Carina Svensen is the general manager of Hotel Missoni in Edinburgh, the first of Rezidor's new boutique brand to open in the UK. She tells Catherine Chetwynd of the challenges of launching a new brand.
Rezidor's lifestyle/designer brand has been a long time in the making. The group's relationship with Malmaison was short-lived and attempts to create a hotel brand with Cerruti dissolved in acrimony. So anyone taking on the launch of the new Hotel Missoni in Edinburgh might have done so with misgivings. But not its general manager Carina Svensen.
"I have always wanted this project," she said. "I know it sounds crazy and to open a new brand is a lot of work, but there is a lot of satisfaction to be had in being part of this achievement." Ms Svensen has been with Rezidor since 1994 and was involved in the co-operation with Malmaison. "That is where I got a love for lifestyle hotels. You have closer contact with guests in a smaller hotel and that also allows you to put your personality on it. That's what I enjoy about it."
Before she arrived in the Scottish capital, Ms Svensen was running Radisson Blu in Belfast and also spent time in other parts of Ireland, which is reflected in the distinct Irish lilt to her native Norwegian tones. "We opened on June 8 but I started officially last November (2008) when it was very much hard hat and yellow vest. We were in a dodgy little pre-opening office with hardly any heating," she said. Quite a contrast to the elegant surroundings of the five-star luxury hotel with staff dressed head to foot in Missoni clothing, including herself.
There was no book to prescribe the style and statement of the first Hotel Missoni on Edinburgh's Royal Mile. "Although there were great systems and procedures in place for Radisson hotels and we could utilise some of that, Missoni is a new brand and we had to start from scratch, looking at the bed linen, the crockery, uniform sizes, marketing and sales plans, room configuration, IT, telephones, data points - you would not believe how many data points there are in a reception desk!"
Svensen created Hotel Missoni Edinburgh with a team from Rezidor, including its then executive vice president for brands Gordon McKinnon. "We were sitting down regularly to discuss how we were going to attack room service or breakfast, what would be the standard for Universal Concièrge or Pronto service," she said. "We put our hallmark on it and that makes you very proud."
Pronto service says a lot about Hotel Missoni Edinburgh. Missoni is an Italian brand and pronto, apart from meaning quick, is also the way the Italians answer the telephone. Dial zero for any service and you get the answer "Pronto!" Chef Mattia Camorani is a protégé of Giorgio Locatelli and his brigade is Italian. There is also a big Italian community in Edinburgh.
But there are items in the hotel that reflect its Scottish location, including Charles Rennie Mackintosh style tables. "That was very much Rosita Missoni (a member of the Italian fashion family working on the hotel). She said we needed to have pieces of Scotland: the windows were made as big as they are to give people a good view of what you see outside. And the lobby attendants wear Missoni kilts," Ms Svensen said.
Even the hotel's colours were chosen to reflect the city's damp climate. "We have tried to make it fit into Edinburgh, not to make it too bright and too bolshie." That said, Missoni colours - blues, reds, purples -sing off the walls, bedspreads and even the breakfast china.
Interviewing for staff took an unconventional route and Carina Svensen was involved from the beginning. "We had a very strict recruitment process. I met every member of staff before they joined. We are very much a team and I like to know the staff, I think it's important and makes them feel valued." Each potential recruit had at least two interviews and the emphasis was on things visual.
"You find out a lot by asking strange questions," she said. For example: "If you could bring one thing that would represent what is good about today to you, what would it be? A lot of people would have brought pictures of their family; their car keys because that brought them to the interview; sunshine - things that represent positive things." Positive things are at the root of the Missoni philosophy, embodied in Vita, or life.
Given the economic climate, launching a 5-star luxury brand must have been stressful? "It is a challenge," said Svensen in masterful understatement. "And our strategy affects our occupancy levels to an extent but it is a long-term vision. We are not dropping our rates because we genuinely believe that what we deliver is worth the rate we're charging, while the city, of course, is having a price war.
"But I also believe that when we get our guests through the door - which is very tough in the current market because we're all fighting for the same piece of business - when we get them through the door, we will also get them back."
August was "fantastic" on account of the Fringe but Ms Svensen expects occupancy levels will hit an average of 50% by the end of the year. "To be honest, I am very proud of that, particularly as our rate is probably sitting about £20 ahead of the rest. Bookings are very much last minute, there is a lot of heart pumping. But bookings are looking good for next year." And the bar and restaurant already have a strong local following. "At weekends, the place is really buzzing, which is great," she said.
Not surprisingly, Carina Svensen does not have much time to herself. "I am here almost 24 hours a day and I live five minutes' walk away," she said. "I would probably be classified as a workaholic. This is my baby and doing an opening, you really have to dedicate your heart and soul to it. This year, there has been no time off. Otherwise, I try to go running as much as I can; and I have family back in Norway and when I have the opportunity, I love to go and see them."
Despite the big Missoni imprint, the hotel is not a cold, untouchable fashion icon. Quite the opposite. "It is still comfortable," Carina Svensen said. "You could throw your shoes off and curl up with a nice cup of cappuccino and a book," she said, pointing at a chair with a fat, well padded seat and a long, curved back. She was right.