None other than Mr. Rocco Forte himself. So chin-chin, not Mr. Sir, Sir, Sir Rocco Forte.
Okay, I have some very bad news. This is Italian wine. Yes, I know, I know, it's not bad Italian wine.
All righty, my name is Stevie Kim and this is the Italian Wine Podcast. In this wonderful resort which is called Verdura, that means vegetables, and I have the greatest honor of Sir Rocco Forte next to me, and we're going to ask him a few questions. First of all, Rocco, is that so? You're Italian as well? You're English or Italian?
Well, I was born in England, but both my parents are of Italian origin. My father arrived in England when he was three years old with his father, and my mother was born in England of... and her parents came to England after the First World War.
Oh, I see. So my grandfather's name was Rocco. Okay, so you're third generation in the hotel business?
Yes. So my grandfather wasn't in hotels, but he had sort of restaurants.
Whereabouts? On the south coast of England? Okay, yeah. So I'm just going to ask you some random questions because we don't have that much time. How do you define luxury in hospitality?
Luxury is about making a guest's day as comfortable and as seamless as possible, and you have to try and interpret the guest's needs before he actually asks for anything. And we have to personalize his stay. That's what luxury is about. Obviously, you have to have a nice environment, a nicely decorated hotel, but you can have the most beautifully decorated hotel, but if the service is wrong, it's not good, then the guest won't come back.
Okay. First of all, how many hotels have you got?
15. Which one is your favorite?
All my hotels are individual. They all have their own personality. There's a strong sense of place with all of them. I always say my most beautiful hotel is Villa Igiea, which is in Palermo on the waterfront, and that's a building that was built in 1903, Sicilian Liberty style. And it's a very, very special place. This is a wonderful place because you have... it's fantastic. It's amazing. I've been here only a couple of times, but it's amazing, and I always relax when I come here.
I come in August for usually a couple of weeks' holiday.
So you're truly an Italian at heart.
Well, I mean, my wife's Italian. My children speak Italian, so there's a lot of Italian right in me, and I've always kept my links with Italy very strong.
A man of your experience, right in life and in business, how do you handle stress?
You get used to it. I mean, you almost miss stress to some degree, and I think you thrive on stress to a great degree. And then you get a buzz out of it and a buzz out of doing things and solving problems. So I don't look at stress as something particularly bad. Obviously, you can get tired, you can have periods where you're working very hard, you don't pause, you don't relax, and then you get very tired. And sometimes when I go on holiday, I sort of just crash out for three days until I recover. So I'm not a very nice person to be around on those occasions.
Good thing you're in a good mood today.
