‘I am optimistic – we are doing everything we can’
Andrew Stembridge is the executive director of Iconic Luxury Hotels, which owns a raft of well-known boutique hotels, including Chewton Glen in the New Forest, and 11 Cadogan Gardens in London.
‘Most have closed over lockdown, but we’ve had some NHS workers in 11 Cadogan Gardens all the way through,’ Andrew says. ‘We’ve really had no income and that’s been the biggest challenge.’ The company has furloughed some staff but not all.
‘It’s amazing what you still have to do regarding running taps and keeping heating on,’ he says. The company reopened bookings before the government’s announcement that there would be a July 4 reopening, and says there has been more interest in out-of-town properties than in London. ‘I guess lots of people want to get away to the country at the moment,’ he adds.
However, he believes that a new pattern of some workers wanting to
commute weekly into the capital to avoid repeated exposure on public transport could lead to increased bookings in the coming weeks.
The company has put in many new measures to keep customers and staff safe. These have included face masks for staff and new amenity kits with hand sanitiser and face wipes as well as a sanitising electrostatic fogger.
Andrew says there is a difficult balance to strike between keeping people safe and creating a sterile atmosphere. ‘This is a hospitality business,’ he says. ‘You don’t want everything to smell of disinfectant.’
While the reopening, in line with the guidelines, brings increased cost for the company, Andrew says he does not feel that this can be passed on to customers in this climate so the company will shoulder the burden. ‘I’m optimistic,’ he says. ‘Not about the economy, but about our reopening. You have to make the best of a bad situation and we are doing everything we can.’
■ iconicluxuryhotels.com