The inn crowd
When Tatler magazine described him as the "best-dressed acceptable low-life in London", Orlando Campbell was thrilled. Now, lounging in the lobby of the Westbourne hotel in Notting Hill, wearing a three-piece suit and floppy hat, his unkempt head wreathed in a cloud of cigarette smoke, he does little to dispel the image.
The boho look fits the ethos of Campbell's fledgling hotel group, Zoo Hotels. Two-strong at the moment (the 20-bedroom Westbourne hotel opened in September, while refurbishment of the 21-bedroom Sydney hotel in Chelsea is about to begin), the group aims to become a collection of so-called "urban inns" - or, as Zoo Hotels managing director Guy Hodgson puts it, "trendy B&Bs" - aimed at young business travellers.
The market is clearly defined. The hotels fill a midmarket gap in London, with rack rates ranging from £175 to £255 plus VAT at the Westbourne and £175 to £270 plus VAT at the Sydney. Guests have an average age of just 30 and are typically in the art, media, fashion or music businesses. They are, says Hodgson, "more likely to be the open-necked shirt and laptop type than pinstripe suit and briefcase".
Assuming that most business people will eat out, the Zoo team decided not to offer a hotel restaurant or other extras but to provide breakfast (£8 for Continental, £12 for English), 24-hour room service, an all-night residents-only bar, and arrangements with local health clubs for use of their facilities. Hodgson says: "We supply the basics, but we do it professionally and in a relaxed rather than formal way, which fits with the trend in the corporate market."
In the case of the Westbourne, guests also come for the art of the ultra-trendy clan of young British artists such as Sarah Lucas, Angus Fairhurst and Danny Chadwick. Each of the 20 bedrooms shows work by a different artist, most of whom are friends of Campbell's. All pieces are for sale, with prices ranging from £800 to £18,000. "I've always been interested in art," says Campbell, "and everywhere I've done in the past has had decent art. Hotels have missed out on this - most just buy a job lot of prints and stick one in each room."
He prefers not to dwell on the fact that the three-storey Georgian building that is now the Westbourne used to be a grim Department of Social Security hostel, preferring to draw attention to the Bronze Kebab by Keith Coventry in one corner of the lobby, Danny Chadwick's Blue Disc Mobile above the reception desk, or the White Worm that slowly revolves from the ceiling. The art in the lobby is set against a 1950s look created by Ben Mathers at CA1 Design, which includes low dark-brown leather sofas, deep-red curtains and an ebony-stained wood floor. Natural materials such as stone, wood and bamboo are used, and a Japanese-influenced garden at the front screens the hotel from busy Westbourne Grove. The transformation took eight months and cost £1.5m.
Bedrooms have individually designed double or queen-sized beds, a DVD player (there's a selection of DVDs to borrow) and what Campbell refers to as "all the proper plugs".
Over at the Sydney, the feel will be different. Hodgson says: "It'll be a Chelsea version of the Westbourne, not so cutting-edge - cream and off-white rather than stark white, teacups and saucers rather than mugs. There'll be plants in every room - it'll be homely." Socialite Tara Palmer-Tompkinson, a Zoo Hotels shareholder and friend of Campbell, will be the public face of the Sydney and will have an influence on the design.
Many of the design details are yet to be decided, however. A commitment to art is a certainty, though the Sydney will show more conventional pieces than the Westbourne. Many bedrooms will have a work area, and the public areas will have an honesty bar and tables and chairs designed with both eating and working in mind. The hotel will stay open throughout the refurbishment, which should be completed by July at an estimated cost of £300,000.
Sales and marketing director Peyman Kord, who has 10 years of experience in the hotel business, including stints with Jarvis and Myhotel Bloomsbury, says that repeat business is strong and that he is happy with the occupancy and room rates achieved. At the Westbourne, average achieved room rate for the past two months (prices went up in January) has been £175 net, and occupancy over the first five months of trading 72%, while at the Sydney rates have averaged £150 net over the past five months and occupancy 60%.
Campbell's contacts book no doubt helps Zoo's bid for custom, but he admits defeat when it comes to finance. Enter the group's financial linchpin, Benjamin Fry, himself rarely out of the society pages as founder of the K-Bar and SW1 nightclub (and, as Caterer went to press, bidding for London's Groucho Club). The appeal of the project for Fry was instant. "I was familiar with Green Street," he says, "and I like working with people who are a bit crazy and attract interesting people."
Campbell says: "Since I had Green Street [a members-only club he launched], I've had people wanting to back me, but I'm not very good at that sort of thing and it was only when I met Benjy that I could get these people."
Fry secured £1m of backing from private investors that contributed towards the cost of the two properties. The group bought the freehold of the Westbourne for £2.4m and the Sydney (which came with a mews house, which has been sold) for £4.1m, and sold both freeholds back to property investors, leaving Zoo with a 35-year lease on each hotel. "We're going counter-trend by leasing rather than owning the freehold," says Fry, formerly a merchant banker, "but it's cheaper and means you can invest in the areas that you're best at rather than have money tied up in a freehold." In the case of Fry and Campbell, that's making the most of their high public profile.
As Caterer went to press, Zoo Hotels was about to be listed on the Ofex stock market in a move that would leave Campbell and Fry major shareholders. Fry is now executive chairman of the group, with responsibility for finance and acquisitions, Kord does the sales and marketing, and Hodgson is managing director. And Campbell? Official titles leave the team stumped, but Fry offers "host, promoter, art collector, creative genius".
Funds raised will go towards the refurbishment of the Sydney and future expansion of the group. The plan is for more urban inns in London - "No more than five," says Hodgson - before possibly moving into Manchester and Edinburgh, or even developing a "country inns" or "rural inns" concept.
