Luxury Travel Advisor - July 2008 - (Page 46)

COVER STORY cast member—well, actually just an extra. It was Michael Caine. “I met him one day,” Forte says, “and he said to me, ‘Were you ever an actor?’” The two quickly figured out they were in the TV play together. Caine’s star took off; Forte dropped acting to hone his hotel chops. “My father steered me away from acting,” he says. That was that. Pushing Forward Today, The Rocco Forte Collection is on the cusp of gaining a more global foothold. The collection is moving beyond Europe, and also venturing into different niches. Two new properties will be a departure from the city-centered hotels The Rocco Forte Collection is known for: Forte is adding golf and spa resorts in Sicily and in Marrakech. The Verdura Golf & Spa Resort on the southern coast of Sicily is slated to open next May and will be owned by The Rocco Forte Collection; a management contract has been taken on for a new complex in the Atlas Mountains of Marrakech that will open in 2010 with golf, a spa and 80 luxury villas. “The Sicilian property I decided on two years ago,” Forte says. “I always wanted to do an upmarket golf resort in the Mediterranean.” He is very detailed, right down to how tee times will be spread out to ensure that groups don’t press into each other. Forte himself used to play a lot of golf, but in recent years has given himself—and his body—to a more grueling sport, triathlon. In 2002, he finished first in his age group at the World Triathlon Championships. Precision and dedication are also hallmarks of Forte’s business sense. He is prone to personally take sales calls with travel advisors. “We just did a road show in New York,” says Dave MacGregor, Forte’s director of North America sales. “He did every single sales call, at every agency. He is heavily involved in that process, very hands-on.” MacGregor works, along with only three others, out of the company’s New York sales office (its other North American sales office is in Los Angeles) and says that, now, North America is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, feeder markets for Rocco Forte Collection properties. “There are three components to the properties’ success,” he says. “Phenomenal locations, unparalleled service standards and the style of the hotels, which really wins many over.” He says that agents will often receive phone calls from clients raving about their stay in the middle of their vacation. While The Rocco Forte Collection is transitioning into a new era, taking on new properties and branching out beyond Europe does not mean that the group is losing its close-knit appeal. In fact, Forte wouldn’t want it any other way; it’s part of the way he runs his business. “We are a small business with short lines of communication,” he says. “It allows me to make decisions quickly. Other groups go through a hierarchy, where it takes a while for decisions to be made.” At an age when most people are, at least, throwing around the idea of retirement, it’s the farthest thought from Forte’s mind. When it is time to hang it up, you can bet The Rocco Forte Collection will carry on with familial leadership. Already, Forte’s three children (two daughters and a son) have been exposed to the family business, working in varying capacities. Even his niece runs a property that Polizzi opened, which is not in The Rocco Forte Collection. Suffice it to say, the hotel business is a family affair. Until then, Forte will speed ahead, scouting new projects, ensuring his hotels keep true to brand standards, all the while honoring his father’s memory, either knowingly or unknowingly. His sister already sees the resemblance. “The older Rocco gets,” she says, “the more and more he is like our father.” THE SUITE EXPERIENCE A hallmark of any Rocco Forte Collection property is the suite. The Nijinsky Suite at the Hotel de Russie in Rome (pictured at right), for example, is noted for its marbleand-mosaic bathroom and its garden terrace. To emphasize its suites, The Rocco Forte Collection has introduced The Suite Experience, designed to give its suite guests an even higher level of service. “People don’t [anticipate] that we [will] have nice big suites, Forte says. “It’s an ” effort to underline the fact. ” Suites now offer a new range of services, including complimentary packing, unpacking and garment pressing; use of a mobile phone for local calls and a direct line to the hotel concierge; in-suite checkin; breakfast on the house every day; and complimentary movies and Internet use. 46 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | July 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Luxury Travel Advisor - July 2008

Luxury Travel Advisor - July 2008 Contents Publisher's Letter Editor's Letter California Coast Tuscan Villas Ranch Vacations Gansevoort South Rancho Las Cruces Reserva Conchal Spas of the Maldives St. Lucia A Gentleman's Touch The Pulse Just Back Sightings Source List

Luxury Travel Advisor - July 2008

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