Second chances
Andrew Buchanan reckons that he has returned to the Westbury hotel in London to finish the job he started in 1995. As general manager back then, he refurbished the hotel and doubled its room rate within 18 months. Some six years on, he hopes to oversee another refurbishment, this time of the hotel's suites, restaurant, bar and meeting rooms, and to increase the room sales by 30% - last year, the hotel brought in revenue of £16m.
"I moved on in 1996 because the hotel was becoming a Le M‚ridien," he says. "But I hadn't taken it to the five-star standard I thought it was capable of."
From Cardiff to Edinburgh
In the intervening years, Buchanan opened Sir Rocco Forte's 136-bedroom St David's Hotel and Spa in Cardiff, and was appointed director of operations for the Scotsman Hotel Group, overseeing the opening of the 68-bedroom Scotsman hotel in Edinburgh last year. But now, the 43-year-old father-of-two is clearly happy to be back in the heart of London, at the helm of a hotel that is ready to be driven forward.
The 254-bedroom Westbury is on the corner of Conduit Street and New Bond Street, in the heart of the world of high fashion, media and art. But, like many, Buchanan believes that the hotel itself has the feeling of a grande dame - slightly neglected and in need of redressing. The walls of its Polo Bar, for instance, may be covered in old-fashioned murals of polo games more reminiscent of a country house hotel, but look out of the window and there's Sotheby's, around the corner are Burberry's and Donna Karan, and across the street are Hermes and Nicole Farhi. It's this art, media and fashion market Buchanan wants to attract, while building on the existing corporate market.
The Westbury was bought by Trusthouse Forte in 1977 from its American founder, the Knott Hotel Corporation. It was sold to Chelsfield in 1997, but it was the hotel's purchase in 1999 by family-owned Cola Holdings that kick-started its comeback. Some £8m has already been spent on refurbishing the bedrooms and adding an extra floor on the Bond Street side of the hotel, and a further £4m-£7m is earmarked.
Starting this month, Buchanan will renovate five suites and the penthouse. The penthouse currently sells for £700; he estimates that, when he has refurbished it, he will be able to sell it for £1,800. "Those suites need to be individual and appeal to different types of guests," he says. "One might be minimalist and another over the top, but we have to recognise that we are at the heart of the media, fashion and glamour markets, while still attracting corporate guests."
The bulk of the renovation work will concentrate on the ground floor and basement, reorganising the food and beverage side of the operation. Here, the emphasis will be on retaining the classic image of the Westbury, while making it classy and simple for the modern day. The Polo Bar was so named for the polo ground sharing the hotel's name in Long Island, New York. But that was back in 1955; in 2003, it will be simply the Bar at the Westbury.
Similarly, the existing restaurants will be refocused. Currently, a separate entrance on Conduit Street leads into the 60-seat lounge restaurant and the 120-cover Polo Bar, while the hotel's fine-dining restaurant is tucked away at the back and accessible only through the hotel's main lobby. To make better use of both the space and the separate entrance, Buchanan plans to swap the restaurants around. The lounge will become a 120- to 140-seat fine-dining restaurant, with a drinks bar extending back from the present lounge through a hallway into the Mount Vernon Room, which can seat 70 for a private function. The current 55-seat fine-dining restaurant will become a lounge restaurant.
The hotel's four meeting rooms will get a revamp and, even with the loss of the Mount Vernon Room, there will be seven by the time the refurbishment is finished. "The largest will seat 40," Buchanan says. "I want them to be small and hi-tech."
Included in this plan is a scheme to turn one of the rooms into a cinema with stepped seating. It is something Buchanan saw done when he was director of operations at the Scotsman and he believes it offers a flexible presentation room with a twist. "The best thing about a family-owned property is you can talk over strategy in the morning and the decisions can be made very quickly," he says.
All change The work on the food and beverage operation will not start until next January, and Buchanan estimates it will take six months to complete, in phases. The hotel will continue to operate as normal while the building works progress. Before anything happens, however, Buchanan will set about achieving a higher yield for the present room stock.
"When I arrived," he observes, "there were people saying we couldn't do anything about the rates and occupancy, and blaming 11 September. But it just wasn't true - there were untouched markets."
To lure the untapped local media, fashion and art industries, he is pursuing an aggressive marketing and sales policy. He is also chasing high-spenders from the USA and the Continent, through travel agents, and hopes to get top-up business through the Internet.
Buchanan will build on the existing customer base, too. Corporate business now accounts for 35-40% of revenue, leisure brings about the same, and discounted rates or special offers the remainder. The USA and UK each delivers about 35% of the guests, with the remaining 30% coming from Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Occupancy in 2001 was 80% and the average achieved room rate to date this year is £150, with a rack rate of £230 for a standard room on weeknights and £149 on the weekends. His aim is to increase this to £196 in 2003.
One way in which he hopes to deliver better yields is by increasing the core client's value for money. Room allocation was not previously done on rate, and he has now segmented the rooms, so that those paying more will get a better room. For those paying rack rate, Buchanan will offer free laundry and in-house movies, a bottle of Champagne, guaranteed late checkout, secretarial support, Continental breakfast, exclusive Lalique toiletries and a room upgrade when available.
The staff will be expected to deliver a higher quality of service and, while Buchanan believes that there will ultimately be fewer staff, they will be better paid and better trained. He is a fan of the way governments do business, moving secretaries and ministers from post to post, bringing fresh eyes and blood to a job. "The person in charge of rooms division is now in charge of food and beverage," he says. "I want my senior team to see that they're developing, and see the next two jobs ahead of them."
There have been new staff members as well. Since his arrival in May, Buchanan has appointed a sales director, a corporate sales manager and an e-commerce manager. Another new face is Ludovic Borghi, head bartender for Buchanan at St David's in Cardiff. "I think a bartender can add value to the hotel - it's our shop window," Buchanan says. "Ludovic's style is doing the simple classics extremely well - that's the contemporary feel the Westbury needs."
The Westbury
New Bond Street, London
Tel: 020 7629 7755www.westbury-london.co.uk
Number of bedrooms: 254
Opened: 1955
Current owner: Cola Holdings, bought 1999
Investment to date: £8m
Planned investment: £4m-£7m
Turnover: £16m in 2001
Staff: 140
Reservation company: SRS Hotels Worldwide
Occupancy, 2001: 80%
Average achieved room rate, year to date, 2002: £150.97
Target average achieved room rate, 2003: £196
Andrew Buchanan
April 2001 to November 2001: director of operations (UK and Europe), Scotsman Hotel Group - projected turnover, £21m
January 2000 to April 2001: general manager, Scotsman hotel, Edinburgh, opened 1 April 2001 - turnover, £7.5m
October 1997 to November 1999: general manager, St David's Hotel & Spa, Cardiff - turnover, £6m. Appointed by Sir Rocco Forte to open his first purpose-built five-star hotel after the formation of his new company, RF Hotels, in 1997.
August 1996 to September 1997: general manager, Randolph hotel, Oxford - turnover, £3.5m
February 1995 to August 1996: general manager, Westbury hotel, London - turnover, £11m
1990 to 1995: assistant to the director and general manager, Claridge's, London - turnover, £22m
1987 to 1990: general manager, Ettington Park hotel, Stratford-upon-Avon - turnover, £3.4m
Previous experience: Welcombe Hotel & Golf Course; Orient Express Hotels; British Transport Hotels
1976-1980: trainee manager, British Transport Hotels
Personal goals: studying for an MBA in Leisure & Tourism at Oxford Brookes University
