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Business Traveller

The George V Hotel, Paris, Shows How Hotels Work Like Clockwork; Richard Lends a Hand to the Hotel Staff; A $100-million Facelift for the Savoy Hotel, London; A Look at Celebrity Chefs with Alain DuCasse. Concierges Work to Keep Hotel Customers Happy.

Aired July 11, 2009 - 03:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Hello, and welcome to "CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER." I'm Richard Quest, this month reporting obviously from Paris.

It's time for the show to get to grips with hotels. And there's no better place for us to be than at one of Paris' palace hotels, the George V. We'll be behind the scenes here to see what makes a first- rate hotel work like clockwork.

Also on the program, from smoothing the sheets to serving the tea, I lend a hand at the George V in Paris.

A $100-million facelift for the Savoy Hotel in London.

And can too many celebrity chefs spoil the broth? Alain DuCasse, on the kitchens of fame.

Minutes from the Sans de Liesei (ph), and George V is one of Paris' palace hotels, a landmark.

The man at the helm of this eight-story luxury hotel is Christopher Norton. As the general manager, he's in charge of overseeing every corner, every detail, from the lobby to the dinning rooms, the kitchens, the spa, and all the guest rooms, 700 staff...

CHRISTOPHER NORTON, GENERAL MANAGER, GEORGE V: Have a great day.

QUEST: ... to mussels, to croissants.

NORTON: You can tell a good croissant by its sound, you know, that...

QUEST: And even the flowers which, by the way, it said, cost $1 million a year.

NORTON: We're in the theater business. We come back every day with a new staff and a fresh look at things and we reproduce the show again.

QUEST: Today's performance means maintaining the hotels luxury status in dreadful financial times. Revenues are down. Costs must be cut somehow.

NORTON: It seems like every five or 10 years, something happens. I believe that in some way, when you hit a crisis, it forces you to sit down and look at the way you do business. It forces the way in analyzing how you approach things. It forces yourself in tightening down. And it's an incredible learning curse.

QUEST: As the G.M., what are you looking at?

NORTON: I can walk in the hotel at six in the morning and I can feel if it clicks or not.

QUEST: No.

NORTON: Yes. We have staff that goes around, inspects, takes a look at details from cleanliness to maintenance.

We have a painter in the morning that comes in at five in the morning and she has a set of brushes and different color schemes. And she's a specialty woodworker and she will touch up nicks and scratches before the day starts.

QUEST: Really?

Initial check of the premises done, now that morning meeting.

The George V has been up and running for many hours. It is time to find out how the beast is performing.

Now for the next part of my George V experience, afternoon tea, serving it to a baronet.

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: The guest is waiting.

QUEST: Quite.

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: What are you doing?

QUEST: Now, so what happens now? What do we do?

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: We go to the pastry now.

QUEST: Where the pasty is.

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: Yes. You'll take the tray out.

QUEST: Right.

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: All right.

So we get for the lady, this for the lady, this.

QUEST: Oh! Oh! it fell off. Sorry Chef.

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: Cheesecake for Madam. And the Napoleon is for Mister. All right, it's fine?

QUEST: Cheesecake is for -- Cheesecake is for Madam. Napoleon is for Sir.

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: One more time.

QUEST: Cheesecake is for lady. The Napoleon is for him.

Cheesecake is for Madam.

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: For Madam.

QUEST: For Madam.

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: Napoleon for Mister.

QUEST: Bon appetit.

(CROSSTALK)

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: Thank you. Very nice.

(LAUGHTER)

QUEST: Thank you, Reserve (ph).

HOTEL STAFF MEMBER: Good job. Good job.

QUEST: Thank you, sir.

Ten years ago, the George V closed for a major renovation. It lasted two years and it cost $125 million. Closing a big hotel like this in that fashion is a rare event. When it does happen, it's big news.

The hotel currently undergoing a refit from the inside out is the famous Savoy Hotel in London.

She is one of the oldest and grandest dames in town, classy, sophisticated, the quintessence of English and the Stateness.

It's said, Winston Churchill got the news he was the prime minister right here.

