Beirut’s must-visit hotel
Gordon Campbell Gray takes us on a tour of his new luxury property
WORDS | ROBINA DAM
PHOTO GRAPHY | TIM WHITE
“AT THE STAFF PARTY PRIOR TO OPENING LE GRAY, I STOOD UP AND SIMPLY SAID: ‘WHAT TO DO? I’VE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH 260 LEBANESE, AND IT’S TRUE!’” The urbane Gordon Campbell Gray laughs – unlike his moniker, his pearly whites are gleaming, his white mane slicked back and his eyes twinkling. Just some of the many reasons he stands miles apart from the rest of the hotel industry.
Described as a ‘force of nature’ by those who work with him, Campbell Gray, 59, has certainly demonstrated that he creates a whirlwind wherever he goes. Within the last 24 hours alone, he has returned from a fund-raising exercise in one of the poorest regions of Ethiopia, overseen the arrival of a new collection of contemporary art from Cuba to add to the walls of Le Gray and added the final touches to the rooftop bar.
“I work best when there are several projects on the go,” says the suave host when we meet at the five-star, 87-room Le Gray. It’s November 2009, a couple of weeks after the launch and we’re in the atrium bar that circumnavigates the central ground-to-roof column. It’s the ultimate ‘see and be seen’ venue since you have to pass it to access either the Cigar Bar or the Indigo on the Roof restaurant. The great and swish of Beiruti society – men in dark suits and women with immaculate blow-dries (big) and tight outfits (small) – almost without exception greet him en passant. “The Lebanese have been incredibly generous with their praise of Le Gray. They felt it was a shot in the arm of the city because it will attract another type of tourist to Beirut,” he beams.
There is the patrician air about him which makes the chairman of Campbell Gray Hotels seem more like one his hotel guests, whether he is formally dressed in his bespoke Richard James suits or casual in slim-cut Prada jeans with John Lobb loafers. On learning of his son’s career interests, his father famously told him: “Gordon, people like us stay in hotels; we don’t work in them.”
But his Scottish aristo background belies Campbell Gray’s maverick sensibility. Sure, his hotels epitomise luxury, inspired by another family member: “I had an aunt, Mamie, who pampered me by taking me out to Claridge’s,” he explains. “She was this incredibly glamorous creature with a sable stole and cigarette holder who loved Claridge’s and she introduced me to that world.”
But then kicks in his unpredictable side. After choosing conventionally luxurious locations such as Antigua (Carlisle Bay) and London’s Strand (One Aldwych), opening in Lebanon seemed, well, out of character. It wasn’t the obvious site for showing off his prized art collection – he has decorated the hotel with contemporary pieces from London, Cuba, Lebanon and Paris.
What made him choose Beirut? “Beirut chose me,” he ripostes. “Four years ago some guests in London asked me if I would consider doing a project in Beirut. I had visited Lebanon about 10 years ago and it was certainly grim then, no doubt about that.” But such was his respect for those guests in question that he considered it worth researching – though in his inimitable instinctual manner.
“I flew out to Beirut on a Monday and on the Tuesday we had agreed a deal.” This ad-hoc approach may seem out of sync with the thorough planning and due diligence required of the head of an international business, but make no mistake: this hotelier runs a very tight ship. Although Campbell Gray Hotels is set up as a private holding company (“So we never reveal figures”), each property has a different business partner. “But the relationship with each is incredibly important; it’s like a marriage,” says the divorced man-about-town. “I would never go into business with someone unless I really liked them.”
‘Like’ in this case translates to also having a free hand. Investment in the very best products, for example. “Quality works out cheaper in the long term; choose cheaper materials and it looks shabby within three to four years and needs a refurb. But at One Aldwych, which is 12 years old now, the interiors still look brand new.”
This long-term view influences all areas of the business. For instance, while the balance sheets might look better with full occupancy (rooms start at £304), Campbell Gray isn’t chasing quick figures. “I’d rather stop at 75 per cent occupancy in the early days to make sure that everything is at the standard I want it to be. Of course we could have 100 per cent occupancy right from the start, but I’d rather build it up gradually.” This in itself is a luxury that many of his rivals would envy.
An upside to having a number of different investors – apart from spreading risk – is that he can tap into the expertise of local knowledge from those partners in territories which are newer to him. No matter how much he has fallen in love with Beirut, he remains pragmatic about the challenge. “It’s not the easiest place to do business: society can be very snobby here and snobbism is not what my brand is about. But we can do things differently. I’ve always been an adventurer,” says the self-taught hotelier who walked out of hotel school in his twenties as an act of rebellion. “I felt that I’d failed but realised I’d have to make it by paddling my own canoe.”
So he was unlikely to be deterred by some of the setbacks following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. He will only say diplomatically: “I never comment on the political situation here, but the challenges of war were unavoidable.
It should have taken us two and a half years to build, but instead took four. But showing our commitment to this project got everyone energised.”
Campbell Gray is clearly used to a peripatetic lifestyle and not just due to running different hotels. His charity commitments kicked in when he was in his early twenties and was compelled to help Save the Children – he spent a year out in Bangladesh and is now their vice-chairman. “Now when I’ve been travelling all over the place, friends and family ask me when I’m coming home. They mean London. I tell them I am going home – Beirut!”
There’s no doubting his pride in the city. And of his new showcase? “I’m delighted with it. It fits in with my philosophy of ‘Do everything you can as exquisitely as you can’.” You can’t beat that as hospitality mottos go.
Le Gray, Martyrs’ Square, Beirut Central District, Lebanon, +961 1 971 111 www.legray.com; www.campbellgrayhotels.com
