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Gostelow Report: Disrupting status quo at Ritz-Carlton, Budapest

“I am a disruptor, I always have been. I question rules and regulations and, in all my career, I have always found a way to make life better for everyone concerned,” says Nicolas Kipper, general manager of the 200-room Ritz-Carlton, Budapest, Hungary.

He is determined to make his club lounge, on the eighth floor of the nine-floor building, a key differentiator. “We are the only luxury hotel in Budapest to have a lounge, and this is particularly valuable in a city hotel,” he declared. The lounge comprises a meeting room for 10 guests, large seating and relaxing areas, as well as dining space. The kitchen servery has induction hobs, and an inner-lit glass-window cooker where hot briós (brioche), pogácsa (focaccia) and other Hungarian delicacies await at breakfast.

Nicolas Kipper in his club lounge, ahead of service
Nicolas Kipper in his club lounge, ahead of service

“One of the first things I did after arriving in August 2016 was an extensive coffee tasting and now our brew, from a Siemens machine, is highly applauded. I want to put more finesse, in true French style, into food and everything that goes with it,” he explained.

Born in Strasbourg, in the Alsace region of France, Nicolas Kipper always wanted to travel, so hospitality seemed an obvious career choice. He was specifically inspired, as a teenager, by a spell in the Caribbean, in Guadeloupe (although it could be argued that he was still in France as it is a French department and the largest and most populous European Union territory in North America). Anyway, he returned to mainland France and graduated from E.M. Strasbourg Business School, part of the University of Strasbourg in his hometown.

“I then had 13 really happy years with Hyatt but as happens from time to time in all businesses the structure changed and in 2004 I was successfully tempted to move to Marriott, primarily because of how they looked after their team,” he recalled.

All his skills were needed at that point as Marriott dispatched him to Russia to run the Interstate-operated franchised Marriotts in Moscow. For 10 years he was GM of the Moscow Marriott Grand Hotel, where he achieved an occupancy of 84%, and, for some of that time, he also ran the Moscow Marriott Tverskaya Hotel, a mile away. Next he was asked to renovate and reposition London Marriott Park Lane, which was directly managed. “In London, after renovation I increased the average room rate by £75 (US$96), and RevPAR went up to £225 (US$288) before I left.”

Budapest is his first experience with Ritz-Carlton. “Honestly, moving from mainstream Marriott to Ritz-Carlton was really no challenge, although I was immediately attracted by the brand’s strong service and attitude cultures put in place, and overseen, by Hervé Humler,” said this versatile Alsatian.

Ritz-Carlton Budapest is owned by Dubai-based Al-Habtoor Group, whose chairman, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, was brought to Hungary by his tennis coach and loved the country so much he invested in real estate. His purchases included two hotels, InterContinental Budapest and this property. What was earlier known as the Adria Palace had been built between 1914 and 1918 as headquarters for Adria Insurance Company – it still has, on its exterior walls, 10 life-sized statues representing different insurances, such as maritime. After burning to the ground during World War II, it was rebuilt and from 1950 to 1997 served as headquarters of the Budapest police force. In October 2000, then owned by the Duna Plaza Group, it opened as Le Méridien Budapest and officially became Ritz-Carlton in May 2016.

“I have achieved financial success before, and I will do it again. Already we are up a RevPAR this June of just under €180 (US$202), which makes a solid number two in the RevPAR index in Budapest – not bad, in this short time frame,” he said, confidently. He is using four pillars to achieve, and maintain, best in town. Most public of these thrusts is the success not only of the club lounge but the all-day Deák St Kitchen Wine & Grill (Est 2016), which flows outside to trendy Deák Street. A restaurant specialty is mangalitsa pork, from woolly Hungarian pigs known as royalty of that animal world.

Kipper is also counting on help to boost business from spa and wellness, meetings sector – and the reputation of his club lounge. “Every summer, Budapest sees about 180 river cruises every day, each with about 160 passengers. These are prime targets, pre- or post-cruise, for my club product, and I shall do all I can to get them here,” he said with typical Kipper determination.

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