Excelsior Palace, is the only five-star luxury hotel on the Portofino Coast.
HotelMyPassion’s interviewed Aldo Werdin, CEO and General Manager
for over twenty years at the helm of the hotel, one of the icons of Italian hospitality around the world.
Past, present, and future. And a project in pipeline
of “doubling” the hospitality capacity, with a new hotel in Santa Margherita Ligure.
One point for sure! Excelsior Palace in Rapallo is one of the most iconic hotels on the Ligurian Riviera, nestled for over a hundred years between the land and sea of the Levant and the symbol of the Dolce Vita of the Portofino Coast. This hotel is capable of holding together the timeless art of hospitality and being constantly up to date due to continuous renewal, investments, and improvements designed to offer guests better and more lifestyle new experiences.
Including the managers of the Ehma, who have just held their spring conference here as guests of Aldo Werdin, who have on the occasion “crowned” with a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his role as the real “face” of the hotel, of which he is now CEO and General Manager.
HMYP: Werdin, what is the element that makes the difference between Excelsior Palace and all the other luxury hotels?
A.W.: The difference that immediately catches the eye lies in the fact that ours is the only 5-star luxury hotel in the Levant: the other in Liguria is the Royal of Sanremo, to the west. I do not emphasize it out of pride, but to emphasize that our luck lies in that extra half-star, which however we must deserve every day. When I arrived in Rapallo I thought I would stay a couple of years, but instead, I have been working here for twenty years. If we combine this with the fact that we have little turnover – many of the employees I found in 2002 are still here – another important feature of the hotel emerges.
HMYP: Which one?
A.W.: We had time and opportunity to create an excellent team and, consequently, an Excelsior style, on which we work continuously, also through courses, with the head of the service explaining to old and new collaborators what are the standards to follow. I recommend these refresher courses to all colleagues because they are really useful. Maintaining the level and always improving, year after year, is difficult but brings results. In this post-pandemic and crisis moment, the gap has widened: luxury has lost nothing, indeed it is growing in numbers. To have lost, unfortunately, are the hotels of the lower category. It is also for this reason that in the Levant the 5 stars have gone from five to ten within seven years. Those who understood the situation immediately implemented renovation actions to grow their hotel.
HMYP: And now the important project on the Lido Palace and the Helios of Santa Margherita Ligure is in full development. How is it born?
A.W.: The premise is this: when I arrived in Rapallo, the hotel was managed by a company that then had troubles, which also involved a year of the judicial commissioner. I had to look for someone to run the hotel of which at that time I was Attorney General: but everyone wanted to manage the hotel as long as it was renovated. So I turned to the ownership of the walls, and I was lucky enough to find in them the willingness to diversify from their core business – they do home automation, telephony, electric gates, solar panels … – and to also become hoteliers. The deal was this: they would invest, and I would stay.
HMYP: All clear. And how did it go?
A.W.: The results proved us right, so much so that we decided to buy the Hotel Lido Palace in Santa Margherita Ligure, which will be closed for renovation until December. It was a 4-star hotel, but when it reopens it will be a 5-star hotel: it was demolished inside and completely rebuilt, also elevating it by a floor where we have already placed a Sky Bar. Since this hotel lacked beach, we took the further opportunity to take over a concession.
HMYP: That of the Hotel Helios.
A.W.: Exactly. The Helios is a 20-room built and built on state-owned area, with a beautiful beach and 80 meters from the Lido Palace, which will become the Beach Club. In this regard, the hotel will also change its name: it will be called Excelsior Palace Santa, to recall that of Rapallo, which in the meantime has become Excelsior Palace Portofino Coast. Between the two hotels there are three kilometers of Red Carpet, on which you can also jog overlooking the Ligurian Sea up to Portofino, which is seven kilometers away.
HMYP: Are there any investments planned for Rapallo?
A.W.: Since we changed ownership we have always invested, 12.5 million euros only in management. We renovated all the rooms, redone restaurant and bar, raised the hotel one floor. On the eighth floor, by December, we will have a Penthouse and an area for customers on the seventh floor, i.e. guests of the Presidential Suite. In addition, we have renovated the Spa, the gym and the bar and added an infinity pool, which are now two. The restaurant overlooking the sea, which now works in summer, by the end of the year will also become winter and open to the city. We have also equipped ourselves with a pontoon with its launch lane.
HMYP: Are your clientele made up of many regulars, those who come back every year to visit you?
IA.W.: It’s something that happens very often in hotels, when a general manager dedicates some time to public relations, especially in the evening. We certainly have repeaters, but not in a very high percentage, and that’s okay. In summer we have 80% foreigners and 20% Italians, while in winter we go down to 60% foreigners and 40% Italians. As for the markets, as soon as I arrived I tried to go and intercept other markets, to level them out and avoid depending on a single basin: we saw what happened in 2001 to those who depended too much on the American market.
HMYP: What is the situation today?
A.W.: We maintain shares, on individual markets, ranging from 8% to 13-14%. That way, if a market defaults, I can replace it with others without too much effort. We draw a little everywhere: today the English market is 10%, the German 8%, the French is growing. We were very well known on the Russian market, and in Moscow we worked quite well with the Kremlin – ambassadors, ministers, officials -: we had reached 15% Russians. Too much. So at the Excelsior Palace we raised the bar even more and went down to 10-11%.
HMYP: How is the situation about the staff shortage that animates the debate in hospitality?
A.W.: The situation remains difficult. Everyone blames the basic income, but it’s not really true. In some ways the DRC has made an impact, but the shortage of staff is more the result of two years of pandemic. Those who worked in the hotel even before Covid knew well that it is difficult to party on Saturdays and Sundays. They were professionals accustomed to rest on days like Wednesdays and Thursdays and shifts.
HMYP: And what happened with Covid?
A.W.: The pandemic has become accustomed to other rhythms of life, which have made it difficult to return to the previous “normality”. Those who could have changed profession, and those who are looking for work often prefer to avoid the hotel, because it involves sacrifice. As President of ITS Turismo Liguria, when I go to talk to students I always tell them “from the outside working in hotels does not attract you, but once you enter this environment you will not want to leave, and after two days at home you will not wait to return to the hotel”. Because that’s how it happens.
HMYP: What advice would you give to hoteliers in your area to intercept the “new tourism”?
A.W.: I keep telling my colleagues to take an example from what the Excelsior does. You cannot live on income, on inheritance, because by dint of lulling yourself among the laurels comes the moment when the doors close. Twenty years ago here there were still hotels with cathode ray tube televisions – when flat ones were already fully in use – and until a few years ago in Liguria a three-star hotel did not even have the obligation to guarantee air conditioning. It is unthinkable that a hotel does not offer at least the basic facilities that the guest has in his home. You have to invest. And always stay one step ahead, never one step back.
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