Speaking into his cell phone in a British accent, Sir Rocco Forte is impeccably dressed, looking every bit as one would expect of the founder of The Rocco Forte Collection, a luxury hotel company he created 12 years ago. Estimated by The London Sunday Times Rich List to be worth around $792 million, Sir Rocco not surprisingly sports an Audemars Piguet watch, a bespoke Savile Row suit, a Turnbull and Asser shirt, solid gold and pearl cufflinks, and hand-made leather shoes.

In a typical two-week period, he might take as many as eight international flights, but running for planes is not what keeps him fit. Sir Rocco is a world-class athlete who has done marathons and Ironman, and competes regularly in triathlons. He is a golfer with a 12 handicap, former fencing champion, boxer, rugby and tennis player, and hunter who owns a 2,000 acre shooting estate in Surrey.

And while for most millionaire CEOs, the one thing they can’t live without is a private jet, Sir Rocco flies public aircraft, and the item he cannot travel without is his bicycle so he can train on the road for Olympic-distance triathlons.

Born in Bournemouth and brought up in England, Sir Rocco was knighted by the Queen in 2004 for his services to the UK Tourism Industry. But he is not British—he is Italian like his mother, who was born in England of Italian parents, and his father, who became a British citizen after the war. “I have quite a British mentality to things,” says Sir Rocco, but also admits he has Italian blood. His choice of car is Ferrari (he also owns an Audi 8 and a Land Rover), and he is proud of being the 2005 recipient of the prestigious Gran Croce dell’Ordine al Merito della Republicca Italiana Award for entrepreneurial merits and strong links with Italy.

In only 12 years, Sir Rocco Forte has built up a collection of 11 luxury hotels in key European cities, including the famous Brown’s Hotel in London, The Balmoral in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Hotel de Russie in Rome. He owns top luxury properties in Florence, Manchester, St. Petersburg, Brussels, Frankfurt, Berlin, Geneva, and Munich. The newest of his hotels will open this summer in Prague, and properties in Sicily and Marrakech will open in 2009.

Although Sir Rocco was to the manor born, he has built up the collection on his own. His father, Lord Charles Forte, created the Forte company in 1934, then merged with an English hotel in 1973 to became Trust House Forte. Sir Charles always intended to have Rocco take over one day, and Rocco wanted nothing else. He attended a top public school (the equivalent of an American private school) in Somerset, and from the age of 15 spent all his school holidays working in Lord Charles’ hotels.

“I didn’t start from the bottom up in the sense that I had to earn a living,” says Sir Rocco, “but I did every job: I worked in the kitchens, waited behind snack bar counters, tended bar, and did the washing up. Now, every time I go into a kitchen, I talk to the washer-uppers because it’s such a lousy and tough job. And they’re always treated like the lowest of the low.”

Sir Rocco attended Oxford University, studied modern languages, graduated, and went on to do accountancy. “I did articles,” he says, “which was the most boring period of my life, but very useful because it made me very numerate. I understand figures, and accountants can’t tell me what to do.” As soon as he passed his exams, he went into his father’s business with the task of looking at problem areas and trying to solve them—a position, he says, which gave him a broad overview of the company.

He went on to become his father’s assistant, but still was given little responsibility. “My father was loathe to give me responsibility because he was very protective and he didn’t want me to make any mistakes. He never put me in the
position where I could make them. It was not until I was in a senior position that I could make decisions, and then the
decisions I had to make were very big ones, and I could make very big mistakes.” 

Eventually, Sir Rocco was made director of personnel and finally took over as chief executive—but his father remained chairman, and still didn’t allow Sir Rocco to make decisions.

“Basically, I had to do what my father wanted,” he says. “My father went on a bit too long. Those last three years he and I were at loggerheads all the time. He didn’t want to change anything or sell anything or buy anything. We had a lot of rows. He sacked me six times.” At the age of 83, Lord Charles finally turned over the reins to Sir Rocco, but only two years later in 1996, the company, which was then Britain’s largest hotel company, was purchased in a hostile takeover by Granada Group. “All my American friends said, ‘You sold the business very well,’” says Sir Rocco. “I told them that wasn’t the point. I had been involved with the company from the early stages of my life; I was very passionate and had great plans for it. It was unfortunate because they broke it up and sold off the pieces for less than they paid. That’s when I decided to start up a new business.”

He began by trying to buy the Hotel Savoy in Florence, but the deal was postponed. Next, a couple of London properties became available. “I was gazumped on one and the other one fell through,” says Sir Rocco. (Gazumped is when an owner agrees to sell, then reneges when someone else makes a higher offer).Finally, he succeeded in purchasing The Balmoral in Edinburgh, his first hotel. Next, he was able to buy the Hotel Savoy in Florence. Says Sir Rocco, “What I found interesting was how much I knew. I’d never quite realized it in the old business, but I discovered I knew a lot about contracts, financing, and the operational side. To start, I was a sort of one-man band, then I was able to start hiring people.”

Today, with 11 hotels under his belt, Sir Rocco still stays in touch with every facet of hotel operation. “Richard Branson said to my wife, ‘Your husband works too hard. I find the best people in the business to run that particular business who are much better than me at it and let them get on with it.’ But that’s not the point. I don’t have a conglomerate. I have one business, which I care about. I like getting involved and I think it makes a difference if I get involved.

“I’m not a dictatorial boss,” he continues. “I’m someone who likes to have good people around and I listen to what they have to say. If you have good people, you’ve got to give them some room to express themselves, because if you’re telling them what to do every day, then they’re not going to stay.”

His goal is to try and create the best luxury business in Europe. He enjoys spending time at the properties, interacting with the staff, and particularly discovering new properties. “I visit all the potential hotel properties that come up,” he says. “There’s a certain excitement about that, finding a building that you can really be enthusiastic about. Not all buildings lend themselves to transformation into a hotel—the dimensions have to be right and then there has to be the charm which makes you think you can create something special and different.”

So will the next generation of Fortes—Sir Rocco’s three children—take over some day? His oldest daughter has started at Oxford, his second daughter has just finished school and is taking a year off (known in England as a gap year), and his son is only 15. “I’d like them all to be involved,” admits Sir Rocco, “but only if they like it. I’ll expose them all to it, but I don’t want to force them if they don’t like it. It’s a business you have to feel and you have to like.” Sir Rocco pauses and grins. He doesn’t have to say anything—his love for the business shows all over his face. 

Photo Captions:
Photo 1: Sir Rocco Forte, photo courtesy of Daniel von Loeper.
Photo 2: The Blaton Suite Terrace at Hotel Amigo offers views of one of Brussels’ most beautiful squares, Grand Place.
Photo 3: Sir Rocco Forte completes the cycling leg of Austria’s 2005 Ironman Competition.
Photo 4: The Rocco Forte Collection’s Hotel de Rome opened in the heart of Berlin in October 2006. The building was constructed in 1889 by architect Ludwig Heim (appointed master builder of the government), and housed the head office of Dresdner Bank until 1945.