Luxury brand Rocco Forte Hotels is eyeing multiple properties in the Middle East and North Africa region, with one in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea set to be green-lit over the next two to three years. Speaking to Khaleej Times, Sir Rocco Forte, the brand's CEO and chairman, said he aims to bring his family's celebrated collection of refined hotels to the Middle East.

“We're at an advanced stage of discussion on one hotel in the Red Sea at the moment,” he said.“It's going to be two or three years before we see a physical Rocco Forte Hotel in this part of the world.”

The hotel currently being discussed in the Red Sea region, he revealed, would be about 60 rooms with serviced villas and apartments, the“sort of size that allows us to deliver real attention to detail.”

From the tranquil shores of the Red Sea to the glittering skylines of the Gulf, the legendary hotelier explains why smaller, meticulously curated properties capture the essence of true luxury and why the region may soon welcome its first Rocco Forte Hotel.

Although the brand has had a long-standing interest in the Middle East, recent partnerships have reignited that vision. The most notable was the deal with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has strengthened the group's financial foundation and accelerated its growth trajectory.

“The deal with PIF was important in a number of ways,” Forte said.“It's given us more financial strength because part of the deal was them injecting capital into the company, which was ostensibly to help us expand more quickly. It also made us a stronger company financially and raised our profile across the world.”

The British hotelier said that establishing a presence in Saudi Arabia made it necessary to look at the wider Middle East.“There's no point just being in Saudi Arabia,” he said.“We have to be in the wider Middle East, which could encompass Egypt and North Africa, and build a centre. You can't run hotels here from London.”

The next step, he said, is to build up operations“on a piecemeal basis as we get opportunities” and to create a regional hub. He added that in addition to the Red Sea project, the brand aims to set foot in the Maldives, which he said is also at an advanced stage.“Hopefully, we'll be able to announce some projects very soon,” he said.

When asked about potential locations in the UAE, Forte said that while discussions are ongoing, the brand's model depends heavily on developer partnerships.“We have to work with partners who accept our approach to the hotel,” he said.“Obviously, the hotel has to be commercially successful. Here, sites are quite expensive, particularly in Dubai.”

He said the company is currently in discussion for a possible property in the financial district.

The hotel tycoon is no stranger to the Middle East, having visited for a number of years. When the company initially began in 1996, two hotels were secured in Egypt, one in Morocco, another in Abu Dhabi and Jeddah, and a discussion on acquiring one in Damascus was underway. However, the 2008 financial crisis and the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 put a halt to expansion plans in the region.“It's a shame what happened because we would have already had a significant presence there,” he said.

Before the global financial crisis changed the landscape, Forte had already been visiting and working in the region for years. He noted that in the earlier Forte Group, the company founded by his grandfather, there were as many as 26 hotels across the Middle East.

Forte says that the GCC clientele base is Rocco Forte Hotels' third-biggest market at around 8-10 per cent, after the United States and the United Kingdom.“We'd want more business from this area,” he added.“Obviously, if we have a presence here, it would be easier to create awareness. This is also a growing part of the world. GDP growth is over three per cent, while Europe is sort of stagnant at the moment.”

The company currently has 14 hotels and resorts across Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and Russia. Forte said that he would“like to at least double the size over the next five years”, while still keeping the business personal and family-led.“It's not my intention to have 100 hotels,” he said.“I'd like to at least double the size over the next five years and still keep it so that I can touch everything.”

Beginnings of Sir Rocco Forte

The hotel tycoon grew up in and around hotels for as long as he can remember and started working during school holidays in his father's business, from the reception desk to the kitchens.“I've always experienced hotels. I did washing up in one hotel for a couple of weeks - not a very nice job,” he remarked.“I always make it a point of going into the kitchen and talking to the people washing up because I know what hard work it is.”

His father, Lord Charles Forte, built a hospitality empire that once employed 100,000 people. After a hostile takeover in the 1990s, the younger Forte decided to start again.“I had a bit of money, my father put in a bit of money, and I built up the current business,” he said.“I was 52 when I started this business.”

What makes Rocco Forte Hotels stand out is its philosophy of curated luxury. The group proudly calls itself a family business, operated by Forte himself, his sister and design director Olga Polizzi, and his children Lydia, Irene and Charles. The number of rooms is on a smaller scale compared with other luxury chains. As Forte puts it, each hotel is“curated rather than be a rubber stamp”.

“The point of a smaller hotel is that you're much more in touch with the guests directly,” he said, adding that this makes it easier to tailor the services to each individual guest.“Luxury, at the end of the day, is different for every individual. If you have a huge hotel, it's difficult to do that.”

His hotels in Europe draw upon the local surroundings so guests can“absorb the personality of the city where they're staying”. When asked what that would look like in the Gulf, which, apart from the modern, tall skyscrapers that dot the landscape, consist of sand-coloured, one-storey buildings, the hotelier said it possibly“won't be Arab in its design.”

Whether in the Red Sea or the UAE, the Rocco Forte touch will likely bring a new standard of intimacy and elegance to the region's luxury landscape, smaller in scale but unmistakably grand in taste.

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