“I had a week’s notice to do an overnight rebrand,” says Pascal Forotti, who on April 21 rebranded the former Capella Hotel Washington D.C., three minutes’ walk south from Georgetown’s busy M Street, to Rosewood Washington, D.C.
The 49-room hotel was bought by CTF Georgetown Hotel, part of CTF Development, the investment arm of the Cheng family. The Chengs own the Rosewood brand, and Rosewood took charge at midnight that very night.
“After 12 weeks, it is still a work in progress. We quickly inserted Rosewood items, including such little touches as stylish carry totes and shoe-cleaning bags, but there is still a lot to do,” explained the managing director, who was last running Four Seasons Papagayo in Guayanacaste, Costa Rica. It was a help that he already knew the D.C. scene, having worked previously at the Willard InterContinental Washington.
“My immediate priority, after meeting the team, was to boost numbers,” he recalled. “We had an outstanding group of 100 employees, all of whom have stayed with us, but to attain Rosewood levels of service we need about another 25 team members. I need to supplement numbers in housekeeping, and add butlers.”
The hardware was fortunately in good shape. The 3-year-old hotel had been soundly built, by architect Michael Winstanley Architects & Planners, and Peter Silling & Associates. Another thing that did not require immediate attention was dining. The hotel’s all-day Grill, a partnership with restaurateur Frank Ruta, is a popular local restaurant. Many diners do not even realize it is part of a hotel. Summer-long, it is difficult to get a first-come, first-served table outside, at tables on the terrace looking straight down at the C&O canal (the 184-mile Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, sometimes called the “Grand Old Ditch”).
“I know, however, that other parts of the operation still need to offer benefit from the Rosewood touch. We need to make more use of our outer lobby, which is an empty space, and we will seriously maximize the potential of our fifth-floor rooftop, which has the best scenic-view outdoor space of any hotel in the entire Washington, D.C., area. Perhaps its small heated outdoor pool will go, to make a revenue-enhancing event space,” he said.
Return on investment is admittedly in Forotti’s mind. He comes from Luxembourg, which some call the home of global banking. As a child, however, he was always intrigued by cooking, although after finishing culinary training at Ceria in Brussels he realized he would do better switching to mainstream management. He then joined InterContinental Hotels & Resorts (Jean-Jacques Reibel, currently pre-opening InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, is one of his lifetime mentors, together with Four Seasons’ President Americas, Christian Clerc, whom he got to know after he switched to Four Seasons).
“I had been in Washington, D.C., with both my previous companies, and my American wife was thrilled at the chance to come back to the USA, to take this property up several levels,” he confessed. “We have the perfect location, handy for government, for the great shopping and atmosphere of Georgetown, and its nearby parks. I have one simple goal. With a small hotel like this, once I feel we are truly giving Rosewood service, the right people will want to stay, and occupancy and rates will both rise, to my satisfaction and that of my bosses, especially Rosewood President Radha Arora, whom I knew from my Four Seasons’ days, and by CTF Development, whose investment is making all this possible.”
But money is not the main draw to this savvy manager. “No, I could never have been a banker,” Forotti admitted. “I could, similarly, never have done any office job. One hour at my desk is more than enough. I come in every morning not knowing what to expect. I am continually surprised, throughout the day and often longer, and I love every minute of it.”