Leading Stories

SHARK TALES

His name may be French for shark, but Philippe Requin won’t bring Grace Hotels any harm. Gina McAdam was charmed.

So it’s true. Requin really does look a bit like Alain Delon, the sixties French matinee idol. He has the ageless gallantry of a Maurice Chevalier (‘Would you like a glass of champagne?’ It’s 10.30am) and the outsize charisma and bonhomie of Depardieu at his cinematic best.

Here he is, the CEO of Grace Hotels, the luxury boutique group, and he’s sitting tall in his beautifully cut suit, dishing out one startling anecdote after another, making his audience laugh along with him. He wears the role well.

Stories to be told

There is the story of his family’s successful ambulance business in Toulouse, which his father then sold before starting a brasserie which survives to this day. How with nothing more than 500 francs in his pocket, he flew to the Mandarin Hong Kong, at the tender age of 21, to become ‘the youngest restaurant manager in the best French restaurant in the best hotel in the world.’ He thinks he got his confidence from his mother, a very strong woman.

People then started to call him ‘Captain Sharkey’ (Requin means shark). Some threatened to turn him into sushi (they didn’t) because they couldn’t believe someone so young could be given so much responsibility. His beautiful Singaporean wife he met in Hong Kong, where he helped rescue the hotel’s lunchtime business by launching a six-month promotion that landed him every week on the front page of the South China Morning Post. ‘It was a $3o HK plat du jour for the ladies, but I knew where there are ladies, men will follow!’ he laughs.

The tales abound.  About opening the Langham Hilton in London as Food Development Director in the nineties and standing up for his staff who were for some reasons being fired by men in suits. Being headhunted by the awesome Jennifer Fox for the role of GM of a new but always empty InterContinental in Cypus. Turning that business around so that one year on, its occupancy levels were running at 70%. Being named one of the top five hoteliers of 2000 by Tatler and General Manager of the Year in 1996 by Sol Kerzner when running Le Touessrok Hotel in Mauritius. Ensuring that Le Touessrok was voted the ‘Best of the Best of the World Top 100’ by Conde Nast Traveller.  Then being invited to Brunei to help keep open a hotel purpose built for a state visit by Bill Clinton.

All of this Requin recounts with a raconteur’s flair for the dramatic. His wife told him he must preserve his stories in a book; if so, there ought to be a book tour so people can hear him tell it. And yes, it all started because at the age of 14, he wanted to be a waiter in his family’s brasserie but ended up tending the bar and pouring the Roux brother’s fine wines in Le Gavroche and Poublot in London. That’s what truly set him off, but perhaps it was the legendary ‘Ladies Lunch’ he masterminded at the Mandarin Hong Kong that really put him on the road which would eventually lead to the headship of Grace Hotels.

A tale of Grace

Requin describes Grace Hotels as a key slice of the hospitality division of the low-key but expansive Libra Group, a privately-owned global conglomerate whose interests span real estate, energy, aviation and real estate from London to South America (‘They have 35 offices all over the world, possibly bigger than Swire’.) With Grace Hotels, the Logothetis family wanted to create the best luxury hotel company in the world, tapping Requin as an essential part of the process.

‘To me, a boutique hotel, and Grace Hotels, are all about elegance and simplicity,’ says Requin, whose expression, several shades more serious now, evokes his nickname. ‘I don’t have to put white cloths and a bow tie to be who I am. What truly makes Grace difference is that elegance and simplicity. We want to make a statement. We want to be a leader in a couple of years in the hotel industry and there are things that customers need that we provide.’ Which are?

‘Location, location, location. People, people, people. Once you have these two, then make sure that your rooms have got everything: the iPod dock, iPad, computer, TVs that work with as many channels as you can,’ he continues. Grace Hotels have partly colonised two of the most rapturous Greek islands: Santorini and Mykonos. Like its CEO, Grace Santorini is the recipient of one of Tatler’s fashionable awards (named one of the 101 Best Hotels in the World in 2011). Likewise, it made its way to the Conde Nast Traveller Gold List for 2012. Celebrity chef Alain Ducasse, who comes from the same village in France as Requin, slipped in a quiet holiday at Grace Santorini recently.

Spreading the charm...with plenty of support

The roots are growing around the world. The Vanderbilt Grace in New Port, Rhode Island opened in 2011, the first of the group’s hotels in the USA, sprung from the former mansion of sportsman and philanthropist Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt of the fabulously wealthy American family. The Grace Kennebunkport is due to open next year. Grace Hotels have already opened, or are in the process of opening, properties in China, Panama, Argentina and again, in Greece.

By Requin’s own admission, to keep the pace, he’s working 24 hours a day although he does relish the virtual autonomy of his position.

‘The family doesn’t interfere with my work. I like them very much because although it’s family owned, it’s not family run. It’s extremely professional. And I have nothing to hide from them. For example, at first the restaurant in Newport wasn’t designed in a way that it looked anything like a Grace. Constantine, one of the brothers who is Vice President, called me and said, “I think you’re flying to Newport tomorrow. Spend whatever money you want to fix up that restaurant. So I went and did.’

Epilogue

Ironically, now that his children are grown (‘They don’t work in hotels but they know about them and both worked at Grace Santorini’) -- his daughter has modelled for Conde Nast Traveller, his son is a mean blogger -- Requin doesn’t foresee an on-going peripatetic lifestyle. Based in London, he says he wants to stay with Grace Hotels as long as possible.

‘I like the company. People ask me how I manage 300 team members, and I say it’s very simple. I manage 4.5 people around the table who manage the rest. Now if I had to be stuck in an office every day, maybe I wouldn’t enjoy the job very much. I need to see my guests.’

With that, Captain Sharkey launches into another tale, this time about how he pays more for storage than for his apartment. Actually, it’s the story of the hotelier as predator. One suspects he’ll never stop.

‘This is not a job, it’s a passion. If you don’t like it, don’t do it.’ Spoken like a true shark.

To find out more about Grace Hotels, visit their website, www.gracehotels.com