The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
‘I dream about De Niro buying me a nightcap’
From Hollywood royalty to Andy Murray, a famous owner brings glamour to a hotel – but, Shelley Rubenstein asks, shouldn’t guests be the stars?
Deep in the Scottish countryside at Cromlix, the fire is roaring. The drawing room buzzes with locals enjoying afternoon tea at this former home of the lairds. The sound of bagpipes gets increasingly louder, drowning out my fascinating conversation about scone preferences (raisins or sultanas, obviously). The piper comes into view, followed by a couple who are on their way to exchange wedding vows at the in-house chapel. It’s picture perfect.
Sitting in 34 acres of woodland, Cromlix is a classy joint, staffed by locals proudly showcasing their bucolic grounds. It is only when I look out the window and see the tennis court painted in the familiar purple and green hues of Wimbledon that evidence of its owner is apparent.
In 2014, Andy Murray decided to open a hotel to attract more tourism to his hometown, Dunblane. I asked him why: “I bought Cromlix not as an investment or to make money, but because the place holds special memories for my family and the local community.”
Murray stays whenever possible and held his wedding celebrations there. His mother, Judy, is a regular presence, always making time to talk to the guests. The possibility of inperson interactions are an obvious draw of this particular celebrityowned hotel – but tennis stars, it’s fair to say, are known for their egos. A hotel stay is the one time when you yourself want to feel a bit like a celebrity, looked after by a team of staff. Is there really room for this in a hotel that is… well, all about someone else?
At Cromlix, the answer is yes, thanks to a lack of gimmicks and a focus on excellent service, from the warm hospitality displayed by all the staff to the guided tour around the kitchen garden and grounds on which chef Darin Campbell will happily take guests. I wonder if the same can be said of Cristiano Ronaldo’s CR7 hotels, the fourth franchise of which opened last December in New York’s Times Square? TripAdvisor reviews suggest not – and, interestingly, they barely mention the Manchester United player from Portugal, despite it having brazen red memorabilia dotted about; it is premier league in name only.
As a lifelong Manchester City supporter, it’s one I will be swerving – and the same goes for Hotel Football at Old Trafford, owned by class of 1992 teammates helmed by Gary Neville. Whoever wrote its strapline, “something for everyone”, clearly forgot to add, “as long as you are a Man U fan”. If retired legend Sergio Agüero ever fancies opening up “Kun’s Caves”, though, that’s one booking I’d relish.
Being a leading footballer doesn’t necessarily guarantee plain sailing. Spare a thought for Lionel Messi, whose Sitges branch of his burgeoning MiM chain was recently slapped with a demolition order based on multiple building violations.
But where did this penchant for celebrity hoteliers begin? In 1889, renowned impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte opened the Savoy hotel in London using profits from staging Gilbert and Sullivan operas, specifically The Mikado. The Savoy’s reputation was quickly assured by the Prince of Wales (who would become King Edward VII), and its roster of illustrious guests has included Winston Churchill, host of political dining society the Other Club, held in the Pinafore Room; and Claude Monet, who was so inspired by the views that he painted the Waterloo and Charing Cross bridges from his bedroom.
In California, it seemed logical for newly minted film stars to move into the hotel business during Hollywood’s golden period. Not only did this present a good investment opportunity, but it also created a space for peers to let their guard down, away from the prying eyes of the gossip mongers.
Charlie Chaplin opened Hotel Hunt (later renamed the Culver) in 1924, next to MGM Studios. Prominent guests included Clark Gable, Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford, but the most scandalous tales emerged when the actors playing Munchkins resided there while filming The Wizard of Oz. Reportedly, they would host debaucherous parties, culminating in several occupants per bed.
Chaplin allegedly lost the hotel to John Wayne in one of their regular high-stakes poker games in 1945. Wayne sunk vast sums into the Culver, before eventually declaring it a money pit, donating the property to the YMCA in 1967.
In 1926, acting power couple Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks became co-owners of the Hollywood Roosevelt. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard would stay there; Shirley Temple learnt her signature dance on the hotel’s stairs; and even Marilyn Monroe called the place home for a couple of years.
Getting in on the action, Frank Sinatra became proprietor of the Cal
Neva Lodge and Casino in Lake Tahoe in 1960, joined by Dean Martin and Chicago mobster Sam Giancana.