Elizabeth Taylor honeymooned at the Savoy.

And that famous desert, the Peach Melba, was named right here after the opera dame, Nelly Melba.

Oh, what these walls have witnessed.

And now, this century-old dame is getting a facelift. $160 million is to be spent. It's the most costly hotel refurbishment in London.

KIARAN MACDONALD, GENERAL MANAGER, SAVOY HOTEL LONDON: This is very much a restoration.

Kiaran MacDonald, as the general manager, shows me the grand restoration.

MACDONALD: This is about understanding Savoy, protecting those elements that are meaningful to people as it relates to the physical aspect, and rejuvenating those, and then adding new elements for the future.

QUEST: It's a delicate balance, one that the Savoy's owners, the Fairmont Group, need to get right. So they commissioned the renowned interior designer, Eve LaShon (ph) to bring the hotel back to its former splendor.

MACDONALD: We're entering into the main entrance, the front hall of the Savoy.

QUEST: Ah, so this is the lobby.

MACDONALD: This is, yes, as it's called, the front hall.

QUEST: Yes?

MACDONALD: Now historically, all the -- this is a very good example of how we're approaching the restoration. As you can see, it's very much a building site. There's a lot of work under way, but there's a lot of protection as well. The surrounding perimeter walls, the mahogany paneling, is all being restored.

QUEST: The Savoy was built in 1889, the style then, Edwardian. Forty years later, it was given an art deco look and feel. And the building bristles with elements of each. The challenge for the designers was which style to keep and where.

MACDONALD: Which parts do we restore? Do we restore the original? Or do we restore the art deco that, in so many people's minds, is reflective of the Savoy? And it's the latter, of course, which we're doing, because we feel that that's the most appropriate.

QUEST: It's all about preservation here. The one thing that needs to be left well alone -- afternoon tea.

MACDONALD: So, Richard, we're going down now into the Thames foyer. This is the home of the famous afternoon tea. These brass, archway, mirrored walls here, they were originally not part of the restoration. We uncovered them, and now they're going to be form part of the new look and feel.

QUEST: As they peeled the layers of history, it became clear that more needed to be preserved. For this reason, the reopening has been delayed. The Savoy say they hope to open in the first quarter of 2010.

It's a short walk from the tea parlor to the jewel in the crown, the River Room.

MACDONALD: This was a beautiful restaurant in its heyday. For many, many years, was a restaurant of choice.

QUEST: This room will always have particular memories for me. It was here that my parents celebrated their ruby wedding anniversary. That's 40 years of marriage. And I can even remember, we sat somewhere around about here.

If you're a paying guest, you really want to see what your quarters will look like.

MACDONALD: This is an example of a one-bedroom river-view suit. The fireplace behind us -- they're being restored. they're the original. The moldings on the wall are absolutely all new, but they're a replica of what was there before.

This gives you a sense of the layout of the changing room and bathroom.

QUSET: There will be 60 suits out of 268 rooms. And with worldwide hotel occupancy rates down and the cost of the building so high, the pressure will clearly be on to fill them up.

When the work is finally done, the last fireplace restored, and every piece of mahogany revarnished, Kiaran MacDonald and his colleagues will only know that their job is finished when we can walk through the doors and instantly say, "Ah, the Savoy."

If there is one thing that has always fascinated me about a hotel, it is housekeeping. How the room attendants know what to throw away and what to keep, what to fold and what to leave exactly where you dropped it. And I'm about to find out.

Nearly finished?

MAID: Yes.

QUEST: Well, every little bit helps.

MAID: Do you want to help me?

QUEST: So, yes. Right.

See, when I'm at home, I go like this.

MAID: No, no, no, no, no. I cannot do it like that.

(LAUGHTER)

QUEST: Now we just tidy this up a bit.

MAID: Good. It's not done too well.

QUEST: You know how to change a sheet, don't you?

MAID: Yes. Do you want me to do it?

QUEST: Yes.

All finished.

Amazing how such chaos can be turned into such order. And don't forget, this is being repeated in thousands of hotel rooms, probably millions every single day all around the world.

