Beatrice Tollman is dedicated to her craft and has an unwavering determination to deliver the best of everything. For the founder and president of Red Carnation Hotel Collection, hotelkeeping is a 24/7 love affair.
Across the many years Tollman and her husband, Stanley, have been running hotels, first in South Africa and, since 1984, from their London headquarters, “Bea” has always run the family home, brought up four children and worked day and night to build the family business. She talks about working on the evening she delivered her fourth child, Vicki, and how she had to ask a friend to drive her to the hospital because Stanley was working elsewhere. She delivered the baby and was back working in her sanctuary, the kitchen, no more than a few days later wearing her white overalls, hair tied up, standing behind the long counter to taste everything on the menu.
Hard work and dedication to service excellence has been the couple’s calling since they leased their first hotel in 1954, The Nugget in Johannesburg, using wedding present money to furnish the property. At age 22, Tollman, who initially intended to become a nursery school teacher, was a novice running her own kitchen and time learning the ins and outs of luxury hotelkeeping.
During the early years, the couple added a few properties in South Africa, including The Hyde Park Hotel in Johannesburg, which became famous for its cabaret and was home to their Colony supper club, often playing host to celebrities such as Marlene Dietrich, Petula Clark, George Peppard, Michael Caine and many more.
By 1975, however, the pair decided to leave everything behind during South Africa’s contentious apartheid and moved to London to start over with their four children and whatever they could carry. Today, they own and operate a collection of 20 luxury hotels in the U.K. and Europe, South Africa (including the Oyster Box, where the couple had their first date), the United States and Botswana.
To this day, the two are never apart, according to daughter Vicki, who along other two other siblings are carrying on the family hospitality traditions. And it is just the way, now in her 80s, and 90-year-old Stanley, most always sporting a red carnation in his lapel, want it.
“You have your ups and downs in business, but you stick together, face everything and you just work with a determination,” Tollman tells HOTELS. “And I suppose that’s the most important thing, the determination and creating high standards. It has been a very, very busy life. But you don’t realize how much you can do in your life. You can’t complain; you just get on with it and do it. We’ve worked this way for many years”
For her dedication, endless energy and creation of an admired hotel portfolio, the readers of HOTELS voted Beatrice Tollman the 2020 Corporate Hotelier of the World.
Long days, nights
In the early days of her career, she remembers going to the back of the coal stoves to stoke the flames. “I taught a scullery boy how to do desserts. He became the best dessert maker, using my own ice cream,” says Tollman, who grew up in South Africa as a champion tennis player, a soprano singer and a well-regarded piano player. “You’d make sure the food was right, and that the guests liked it. You just cared about everything.”
Those earlier years in Johannesburg were filled with lessons and her desire to become a true professional in the kitchen. Stanley managed the business affairs and was often found in the front of the house greeting guests.
The couple opened the Oxford hotel in suburban Johannesburg, followed by the Hyde Park Hotel. By 1969 they had opened Tollman Towers, a high-rise boutique with 70 suites, where Tollman also did much of the interior design work, using antiques she sourced during her travels.
It was at this time that she began jotting hand-written notes to every guest and reading every guest comment card to tweak and enhance offerings and improve service levels. She still engages in both practices to this very day, she says.
The couple created a reputation for fine F&B service as they grew their portfolio. “We had long days and long nights,” Tollman recalls. “I had four children under 8, and I was working in the kitchens. I took the kids back and forth to school and went back to the hotel. We worked every night until one or two o’clock in the morning.”
Daughter Vicki recalls always seeing her parents working hard. “But my mom was always there for every meeting, everything we kids did,” she said. “I don’t know how she did it. She probably never slept.”
Tollman’s response: “Well, there’s lots to do and it’s amazing with how little sleep you can manage. That’s one thing I learned about being in any business, I suppose.”
Starting over
In 1975, the Tollmans left South Africa for London. “We couldn’t take any money out, so you’d just make do,” Tollman says. “We got a loan from a friend and I remember walking to go to the grocery instead of taking the bus to save the money. You remember all of these things. I never complained because you knew that’s what you had to do. So, you just do it and get on with it.”
Getting on with it included an opportunity to buy the Montcalm hotel in London, where the family also began to live and even opened a thriving discotheque in the basement called Dial 9. “Everybody who came, all the bands (including the Rolling Stones), all the singers, they all enjoyed it. It was a wonderful place and was a great success from the beginning.”
During those days, Stanley went to the United States to start a travel company, and in 1984 the couple bought the Chesterfield hotel in London’s Mayfair district. That’s when Red Carnation was born and Bea developed the company ethos: “No request is too large, no detail too small.”