Sinatra installed a helipad and a “celebrity room” in which Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland stayed, as did Marilyn Monroe in the last week of her life. Legend has it that she would meet with JFK in the property’s secret tunnels.
In recent years, the celebrity hotelier scene has been elevated by Robert De Niro. He has created an empire that appeals to all, taking on a life of its own beyond the marquee name owner.
In 2008, he opened the Greenwich Hotel, further cementing Tribeca as one of Manhattan’s hippest areas. Installing Italian restaurant Locanda Verde was a savvy move, ensuring the hotel’s enduring popularity with locals as well as travellers.
The hotel and complementary restaurant template has proven to be a winning formula for De Niro. In 1988 he visited Japanese restaurant Matsuhisa in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles. Chef Nobu Matsuhisa told me of their first meeting: “Although his name was familiar to me, I had no idea who he was. [One year later] he suggested we start a restaurant together in New York – the rest is history.”
Some 25 years on, the team launched Nobu Hotels within Las Vegas behemoth Caesars Palace. To date they have 13 hotels globally with a dozen more due to open in the next few years.
I have always found the impersonal vastness of Caesars Palace a massive deterrent, along with the requisite trawl through the casino to reach the bedrooms and the astronomical weekend price hikes. When I stayed at Caesars’ Nobu hotel back in 2019, however, I found it to be a very different kind of experience, with killer views of the Strip, black cod on tap and Peloton bikes included in the room service.
When I asked Angie Moxham, CEO of The Fourth Angel PR group, why she likes to stay at Nobu’s Shoreditch outpost, her answer was simple. “Because I fancy Robert de Niro and fantasise about him buying me a nightcap.”
There is clearly a lot to be said for Italian hospitality, also exemplified by Francis Ford Coppola. These days he seemingly spends more time running the Family Hideaways than film-making. Coppola explained to me how this evolved: “I found myself owning some nice accommodations quite close to a beautiful archaeological dig and people began to ask if they could stay there. If you say ‘yes’ enough times, you’ll find yourself in the hotel business.”
Believing authenticity and passion to be the key to his resorts’ success, he added: “A man in his life has many loves, one in fact wherever he wanders. In my case they became hotels.” Rumours of the turndown service including a horse’s head placed alongside a chocolate on the pillow are as yet uncorroborated.
Musicians can arguably give actors a run for their money when it comes to celebrity hotel ownership, having gained valuable insight into what makes a good place to stay from spending so much of their time on the road. Take Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall, who must have been getting it right with Malmaison, the chain he co-founded in 1994 which played a major role in revolutionising the UK hotel scene with the introduction of a new style of boutique hotel, largely set in converted historic buildings. He sold up in 2000 for a cool £76million.
A celebrity owner may lure guests in, but unless the hotel is ticking all the other boxes, they can kiss repeat custom goodbye. Abba’s Benny Andersson scored invaluable coverage for Hotel Rival when all four members of the band showed up to Mamma Mia’s Swedish premiere, held in his Stockholm hotel in 2008, but it is the eclectic design and attention to detail that has sustained the business.
Spreading his customary fairy dust at the Goodtime is Pharrell Williams, who joined the hotelier ranks in April 2021. No corner has been underdesigned in this quintessentially South Beach joint. In a video I watched recently, co-owner David Grutman ruminated on the role of the hotel’s library. I presumed he was going to make a comment on the opportunity to carve out a quiet space away from noise and ostentation (in the hotel and the city), but instead he described the chance to “just have a full Instagrammable moment”. I mocked my own antiquated values and realised he was absolutely right.
Grutman and Williams have captured the zeitgeist perfectly and tapped into exactly what their specific clientele wants. But I do worry that, when it’s all about the ’gram, they will need to do a costly design overhaul fairly frequently – but I am missing the point. This isn’t about being practical; it’s about fantasy and how, for a brief moment, money can buy entry into a celebrity-obsessed world.
Operating restaurants at the Corinthia in London and (Gary Neville’s) the Stock Exchange in Manchester, chef Tom Kerridge is no slouch. He also runs the two-Michelin-star pub with rooms the Hand and Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. Kerridge shares this advice with aspiring celebrity hotel owners: “Make sure you find the right people for the right jobs. Build yourself an infrastructure and a team. Just because you have stayed in top five-star hotels, doesn’t mean you know how to operate them.” Indeed.
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