Three years after setting up RF Hotels, Sir Rocco Forte now has five luxury hotels that bear his initials: one in Edinburgh, one in Cardiff, two in St Petersburg, Russia and his newest hotel, the 183-room Hotel Amigo in Brussels, Belgium, which opened in January 2000.
In April, two more are due to open in Italy – the 130-room Hotel de Russie in Rome and the 98-room Hotel Savoy in Florence.
The expansion is set to continue with a 171-room property scheduled for Manchester next year, followed in 2003 by a 197-room property in Berlin.
“My aim is to be represented in all the major cities in Europe,” said Sir Rocco. “There’s no luxury hotel group that achieves that at the present time so there’s a possibility I could become a market leader.”
Closer to home, Sir Rocco is also looking to build a profile in smaller UKcities.
“There are a number of cities outside of London that are crying out for quality accommodation. Cardiff was a prime example, as is Manchester,” he said.
For now, it seems that London is being put on the back burner.
“I would love a hotel in London but it’s almost impossible to find property that makes commercial sense. I can no longer compete with the big boys and go and buy existing hotels at a big premium. I would struggle to improve on a 6% yield,” he explained.
With other cities being earmarked including Frankfurt, Madrid and Prague, Sir Rocco has set himself an impressive pace.
“Everything I do is to some extent opportunistic. I cannot plan my hotels to open according to preference and in chronological order. So long as an opportunity arises in the cities that I am interested in then I don’t mind in which order they come,” he said.
However, he’s cautious not to let his portfolio grow too big.
“I would hate RF Hotels to grow as big as Forte,” he said. “I want to keep it at a size where I can directly influence it, whereas in a corporation the size of Forte that was impossible.
“In a multi-faceted company, if the top management are a long way from the coal face, then they are a long way from the customer and in this business the customer is always king.”
In his new business, Sir Rocco has a far more hands-on approach so that he can personally ensure the standards he has set are being achieved. “I’m not into hotels to buy them and sell them at a higher price the next day. I’m in hotels to run them – that’s what I enjoy and that’s my main purpose,” he said.
Reflecting on the growth of the company, the sales team has recently been expanded from one to three with one person dedicated to targeting business from conference organisers.
“Conference business is to some degree related to the economy – when times are difficult companies tend to cut back,” he said.
“It’s a market that is expanding almost faster than any other and is an available source of year-round business, so it helps to balance things out in the off-season.”
All hotels have conference and banqueting facilities with the biggest capacity found in the St David’s Hotel and Spa in Cardiff. It has eight fully equipped function rooms including video-conference facilities and a reception room for up to 300.