Nod To Great Hoteliers Everywhere

By Jeff Weinstein, Editor in Chief -- HOTELS Magazine, 4/1/2007

OUR HOTELIER OF THE WORLD AWARD ballot appears on p.67 this month. I urge you to tear out the ballot, vote and return it to me for tabulation. By July 15, I will know who won the independent and corporate awards and gleefully make calls to inform the winners of their fate and plan the November cover story and celebration in New York City. Then comes the worst job I face all year—informing the other nominees that they did not win, and these are all great hoteliers who I know will politely respond by telling me they were just glad to be nominated. Nonetheless, they do not deserve to “lose.”

Each year I struggle with this process, and this year I feel an overwhelming need to use this space to recognize the many great hoteliers who have been nominated over the 12-plus years I have been chief editor but not featured on the November cover. They all understand the fine art of great, service-oriented hotelkeeping and have had wonderful careers in an industry that you either love with a devoted passion or hate for its required devotion. This list appears in no particular order, does not include this year’s nominees (don’t want to jinx their chances) and certainly does not include all the world’s great hoteliers. For those I have overlooked, my apologies in advance and, readers, please send me a note about whom you think I should have included but did not—maybe they will be on next year’s ballot.

Michel Rey, Bar au Lach, Zurich; Robert Collier, InterContinental Hotels, London; Paul Handlery, Handlery Hotels, San Francisco; Richard Schmitz, Brenner’s Park Hotel & Spa Resort, Baden Baden, Germany; Chris Cahill, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Toronto; Frank Bowling, Hotel Bel Air, Los Angeles; David Michels, Stakis and Hilton International; John Norlander, Carlson Hotels; Paul Leone, The Breakers, Palm Beach, Florida; David Levin, Capital Hotel, London; Kurt Wachtveitl, The Oriental, Bangkok; Brian Deeson, Century International Hotels, Hong Kong; Jean-Marc Droulers, Villa D’Este, Lake Como, Italy; Steve Bartolin, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Pierre Ferchaud, Hotel Le Bristol, Paris; Patrick Griffin, The Observatory, Sydney; Butch Stewart, Sandals, Miami; Ejnar Soder, Star Hotel, Sollentuna, Sweden; Graham Wackett, Southern Pacific Hotel Group, Australia; Chieko Aoki, Blue Tree Hotels & Resorts, São Paulo; Grace Leo-Andrieu, GLA International, Paris; Robert Berge, La Mamounia, Marrakech; Terry Holmes, The Stafford, London; Andy Dolce, Dolce International, Montvale, New Jersey; Roland Nilsson, Scandic Hotels, Stockholm; Alan Parker, Whitbread, London; Peter Lederer, Gleneagles, Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland; Claudio Silvestri, Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic; Ian Schrager, Ian Schrager Hotels, New York City; Innegrit Volkhardt, Bayerischer Hof, Munich; Simon Cooper, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., Chevy Chase, Maryland; P.R.S. “Biki” Oberoi, Oberoi Group, Delhi; Antonio Catalan, AC Hotels, Madrid; Paul McManus, The Leading Hotels of the World, New York City; Tim and Kit Kemp, Firmdale Hotels, London; Ernst Scherz, The Palace Hotel Gstaad, Switzerland; Gaston Azcarraga, Grupo Posadas, Mexico City, Mexico; Johannes Faessler, Sonnenalp Resort, Vail, Colorado; David Carey, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, Honolulu; Sir Rocco Forte, Rocco Forte Hotels, London; and last but certainly not least, Otto Stehlik, Protea Hospitality Corp., Cape Town.

Now, that was very cathartic for me.

Jeff Weinstein, Editor In Chief