Londoner Olivia Byrne and her brother opened the Eccleston Square Hotel five years ago, which they renovated and converted together. Byrne comes from a family of hoteliers and gets a few tips from her father, which she is happy to pass on to us in the interview.
FACES: How many stars does your hotel have on Tripadvisor?
Olivia Byrne: I don’t really know! However, we are ranked 145th out of all the hotels in London, which I am incredibly happy about. But I really want to be in the top 100.
F: What do you do on a normal working day?
OB: Everything, actually. (laughs) My brother and I split the work between us. He mainly takes care of the maintenance of the hotel, I look after the guests, organize the events, take care of the staff and marketing and basically everything administrative. On a normal day, everything can come together: Shifts at reception, housekeeping, the website…
F: What qualities are important for your job?
OB: Communication and organization, plus managing employees. It is important that everyone in the team pulls in the same direction and shares the same vision.
F: How many employees work with you?
OB: 20 people. They are all divided into different teams: Reception, Sales, Kitchen, Waiters… It’s important for me to respond to their needs and also to be a support when someone has problems at home. After all, employees are not robots.
F: Your father is also a hotelier. Does he give you tips?
OB: Of course! But in that typical father manner. (laughs) I learned from him that you should always tackle a problem immediately and deal with it straight away. Even if you are a little scared or don’t have time to take care of it at the moment, you should do it anyway. A frontal attack, so to speak.
F: That’s good advice! But let’s be honest: as the daughter of a hotelier, have you ever had a chance not to get into the hotel business yourself?
OB: Probably not. (laughs) But I loved working in my father’s hotels right from the start – even if I only accompanied the service staff and was probably more in their way than actually helping them. When I was a bit older, I asked my father about the things I noticed in the hotel that I would improve. My father looked at me and said: “That’s your calling! You have to do that!”. And then the case was clear. He would have supported me in anything I chose as a career, but my heart has always been in the hotel business. It’s my passion!
F: You attach great importance to the comfort of your guests and have numerous features ready for them. Which are your favorites?
OB: I love the bed! It’s so important to sleep in a good bed – and Hästens beds are simply brilliant. Before we equipped our hotel with these beds, we bought our own for home. And I’ll never give that away again! (laughs)
F: Unbelievable that beds can change a life!
OB: Oh yes, they do! Your sleep is simply much deeper. The only disadvantage: I find it even harder to get up in the morning.
F: You also use tablets and numerous electronic features in the rooms. Is it necessary to have so many gadgets?
OB: These are not gimmicks that we offer. We wanted to have the best bed in the world and the most brilliant 3D TV, and it was also important to us that the guest could do and choose as much as possible via our app and their own tablet. This makes a visit to us all the more pleasant. When we opened in 2011, we were one of the first to place so much emphasis on technology. When I visit conferences and trade fairs these days, everything is full of gadgets and gimmicks – in the hotel industry, new technologies are a huge trend at the moment!
F: You also lived in Gstaad. How would you describe the differences to your home in London?
OB: The speed is much higher in London. Everything has to go fast: the food, the traffic, life… London has so much energy and is so inspiring and vibrant. I think the two cities are absolute opposites. When you come to Gstaad from London, you know: Here you can drive down and relax. For me, it’s great that I can commute between the two countries and pick the best from both cities.
F: Would you want to come back to Switzerland?
OB: I’m not ruling it out, maybe later. I can’t imagine growing old in London, there’s just too much going on here. Switzerland is my emotional home, so yes, maybe I’ll come back one day.
F: Will you tell us your favorite places in London?
OB: I spend most of my time in the city center. I love Soho, this part is so interesting and also a bit crazy. New restaurants and bars are constantly opening here. That’s what I love so much about London. It’s like many small villages coming together to form a town. I live in Pimlico and visit the market every Saturday, where the same farmers always sell their vegetables. I feel comfortable, safe and at home here. But London is incredibly big, it can feel like it takes years to get from one place to another.
F: Which restaurants are your favorites?
OB: Borough Market itself and the restaurants around it, although it can be very crowded at weekends. There are so many great places, I can hardly decide for myself!
“London is like many small villages coming together to form a city.”
F: What do you love most about London?
OB: In London, you can be and do whatever you want. No matter what nationality or culture you belong to, it doesn’t matter here.
F: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
OB: Have more self-confidence! When I was younger, it was so important to me that people thought well of me. Today, I don’t care, and my job has probably brought me to where I am today in terms of character. Of course, it was difficult at the beginning to carry so much responsibility on my shoulders, but that’s exactly what helped me to grow up faster and not see my teenage worries quite so narrowly.
F: Would you recommend your job to others?
OB: It depends on who you are. Being a hotelier involves an incredible amount of responsibility and stress, you really have to want it.
F: You’re incredibly young for a hotelier. What do you say to people who underestimate you because of your age?
OB: When people, and especially the members of my team, see that I don’t just give orders and have them carried out, but that I sometimes wipe the floor myself on my knees, they see me as the boss and respect me. And it is important not to be afraid of difficult situations and to show strength. If you have to dismiss someone, for example, you have to do it because it’s the best thing for the team. This is the only way to get the respect you need in this business, even as a young person.
F: And when you have some time between all your commitments, how do you spend it?
OB: I go to the gym, or at least I try to. (laughs) I go out with friends, to restaurants and bars, or I travel.
F: You have been running the hotel together with your brother for five years. Aren’t you bored with your work?
OB: No, because we still have so many plans. I am also constantly learning new things, and this process is far from over. In terms of the hotel, we want to get the most out of it before we go one step further and perhaps open a second one. But I definitely want to do it together with my brother.
Eccleston Square Hotel
The hotelier gene is in Olivia Byrne’s blood – after all, her English father ran two hotels in Paris. It was clear early on that her daughter also wanted to get into the business, so the family bought a small budget hotel in the middle of London. Olivia took the restoration into her own hands and 9 million pounds later, the Eccleston Square Hotel was up and running. Tablet-controlled lighting, beds from Swedish manufacturer Hästens, HD 3D TVs – this is the place to be. There are 39 rooms in three categories to choose from, with a double room starting at 210 pounds per night. Eccleston Square Hotel, 37 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1PB, United Kingdom, www.ecclestonsquarehotel.com