“Some of those hotel magnates years ago knew what they were about when they included lots of high terraces,” says Edwin Frizzell, general manager of the 28-floor Fairmont Royal York, Toronto, Canada.
Today a 15th-floor terrace provides endless opportunities for publicity, plus events and income. It is big enough for cocktails for up to 100, and the addition of a year-round Napoleon fixed barbecue allows on-the-spot food preparation up there. Six active beehives are complemented by a pollinator facility. As well as growing vines and tomatoes, planters have an array of herbs for chefs’ use. “Last month a bridal couple came up here, and clipped the actual basil leaves to be used in pesto for the wedding dinner a few days later, in the hotel, of course,” Frizzell explained. He is a keen social media participant, and in addition to posting it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, he told the FRHI family worldwide via FRHItalk intranet.
His 1,363-room property opened June 11, 1929, with an inaugural Concert Hall ball, complete with entertainment from a Casavant Frères pipe organ. It was a railroad hotel then, and it is now – connected by direct subterranean mall, or a three-minute walk across the pedestrianized Front Street, to Toronto’s main rail station. “Yes, this is a grand old lady and perhaps she went through a bit of a tired stage, but now she is being totally rejuvenated. Most of our bedrooms have been redone, and there is enough in the C$250 million renovation budget to redo some public areas, including the 12th floor Fairmont Gold club lounge, and club bedrooms, all of which will be designed by Alexandra Champalimaud. We still have a little way to go but we are getting there, and within a few months it will be time to bring back top luxury guests,” he promised.
He manages a staff of 1,200, who among them speak 59 languages. “The entire leadership team is 180 strong, and when we have meetings we need to use one of the ballrooms,” he laughed. He is often asked how he has so much energy. “I am full on, whatever I am doing. I live ten minutes away from the hotel – I can look down at it from our apartment windows. I am in our block’s gym at 5:30 every morning, and I eat well.”
A self-confessed foodie, he also wants the Royal York to be offering only the best. EPIC restaurant is adding, for example, 16-ounce rib-eyes from Alberta (wearing his hat as regional vice president Central Canada for FRHI Hotels & Resorts, Frizzell also oversees FRHI’s hotels in that province).
“I knew I wanted to be a GM when I was 8,” he declared at typical lightning speed (this is a man who has no time to waste). Born and brought up on Canada’s Prince Edward Island, a province where tourism is second only to agriculture in terms of its economy, it was part of his life. At 17 he left for the mainland, Nova Scotia, to become, four years later, the first person to graduate from Halifax’s Mount Saint Vincent University in hospitality management. After a year learning showmanship at Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center, he did a four-year Delta management training program, fell in love with Toronto and, apart from a spell in Chicago, has been here ever since, with, in order, The Sutton Place, Starwood and Hilton and then, in April 2014, to The Fairmont Royal York.
“This hotel is the icon of the city and Ontario, and it will soon be talked about far and wide. On Thursday September 1st, for instance, we partnered with Piper-Heidsieck Champagne to host a dress-to-the-nines Champagne party to celebrate Toronto’s International Film Festival, which started exactly a week later,” he revealed. To recover after he took off his black tie, he did a typical Frizzell get-away-from-it-all. “It is only a two-hour flight back to our vacation home on Prince Edward Island, and after catching breath whenever I get there, I invariably play at least one round of golf.”