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Olivia Greenway, travel journalist and copywriter

Five minutes with…Paul Kerr, CEO Small Luxury Hotels group

December 18, 2014
By olivia

SLH is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2015. It has 520 hotels in its portfolio and is growing every year.

 

During his address to journalists at the International Luxury Travel Market in Cannes before our meeting, Paul Kerr stressed the importance of brand with the disappearance of independence – this is especially noticeable in the High Street. SLH offers a variety of choices of properties and unusual experiences – something he suggests the savvy luxury hotel must tap into.

 

On the balcony overlooking the yachts in the harbour of the SLH stand, Kerr spoke to me about his travelling experiences.

 

Career to date in three sentences

I qualified as an accountant and eventually, years later ended up as financial controller at Cunard Hotels. They were members of SLH. I put some money into SLH with a few other investors to be able to market it properly and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Fondest childhood holiday memory?

I have lots of fond family memories. My father believed in holidays and treated them as a priority. We went away caravanning for at least three weeks in the summer, usually to France – all over – but in particular we liked St Jean-de-Luz in the southwestern region, south of Biarritz. I particularly remember hanging up a Union Jack tea towel as a flag in 1966, to the annoyance of the Germans in the next caravan.

 

Favourite holiday destination?

It used to be France but nowadays I like the Greek islands and Majorca as I’m a keen sailor.

 

What sort of cuisine do you like?

I like simple food, cooked well. I call it ‘family food’. It’s quite hard to find nowadays. I like sharing food, like you do at home. Lamb is my favourite meat. Cooked with a little garlic and served with mint sauce, I’m in heaven.

 

What is your biggest hotel bugbear?

I don’t have just one! I suppose the most important to me is lack of power points, especially near the bed as I have sleep apnea and need to plug in my machine. Another one is room service that’s too slow or that delivers the wrong thing, or quite often both. They get it wrong, missing something vital and by the time they come back, your original food is cold. And many hotels don’t seem to be able to make tea properly.

 

Favourite travel website or app?

Apart from SLH, I like the EasyJet and BA sites, both are very easy to use.

 

What major challenges face hotels over the next ten years?

Oversupply in some areas is a concern. The spiralling cost of energy is another worrying trend.

 

How do you manage to switch off?

I find it really easy. I go on my boat or I cycle.

 

Is there anywhere you haven’t been that you’d like to?

I have lots of places I’d like to go to. Whether I can fit it all in remains to be seen. Up the Amazon would be good; it’s my dream destination. In my boat, of course.

 

 

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Trips 2018/2019

2019

January: Zanzibar

March: Cape Town & Pretoria

May: Slovenia

October: South Africa (tbc)

November: Kenya (tbc)

 

Trips 2018

March:  New York, including Frick Gallery

May:  Vietnam including Halong Bay

June:  Giverny and Monet’s garden

June:  Majorca

December: Hyderabad and Chandigarh, India

Trips 2017

January: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
February: Bangalore
April: Lake District
May: Malaga
September: Mexico, Cancun
November: Delhi, Agra, Shimla
December: Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Venice

Trips 2016 (not clickable)

January: Oxford, Tenerife
February: Hampshire
March: Manchester
April: Sicily, Germany
October: Bangalore, New Delhi
November: Bangalore, New Delhi
December: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

List of trips 2015 (not clickable)

January: European ski resorts; Milan
February: Germany, Austria, Switzerland
March: Istanbul, Jersey, Vienna, Prague, Budapest
April: Road trip Ireland
May: Road trip France, Germany, Benelux and Copenhagen
June: UK luxury hotels
December: Cannes

List of trips 2014 (not clickable)

January Weimar, Vienna
February - Berlin, London
April - Chicago, Toronto, Montreal
May/June - Driving trip, Spain
July – Majorca
July - Paris
August - Southern UK
September – Northern Italy including Venice
October - South of France
October/November - Germany, Austria and Switzerland
December - Cape Town, Durban, driving along Garden Route South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda

List of trips 2013 (not clickable)

  • January - Tenerife
  • March - Istanbul
  • April - Italy luxury hotels - mid and southern Italy including Sicily
  • June - Las Vegas
  • June - Massive west coast road trip - Vancouver, BC
  • June - Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Napa Valley, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Diego
  • September - Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia
  • September - Carolinas, Georgia, northern Florida (Talahassee area)
  • September - New Orleans, Orlando, Miami; Vancouver
  • October - Puglia, Italy and Milan

List of trips 2012

  • January - Hawaii, USA
  • February - France - Le Touquet, Lens, Lille
  • March - Nelamangala, India
  • July - Milan, Italy
  • August - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • August - Iguazu Falls, Brazil
  • August - Montevideo, Uruguay
  • September - Delhi, India
  • November - Dubai, UAE

List of trips 2011

  • January - Madeira, Portugal
  • February - Bangalore, India
  • April - British Virgin Islands, Caribbean
  • May - Sicily, Italy
  • May - San Francisco, USA
  • June - Bangalore and New Delhi, India
  • July - Prague, Czech Republic
  • July - Munich, Germany
  • July - Washington DC, USA
  • August - Lake District, UK
  • September - La Grande-Motte, France
  • Annapolis, USA
  • October - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • December - Helsinki, Finland
  • December - St Petersburg, Russia

List of trips 2010

  • February - India - Kerala & Chennai
  • March - Manchester & the North West
  • March - Austria
  • April - Czech Republic
  • May - Lake District
  • June - Cologne
  • July - India - Bangalore and Delhi
  • August - Eastern Cape & KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
  • September - Grasse, south of France
  • September - Wick, Scotland
  • October - Utah, USA
  • December - Montreal, Canada
  • December - Madeira, Portugal
Olivia Greenway, travel journalist and copywriter
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