Henrik Muehle has spent much of his career working in small luxury hotels. He has now just taken over as the managing director of the newly refurbished St James Hotel and Club in London which calls his grand hotel in miniature
Tucked away in a cul de sac in the heart of London's clubland is the St James Hotel and Club. This elegant townhouse where the discreet rich choose to stay has re-opened after closing for a two year re-furbishment programme.
It also has a new managing director Henrik Muehle, a hotel man to his finger tips who has spent most of his career working in the small luxury hotel end of the market.
Mr Muehle, who spent seven years as general manager of the Capital hotel, also an top end property close to Harrods in Knightsbridge, is now busily settling in at St James and initiating some projects of his own.
The St James property, which started as a "gentleman's chamber" for the English aristocracy, is the first hotel in the UK for the Althoff Collection. This is a small group of five luxury hotels dotted around Germany and one in St Tropez on the French Riviera, known, Mr Muehle for its food and service. The Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg, magifcent baroque castle just outside Cologne, has a 3-star Michelin restaurant.
Althoff, having secured its first ever management contract in the UK, embarked on a major renovation programme at St James in 2006. As a marker to the quality and style it required, Althoff employed Anne Maria Jagdfeld, who re-designed the Adlon in Berlin for Kempinski, to restore St James.
"Everything is new," said Mr Muehle. "The renovation has left only the facade and the staircase in place. All the rest is new - very traditional and very chic. That is the perfect name for it.
"It is a grand hotel in miniature. We have a doorman and a concierge jsut as the grand hotels do although we are a smaller version."
If the lay out of the upstairs bedrooms has been left relatively unaltered, the furnishings and decor has changed. But it is the ground floor where the former bedrooms have been removed and a new bar and restaurant laid out.
The changes have left m Mr Muehle with a property of 60 bedrooms, six rooms for either private meetings or private dining, a restaurant and an expansive bar and bistro area.
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St James hotel, London |
"We have private dining for up to 40 for dinner or lunch along with state of the art IT in all the rooms and - my favourite - a beautiful cellar room which has been completely re-furbished for intimate dining," he said.
This was one of his first projects while the second is the appointment of an English Michelin star chef for the St James. "He will be here from September 1, it is his first restaurant in London and his name will be announced soon. People will know the name," he said.
Mr Muehle's guests which he describes as the "perfect mix" of business and leisure" are usually top end, company ceos and chairmen. "They come from all countries but mostly the US, Canada, the UK. We are getting more from the UK," he said.
Mr Muehle has spent 20 year in the hospitality business and he finds the great pleasure of the small hotels is that he will know all his guests. "I know them and all and I greet them personally. Our clients expect you to do that," he said.
His career, after studying at a hotel school in Cologne, has been spent largely outside his native Germany. His first job was an as a commis chef and later a receptionist at a "beautiful" five-star Wasserturm Hotel in Cologne.
Outside Germany, he has worked in France in Annecy, in Paris for Millennium and Copthorne Hotels, in Jersey, in Tylney Hall in Hampshire and then onto his first job as general manager at the Capital Hotel.
He is finding that many of the guests who stayed there are now following him to St James. He has got to know many sufficiently well for them to take him to the theatre or out for a meal. Some have asked him to help organise their wedding. "You don't get that at bigger hotels," he said.
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St James' terrace at night |
"I happen to have a close circle of people although you can't call them friends. I look after them as a servant and as their guest you can got to dinner or to the theatre with them."
Like many hoteliers, Mr Muehle entered the profession because he loves meeting people. Outside the long hours of his work, his passions are food and drink. He is by many accounts an expert on wine and a very good cook. "I still do a lot of cooking at home but, no, I am not allowed to cook here," he said.