanagement – a trust that pushes you to surpass yourself. There’s a genuine friendship between us. We’re not working for an employer, but for something that belongs to us, in a way.
Finding one’s place
In summer, I live in the lower part of the campsite with Michel. It’s the solution we found to balance the intensity of work on one side, and family life on the other. When you’re on site, there’s no commute, no break in continuity, no guilt. Michel gets to spend time with Jeff, his best friend, over games of padel. I’m two minutes from everything that awaits me. And in the evening, we’re together. It’s simple, and it changes everything.
My son grew up here. He learned to swim in these pools, got up to all sorts of mischief with Lukas, Alessandra’s son, along the campsite paths while I was working. The day before yesterday, he came to play tennis. He said to me: “I love arriving here. I feel so good.” In one sentence, he summed up what I can never quite put into words. Why we stay, why we give so much of ourselves. Why, even after thirty years, we still feel like we’re arriving somewhere.
Between us: “My ego took a hit. And then I understood.”
When Sabine’s placement ended, I didn’t want her to leave. I knew that with her, we would move to the next level, raise our standards, and truly become a five-star establishment. Except that letting someone step into your place within a business you built almost entirely on your own is easier said than done.
The first year was difficult. She would take files and bring them back to her office. I’d arrive and my HR folders had vanished. And in everything she took on, she was better than me! I won’t pretend otherwise: my ego took a hit. And then I broke my arm. Three months of immobility. There are no coincidences: my body forced me to let go and allow her to take the place she deserved.
From the very beginning, Sabine brought a sharp, discerning eye to what things should be, to what wasn’t right, to what wasn’t yet good enough. When she inspects a mobile home, even a brand-new one, if something doesn’t meet her standards, she has it redone. Without hesitation. It was she who changed all the furniture in the mobile homes and introduced annual replacement of all the bedding. Enormous costs, radical decisions. And on every one of them, she was right.
In our trio, Véro and Sabine form the working couple – the engine that keeps things running day to day. I set the direction, provide the oversight. And in many ways, it’s Sabine who holds everything together, with her ability to defuse tension, to keep things on track, and to never let go of what matters most.
– Aurore