When we come back after the break, hotel food and beverage. Eat, drink and be merry and, yes, make money on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Welcome back to "CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER" at the George V Hotel in Paris.

They said, "Go and work in the restaurant." They didn't tell me which restaurant until now. Apparently, yes, I'm in the staff restaurant.

Nurse, the screens.

Hi, what do you want?

What would you like?

SAVOY STAFF MEMBER: Hamburger with...

QUEST: He looks like he needs a few extra potatoes.

How many more are there? Where are they all coming from?

Yes, hello. What would you like?

What's this for?

SAVOY STAFF MEMBER: Vegetables.

QUEST: Huh?

SAVOY STAFF MEMBER: Vegetables.

QUEST: Do you want vegetable? Some sauce?

SAVOY STAFF MEMBER: Yes, please.

QUEST: Yes, vegetables!

(LAUGHTER)

What would you like? What would you like?

SAVOY STAFF MEMBER: Vegetables.

QUEST: A hamburger.

SAVOY STAFF MEMBER: Thank you very much.

QUEST: The real disgrace about all of this is I learned French for six years and I still can't ask people what they want. That's the disgrace.

Sauce?

Whether it's serving lunch to the staff or dinner to the hotel guests, F&B, food and beverage, is an important part of the hotel's operations. Making money out of this is the key, because it can often be one of the most expensive parts of the hotel.

Ayesha Durgahee now reports on the battle for F&B.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHEF: (SPEAKING FRENCH).

AYESHA DURGAHEE, CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the heart of any hotel, the restaurant-kitchen, not just to quell appetite, but also to reassure customers they've made the right choice of hotel.

MICHAEL WHITEMAN, INTERNATIONAL RESTAURANT CONSULTANT: Restaurants for hotels generally don't make money. On the other hand, they represent the social soul and the social face of a hotel. So for the hotel industry, a restaurant represents the key place where a hotel can resonate with a customer's psyche with their psychological needs.

DURGAHEE: Food and beverage may not be the biggest money maker compared to rooms. It can make a significant difference though, if you have one of these -- a celebrity chef.

The Dorchester in London has teamed up with Alain DuCasse.

ALAIN DUCASSE, CELEBRITY CHEF: I deliver the best of food and with the right proportion, with the right design, with the right atmosphere. It's a good partnership and a good co-branding, Alain DuCasse and the name of the item (ph) is a good deal for us.

DURGAHEE: With 25 restaurants and 15 Michelin (ph) stars under his belt, it may seem hard to maintain a certain level of quality, which is why DuCasse lays great importance in the training of his staff.

DUCASSE: It's easier because I know perfectly my theme. My chef in Monte Carlo, he worked with me 31 years ago, when he was a young guy. And now he is my chef in Monte Carlo. And my chef in Paris is around 16 years, and Jocelyn (ph) 12 years. I taste the ingredients. I taste the sauce (INAUDIBLE), if it's the perfect seasoning, the perfect -- the right (INAUDIBLE). I try to try. I taste everything. I control everything.

DURGAHEE (on camera): OK, what is this?

DUCASSE: One of the most classic dishes in France, pate on toast with Foie Gras and, hopefully, very tasty, very tasty. But with (INAUDIBLE).

DURGAHEE: How can you make this better then? What would you suggest to Josclyn (ph)?

DUCASSE: Perfect. That's perfect. Perfect Foie Gras, perfect cooking, the truffle (ph), the (INAUDIBLE).

DURGAHEE: You're happy, 100 percent?

DUCASSE: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. The perfect -- the perfect, the right mix of vegetables. It's a perfect serving (ph).

DURGAHEE (voice-over): Celebrity chefs in hotels is not a new concept, and one that has had varying success. While more chefs are happy to align themselves with a hotel brand, there is doubt on whether partnerships like these will continue in the future.

WHITEMAN: You pay these brand name chefs royalties and management fees and there's the cost of supervision of putting a chef on an airplane to go halfway around the world to see if the Hollandaise Sauce is any good. So within hotel companies themselves, there's a great deal of controversy as to whether this continues to make sense or not.

