Hotelier of the week: Carina Svensen

ABTN speaks to Carina Svensen, general manager of Rezidor’s Hotel Missoni Edinburgh, about the development of the new brand, the hotel scene in Scotland’s capital, and all things fashion.

How did the the partnership between the Rezidor Hotel Group and Missoni come about?

It started many years ago, when Rezidor wanted to join with a fashion designer. They searched for quite a long time and after finding one brand to work with that fell through. They'd already met the Missoni family during that process, but they weren't ready at that time to go into hotels. Rosita Missoni had decided it was time to withdraw herself a little bit, to become a Grandmother. She felt she'd fallen out a little bit with the new trends of design when it came to fashion, so she decided to hold back.

Then, when Rezidor's first deal fell through, they got back in contact with Missoni. At that stage, Rosita had decided that she was terribly bored and wanted to work again. She had started to relaunch her home brand – the crockery, towelling, blankets, and so forth - so it was kind of a perfect match. She said she just couldn't sit still. It's quite remarkable for a lady of her age [she is now in her 70s] to still be involved. That was how the whole Missoni Rezidor hotel idea came up.

Was the Missoni family heavily involved with the development of the hotel?

I've never seen anyone more involved with anything in my life. That is what is so fascinating about this brand. A lot of hotels join with fashion designers. They have their name across the door, but when you come into the hotel it could be anywhere. This is through and through the Missoni life. When you walk into our hotel it's very much a replicate of walking into their home. The dining chairs in our restaurant are the same that Rosita has in her kitchen. Some other chairs are the same as what she has in her summer house in Sardinia. There really is a great sense of the Missoni family  in the building. She comes over about four times a year to make sure everything is just the way it should be. She says: “That doesn't quite work any more, maybe we should change that. And maybe we should look at that, and those uniforms we need to update.” Involvement at the highest degree.

Why was  Edinburgh chosen as the launch destination?

Two reasons, really. For Missoni hotels it's all about location, and getting the position on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh is unheard of. So when we got that, we knew it had to be there. Of course ideally we would have loved to be in London, New York or Milan first – if the site had come up before, we probably would have been, but this site was too good to let go. And also the Missoni family loves Edinburgh. It's such a diverse city, so full of culture and art, and they have a really close bond to the city. It was a perfect match, and for us a very good thing to be the first Hotel Missoni to open.

How has Hotel Missoni been received by people local to Edinburgh?

It's a relatively modern, very colourful hotel in a city that is known for having beautiful, but quite traditional hotels. I suppose that goes in line with Edinburgh as a city. What has been great is that suddenly now there is a new option, a new choice. For instance, our bar is packed out at weekends with locals, so is our restaurant. You're always going to have one or two critics, needless to say, but I think we have been well received.

You opened at a difficult time in terms of the economy – was it the right time?

Is there ever a right time to open a hotel? Would I have loved to open in the boom? Of course I would. I think everyone would say that. Was it a challenging time to open? I think yes, without a doubt. If I said anything else I would be lying. But I think what was quite important for us was – and we took the brunt of it in the beginning – to stay true to what we believed in. And we didn't jeopardise anything, whether it was quality of product, service delivery, or staffing, we stayed true to what we initially set out to do.

Of course now things are a little bit lighter, even though our guests, when they spend money, they want to receive the best of the best. We have built a lot of loyalty by delivering the best of service, the best of standards, the best of product. Has it been challenging? Yes, but it's been challenging for the city as whole, and for the rest of the world. But I think in a like situation that you have a choice. You either stick to what you believe in, which is a much longer term strategy, or you go along the cut every corner line. We decided not to. I think, looking at this year, that has proved to be a very successful strategy.

How were Edinburgh hotels affected by the recession?

I think like any city, people are extremely price conscious. A lot of the business guests may not travel for four nights a week, they may go away for one night a week, so you occupancy obviously suffers. The price negotiation and the price sensitivity has been immense. I think Edinburgh has suffered both on rate and occupancy.

Is business coming back now?

