I don’t know if you caught the recent Alex – The Hotel Inspector – Polizzi programme on Channel 5 but it was rather interesting.
Alex and her mother Olga decided to buy a hotel which had previously been owned by Alex’s grandfather (Olga’s father) Charles Forte, the man responsible for building the Forte hotel empire.
The Forte empire had over 1,000 restaurants, 500 hotels and catered for 24 airports.
In January 1996, the Forte Group Plc was taken over by Granada after a very public and hostile takeover battle.
Just months after the takeover, Olga and her brother Rocco, started the Rocco Forte Hotel chain which today has 11 hotels, two resorts and the Rocco Forte House.
Olga Polizzi also owns a couple of hotels herself which her daughter Alex manages for her.
In the latest programme, Alex Polizzi – My Hotel Nightmare, for the first time ever, Alex and her mum Olga become equal partners and buy the rundown hotel together.
The former medieval coaching inn in Alfriston, east Sussex is a huge 37 bedroom hotel comprising several run down dilapidated extensions.
The whole building was in a desperate need for renovation.
Because of the work required and the unfortunate timing of the Covid-19 pandemic, the building work took nearly a year and a half longer to complete – there were workers still paining the doors and windows on the open day – and cost a million more to renovate than planned.
They bought the hotel for £2 million and the renovations cost a further £2 million.
In one of the three episodes Alex is seen working out how long it would take to pay back all of the money they had borrowed.
12 years was her initial estimate.
In the same episode, Alex stated that one of her mother’s hotels – the Hotel Endsleigh in Devon – took 15 years to clear all of its debts.
That’s a long time.
I understand that once the business is running, it pays for itself.
The money is not coming out of their personal pockets and that the hotels would be giving them a wage as well as paying back those debts… but it had me thinking.
12 and 15 years is a long time to be paying back loans.
Alex is nearly 50, her mother Olga is 75… now I don’t want to sound morbid but… it’s possible that Olga may no longer be around when the debt for the new hotel is finally paid off.
Hotels and hospitality is in their blood. It is what they know and it is what they grew up with… it’s also what they enjoy.
There is a lot of money to be made in hospitality… but it’s not always guaranteed.
As we have seen with the recent pandemic and its effect on the tourism industry, the hospitality industry is reliant on serving people… and if people are not moving about freely, there is no one to serve.
Also, there are a lot of cogs in the hospitality machine to consider.
Including:
- Staff – restaurant servers, kitchen staff, bar staff, cleaners, reception and administration.
- Towels, toilet paper, soap, tea, and coffee making facilities.
- Bar and restaurant crockery.
- Kitchen equipment.
- Maintenance & decoration.
- Marketing & website management.
This is just a quick short list… but as you can see, there is a lot to manage.
It is safe to say that the hotel and hospitality business is not for me.
There are too many costs and headaches to deal with.
I prefer a more simple way to make money.
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www.StreetwisePublications.com/AFB
Kind Regards
John Harrison
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