Food, luxury, or customer welfare: What truly defines great hospitality?
HOSPITALITY is in my blood.
It has been in my family for generations now, starting with my grandfather who left his little village in the Italian hills for Scotland in 1911 and ended up with several establishments selling ice cream and tobacco.
My father branched out into milk bars, the first one on London's Regent Street called Forte's. He bought the Waldorf, the first hotel he ever ran, in 1955, and ended up with Trusthouse Forte, one of the biggest hotel and catering companies in the world.
My father was always keen that I had experience of his businesses. I did so throughout my school and university holidays, after which I joined the business full-time. My first job was at the Café Royal at 14 years old. I was in the cellars shifting crates of house wine which we bottled ourselves. Later I worked on the Waldorf reception, where I did wages and put cash into envelopes for staff, and also at Heathrow where we had a restaurant in one of the old terminals.
As a result I was able to start my own business when Trusthouse Forte was sold in a hostile takeover. I now work in my business, Rocco Forte Hotels, with my three children and my sister, Olga Polizzi. We now have a Saudi partner in PIF. While we have a strong executive team, the involvement of the family members makes a big difference. The family aspect is the most important thing about our culture and philosophy, and the luxury service we aim to deliver. It's our name above the door and we really care about it. We have a passion for it and a belief in it and we care about everything that goes on in our hotels.
I believe the people working with us in the business feel this directly – feel this passion and commitment. This is very important, because they're transmitting our philosophy direct to the customer. In family, you also look at things long term: you want to make the business stronger and more powerful for future generations. Our partner PIF also takes a long-term view.
We teach our staff about the family history, the company history, the hotel history and about the city in which the hotel finds itself, which they can communicate back to the customer – and also have a greater sense of belonging to the organisation as a result. Each of my hotels has its own character but if you go to any one of my hotels you will find that same culture. I think that the Rocco Forte philosophy – that attention to detail and dedication to services – comes across everywhere.
When it comes to luxury, the Hotel de Russie in Rome is not just iconic, it's the hotel in Rome. It opened in 2000 and is one I am particularly proud of. I also spend a lot of time at the Verdura in southern Sicily, where there had previously been no real tourism of this kind. I took on 500 acres with two kilometres of coastline and we have created something of outstanding beauty and quality. Our next opening will be The Carlton in Milan, that's due to open in November. It's in a great location, on Via della Spiga at the centre of the most fashionable district of Milan and the hotel will reflect the energy of what's a new buzzing European capital.
Across our group, we pride ourselves on knowing our locations very well and we can provide unique experiences that most people can't. We see a great demand for extraordinary experiences and for years now we have been working on unique opportunities in partnership with the communities surrounding our hotels. We offer anything from trips up the Etna volcano in Sicily to private visits to the castles of Bavaria. We pride ourselves on being the leading hospitality experts in Europe and can tailor the most interesting visits off the beaten tracks.
Food is also very important to what we offer. I don't like three-star Michelin restaurants in hotels. It's pompous and out of date.
The food becomes more important than the customer. Our executive chef Fulvio Pierangelini, who was in fact a two-star Michelin chef, oversees all our Italian kitchens. His approach to food is different, using the highest quality, locally sourced produce. His pasta pomodoro basilico, for example, is incredibly simple but Romans come from all over to eat it because it's so special.
Ultimately, we believe that delivering a luxury service means being true to our hotels, to our family heritage and to the cities where we operate. We're determined to be seen to be offering only the very best.
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