The Chesterfield succeeded, again with a strong reputation for F&B, and the collection grew from there, first in the U.K. Within the past 20 years, they bought the hotels in South Africa again, including The Twelve Apostles in 2002, and in 2007 the Oyster Box in Durban. Fast-forward to 2015, when the Tollmans made one of their biggest acquisitions and detailed renovation projects, the iconic Ashford Castle in Ireland.
Today, the Tollmans’ son, Brett, is CEO of The Travel Corp. Daughter Vicki is director of Red Carnation Hotels, overseeing guest experiences, sales, marketing and PR. Daughter Toni is director of design and projects at the hotels and Uniworld. The next generation of Tollman women also is entering the business with Alexandra Tollman, Bea’s granddaughter, involved in international sales.
Comforting and generous
Bea has always focused on the kitchen, service and training at the hotels, while Stanley manages the business affairs of the hotel group and parent company, The Travel Corp., with some 40 brands that include everything from Uniworld river cruisers to travel agencies and a vineyard in South Africa featured in all Red Carnation hotels.
Bea is a forever student of cuisine, learning new dishes as she travels, constantly studying with her chefs. She says often the most popular dishes remain the simple ones. “Delicious but simple,” she says. “People love comfort food. I go through every monthly report on what’s sold in every restaurant.”
“My mom has signature dishes throughout all the hotels, from her delicious breads, to her chicken liver paté, to her curries, to hand-chopped sirloin,” Vicki says. “But then all the chefs also have the opportunity to be creative and have their signature dishes, as well.”
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When Tollman is not in the kitchen, she is usually touring the properties and making sure staff training is ongoing and is focused on service delivery. Many general managers have been with the group for more than 20 years. “Our hotels are most cherished for our teams,” Vicki says. “Our amazing general managers try to meet every single guest on arrival and on departure. That is a rare occurrence today. But my father says, ‘I don’t care about reports. I want them out in front of the hotel meeting and greeting the guests.’”
Vicki continues that the brand’s DNA surrounds generous hospitality, personal service, and ensuring that every guest and team member matters. “Our teams are autonomous. If someone wants to do something special, we have something called TNTs, tiny noticeable touches,” Vicki adds. “It’s really important that our staff know that we will support them in the choices they make to make our guests happy.”
William Tomicki, editor and publisher of Entrée Travel Newsletter and a friend of the Tollman family who has consulted on hotel marketing projects, says, “I have met many, many hoteliers. All talk about hospitality, personal service and attention to detail. But none can compare with Mrs. Tollman — she is the gold standard for excellence. She truly understands these concepts and delivers on them.”
Tomicki added that one of Tollman’s great qualities is how she cares about and inspires her staff. “She emphasizes unsurpassed training and total teamwork. She teaches by example each and every one of her team to try and understand the ever-evolving needs of her Red Carnation guests and empowers them to treat all with utmost respect.
“Mrs. Tollman has marvelous people skills. She is a total diplomat, always upbeat and perpetually enthusiastic… This is a most gracious woman whose relentless pursuit of perfection is apparent from the moment a guest steps into the embrace of a Red Carnation hotel.”
Tollman is also known for her presents, given both to staff and guests. She hand-picks little gifts delivered at turndown, and they are not a mint on the pillow. Samples of many of her signature dishes like chicken noodle soup are also offered upon check-in. She holds an annual, week-long Staff Appreciation Party to award about 1,000 exceptional employees in various categories. In addition, she hand-picks Christmas gifts for every single Red Carnation employee – approximately 4,000 presents each year.
The couple’s generosity was also on display when they acquired Ashford Castle as the staff hadn’t been paid in quite a while due to hardship of the previous owner, and most hadn’t had a raise in 10 years. Everyone on staff received both monetary and personal gifts, according to Tollman. “We simply wanted to show our appreciation and the loyalty and the love,” she says. Now they just do anything to make our guests happy and to show how much they appreciate what we do.”
She adds that respect is a very important part of life. “You have to respect the people who work with you,” she says. “I treat everybody with respect, no matter who they are or what they are because everybody has to earn a living.”
Driven by passions
Respect has also been the key to the Tollmans working together so well for so many years. They like a lot of the same things like food, art and design, and they discuss everything together – all the time. “They’ve never changed, no matter what,” Vicki says. “They’re just constantly the same and so dignified and noble in the way they are to everybody around them. And they’ve lived this amazing life.”
Tollman suggests they keep their passion for the business alive because they were born with it and taught the importance of keeping high standards. “If you let that slip, you lose your passion… And it’s hard sometimes. You just get a bit fed up for one reason or another. But I think it’s the passion that keeps us on our toes.”
Among her passions are her dogs, who also keep her company as she still works long hours.
“I’m always working. I’m always in my office,” Tollman says. “I read every report every day and answer every guest comment. So, I can’t get out of my office… It’s in my blood because it’s so important when you want to make high standards in a business. You’ve got to watch everything and that’s a lot to watch.”
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