“When you take over a grand hotel you inherit those who love it, and all of them, your team plus guests and loyal locals, must be cosseted,” explains Gordon Campbell Gray, whose company, Campbell Gray Hotels, assumed responsibility in 2015 for the historic 137-room Hotel Phoenicia, Malta, on that Mediterranean island-state.
This landmark building, owned by the powerful local Strickland family, re-opened in April 2017 on its 60th birthday. When it first opened in November 1947 it immediately became the signature hotel of Malta, and it has always played a significant role in Maltese life. It was bought in 2013 by a high net worth investor who passionately wanted to restore the building to its former glory, and Campbell Gray was asked if he would take over the project.
“Of course I leaped at the chance. We closed the property for 18 months for a complete refurbishment. The hotel enjoyed 35% repeat guests before closing and, do you know, we have got them all back. For the last month we have been running at minimum 85% occupancy. During the closure we kept all 140 employees on, gently coaching them into the Campbell Gray philosophy of customer interaction,” he declared.
“I always say love your staff. Over the years I have become increasingly sick of slick, insincere service. It is the same with culinary. I hate pretentious chefs. In all my hotels I want the best possible ingredients cooked simply. Whatever, be it fish and chips, must be the best,” said the Scotsman, whose own comfort food is ground beef stewed with lots of vegetables, and a side of mashed potatoes. He also cannot resist chocolates and in August he opens a chocolate factory in Beirut, Lebanon.
Yes, his activities are all over the place. In July, Campbell Gray Hotels opens its long-awaited Scottish hotel, Machrie Hotel and Golf Links, on the Isle of Islay, reached from Glasgow year-round by car and ferry or, summer only, a 20-minute flight. “I live nearby and Machrie will be everything that I associate with Scotland, but without overkill of tartan plaid or stuffed deer’s heads,” Campbell Gray said in a distinctive, somewhat theatrical tone. Like all his four open properties, the Machrie will be tagged “A Campbell Gray Hotel.”
And this very day, Tuesday 8 May, 2018, in Manama, Bahrain, he announced his latest project. The Merchant House, A Campbell Gray Hotel, will be a conversion of a 1960s Manama building “with all the magic on the inside,” he said. Designed by Bahrain-based Summit, it will have 48 rooms and suites, and a rooftop pool.
Two separate branding companies worked on names for his London-based company, which Gordon Campbell Gray co-owns, with the Audeh Group, based in Cyprus. “In the end, everyone thought my own name would be best,” he laughed.
Right now he also has Amman, Jordan, in construction stage (this is designed by Martin Brudnizki, also chosen for Campbell Gray Living residences, in Amman). The Campbell Gray team is working on a Zurich project as well, and if he needs something else to do Gordon Campbell Gray can pick and choose from at least a handful of seriously interested developers. His is a company, by the way, that only invests in creativity, and subsequent opening, operations and marketing. It does not put in equity.
“Being an independent gives so much flexibility and it enables me to work only with nice people, which always gives me so much pleasure,” he said. Hotels have been a draw to him since, as a youngster, he made Wednesday night visits to an aunt who lived in Claridge’s, London. “I just love what I do and it works well with another passion, the need to give back. Having worked with Save The Children Fund for decades, we trialed an invitation-only dinner party for 18 at Le Gray in Beirut. Everyone came and we raised US$1 million for the charity” – and with that Campbell Gray bounded out of Hotel Phoenicia Malta’s door to fly to Bahrain, via London, for an art show.