Slowly but surely, yes. I feel that there are some shoots of hope. Long may that continue. But, I think it's soon to say. There's still quite a lot of uncertainty out there, so it's about ensuring you're delivering the best and continue to create loyalty.

Hotel Missoni Kuwait opened this month. Can you tell me a bit about it?

Kuwait was initially, a long long time ago, supposed to be the first one to open, but that never happened. The GM of Kuwait and I started pretty much at the same time. We have worked very closely together since, developing what the service delivery was going to be, and so forth. So I have followed them very closely and we've shared each other's staff here and there.

It's a slightly different style of hotel – it's a hotel Missoni throughout with all their patterns and zig zags and colours. This hotel is purple, black, white, typically winter colours,  which suits Edinburgh quite well because of the colour. Kuwaut again is quite a lot of pinks, yellows, gold. Much more vibrant. Considering the weather over there that suits very well. That again is how Missoni is changing – depending where they are they change the colour schemes so it fits the destination. It's a beautiful hotel with 169 bedrooms all overlooking the golf course and it has a great swimming pool. They're working together with sixth sense spa, so it's going to be a fantastic property, but in a very different destination.

The other new hotels are in Oman and Brazil...

Yes, and we've just signed another one also in Turkey, in Antalya. That's a little bit closer to us at least, so there is sign now hopefully that we will continue to grow and maybe get some more partners in Europe as well. We've been on our own for nearly two years now, so we really do need some partners in crime.

So 2012...

It looks like it's going to be the year! The way it's going I wouldn't be surprised if there were more coming up in 2012. It really is a focus for us to continue to drive the Missoni brand and get more and more hotels in our portfolio, but again we want to stay true to what we believe in so it's important that we keep it under control so we can deliver what we say we're going to deliver.

It is a very different feel from your typical business hotel. The service aspect. Our vision is to be the friendliest five-star hotel in the world. So everything around that is about not cloning people. Because really how can you deliver service if all you have to think about is being that soldier that delivers. So it’s very much about letting people be themselves and unfold themselves and therefore deliver quite a unique service.

How involved are the Missoni family going to be in the future hotels?

They will be equally as involved in every hotel. This is their life. It’s their family name. For them this is not just a brand, this is the empire they’ve built up all their lives. They want to be involved. I’ve never seen more energetic people. Rosita is extremely inspirational, while her daughter and grandchildren are also getting involved. For them, it isn’t just a one-off project. They will have a huge involvement in every property.

It must have been interesting for you to have worked so closely with them on the development...

It’s been the best experience I’ve ever had. It’s been challenging opening into the recession. Would I have changed it? Not in a million years. I thought I knew something about style until I started here. I don’t. For me it has been amasing. They are the most inspiring people I have ever worked with. You feel that in the hotel. They take so much time and effort with every staff member. They’ve taken the staff here as part of their family, and that brings loyalty. People want to stay, and we want to make them proud.

I suppose it’s a bit like working for a family hotel, yet you’re part of a large hotel group...

Exactly. And that is what is so unique about this. Of course, we have the luxury of the benefits of being part of a larger company, however we have the luxury of being seen as an independent hotel as well. It’s the best of both worlds.

Did you have to change your wardrobe for your job?

I think I have more Missoni clothes than most people. I am lucky, I wear Missoni every day to work. So do the staff here. I now wear Missoni outside of work as well. I love their clothes.

What’s next for Hotel Missoni Edinburgh?

Just before Christmas we launched our new spa. It was one thing we didn’t have. It’s small, but beautifully formed. We didn’t have one here from the beginning. We probably should have had, so we decided to put it in afterwards.

Then of course we continue to develop the Missoni brand. We’ve established the service standard and delivery that now has to filter through all the Missoni hotels, because people should have the same experience. We also need to come up with new service aspects, to stay ahead of the game.

Is that hard?

Of course it is. There are a lot of good properties out there and everybody is fighting for the same piece of business. You need to have a little bit of ice in your belly. We have a fantastic team with an awful lot of good ideas and passion. Without passion, in our industry you can’t get anywhere. If you have passion and good ideas and you believe in what you’re doing, you really can stay ahead. It’s daring to try something new and see how it works out.