And my own feeling is that, given the current economic downturn, you'll find that once the pipeline is bled, you will find fewer and fewer of these brand name chefs opening in restaurants.

DURGAHEE: With global occupancy rates down 12.6 percent, there's less focus on room service and more of a push to rent out banquet halls and draw locals into restaurants to drum up some extra cash.

ROLAND FASEI, GENERAL MANAGER, THE DORCHESTER: I'm quite convinced today to -- in certain markets, like London, New York and so forth, to really claim a space in the food and beverage, with the restaurant scene, that a hotel needs to have some of its restaurants out towards and some of the more powerful restaurant brands brought into the hotels. At the Dorchester, we'd obviously, having received two stars, and generally, has become also financially very, very successful.

DURGAHEE: The battle for F&B continues. And for the lucky few, there's a secret weapon to fall back on -- a celebrity chef at the helm of a hotel's restaurant to help steer the industry out of recession.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Coming up, the conscientious concierge.

ANGEL MASA, CHIEF CONCIERGE, VILLA MAGNA, MADRID: Only the concierge has the golden keys to show you the city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: The concierge desk -- I'm never quite sure what the purpose or what the role of the concierge is.

PHILLIPPE VERDUMO, CONCIERGE, GEORGE V, PARIS: We have to make sure the guests will enjoy their stay with us, make sure to recommend the good restaurants and the good (INAUDIBLE).

QUEST: So you can tell me what time the next Euro Star to London is?

VERDUMO: Yes. What time is it now? 3:26. So probably for -- probably on Saturday, 4:13.

QUEST: Well, I hate to -- my suit is looking a little bit tight.

VERDUMO: Yes?

QUEST: What can we do about this?

VERDUMO: You can take it up to your room so I can send someone from the laundry.

QUEST: I need pair of braces. Where -- where -- where can I get those? I need a pair of cufflinks.

VERDUMO: It's easy. We have (INAUDIBLE).

(LAUGHTER)

QUEST: So the concierge desk, where another taxi has been booked, restaurant reservations made -- 8:00 please -- and a babysitters is being found. Remember, got to speak Russian. It's the everyday life of the conscientious concierge.

MASA: I am Angel Masa, the chief concierge of the Hotel Ville Magna in Madrid. And here is my private book. This is my life.

Let me show you the best places in Madrid.

Here in Madrid, the most important galleries are Tyson (ph), Prado (ph), Rein Sofia. But let me advise you to show a special one here in Madrid. Look at one. Please, come on.

Here we have one of the famous contemporary artists of Spanish heritage. It's Eduardo Roger (ph).

You want to see something special, something unique? You must come to the Royal Tapestry Factory, a royal factory of tapestries here in Madrid. These use the same technique of 500, 600 years ago. And you can see how they work.

We are right now in the Casa Mira, one of the most important shops in Madrid for cakes. And here is the real quiche (ph) made by the thing here, it's 200 years. And my favorite is the (INAUDIBLE).

You want to see the best restaurant in town? Let's go.

This is the most important flamenco club (ph) in Madrid. The name is Corral de la Moreria. And here is -- here I am, like the Latin Hotel, because we have the same customers. And here you can see, you have Musharraf. We have Michelle Kidman. William Moore (ph) right here, Philippe (ph).

(APPLAUSE).

MASA: You have the guidebooks. You have the instruments (ph) to show you the city. But only the concierge has the golden keys to show you the city.

UNIDENTIFIED GUEST: I'd like to check out.

UNIDENTIFIED HOTEL EMPLOYEE: Did you have a nice stay at ...?

UNIDENTIFIED GUEST: It was really nice, really.

UNIDENTIFIED HOTEL EMPLOYEE: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED GUEST: Thank you.

QUEST: As one guest leaves, others arrive. The revolving door turns and the George V prepares to do it all over again.

And that's "CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER" for this month. I'm Richard Quest, reporting from Paris.

Wherever your travels may take you, I hope it is profitable. And I'll see you next month.

END