The face of independence in Italy

COMO, Italy – It took the pandemic for the Rocchi family from Como, Italy, to find the time to further modernize their 4- and 5-star R Collection Hotels business with more centralized systems for distribution, administration, sale and marketing, and more.

Today, the family portfolio stands at 13 hotels – two only managed and the others owned (five of which are still under third-party management). Currently, both in Como, the hotel Regina Olga will reopen its door in 2025 and Lido di Menaggio will reopen as Victoria Lido Beach for the 2024 season.

The next steps will be to bring expiring management contracts in-house and to acquire urban properties with Rome, Florence and Venice all under consideration, according to Brand Director Ludovica Rocchi. Longer-term goals include branching outside Italy with an immediate eye on the U.K. and France.

As for disposition, there are no plans at the moment, even though the family is approached on a regular basis to consider selling opportunities, Rocchi said.

The R Collection story begins with, Pompeo Rocchi. A success in the textile and fashion industries, he was always fascinated by the hospitality business and in began acquiring properties in destinations like Lake Como, initially enlisting third-party management. When the time was right (2009), he and his son Franco moved their complete focus to the hospitality side, bringing the properties, including others in Portofino, Varedo and Milan, under Rocchi family management. To further put the portfolio on the global map, in 2012 they launched R Collection Hotels, a sub-brand for the properties scattered around Italy, including six in the Como area.

As part of the portfolio in Lake Como and Portofino, for example, the family owns and operates the Grand Hotel Bristol (purchased in 2009), Grand Hotel Victoria (purchased at the end of 1980) and Hotel Royal Victoria (purchased around 1990). Villa Cipressi is managed only and owned by the municipality of Varenna and Lecco. In Milan, Hotel Mentana and Hotel King are owned as well.

More recently, the Grand Hotel Bristol reopened in March after undergoing a major renovation. While Royal Hotel Victoria in May opened a fine dining concept, Visteria.

Results across the portfolio have been impressive in the past 18 months, according to Ludovica Rocchi, who along with siblings Filippo and Pompeo Jr., have been working under their now-CEO father Franco since 2017. She told Hotel Investment Today that 2022 saw better results than 2019 and that so far in 2023, revenue is up 12% versus last year.

Ludovica continues to focus on branding, as well as culinary and wellness, as she aims to preserve and enhance the company’s Italian heritage with a modern twist. She said further emphasis, and what she learned while interning for Four Seasons in Florence, Italy, and spending five-plus years at Sir Rocco Forte’s Brown’s hotel in London after graduating from hotel school in Switzerland, is a familiar mantra about taking care of the team so they can best serve guests.

She knows first-hand having worked in many aspects of front-line operations. “You know what people are going through every day – you can really understand them, which is probably one of the main things that makes me different than my brothers,” Ludovica said. “To be a leader, in general, you need to know what you’re talking about.”

She said the time the family had during COVID to reconsider their business practices has put them in a better place to grow. Previously, each newly acquired hotel had a disparate system, which created havoc when trying to mine data. Now, in-house CRS and CRM systems, for example, have made life much easier at the corporate and property levels. “When we are growing, which is our goal, we really need to be more focused on growing with the right systems and standards,” Rocchi said.

She also pointed to training initiated since COVID as making a big difference to aid retention and keep worthwhile team members motivated, even while they were at home during the height of the pandemic. “Even if they were lying on the sofa, their brain was working,” she joked. “The people who are still with us really appreciated it and I think it was the right choice for us… Retention, retention, retention – we heard this more than once a day.”

Such is the lot of trying to stay independent, but the Rocchi family seems determined to do so.

“We love to stay independent,” Ludovica said. “It’s harder, definitely, to promote our hotels and destinations compared to Marriott or Four Seasons, but it’s what feels authentic. We put our faces out there, giving assurance to each guest or each travel agency that we are there in case they need anything. This is what we focus on – we are always available and put our faces out there because we really care, and we love what we are doing.”