Leading Stories

FINDING PARADISE

After 120 years, Hotel Eden is still an idyll in Rome. Marcel Levy invited Leader’s Gina McAdam to see for herself.

There is a real joy killing time parading up and down the Via Condotti in Rome. Beautiful things inspire beautiful thoughts. Caressing silk, stroking leather, you will renew your faith in human creativity, imagination and spending power.

Autumn in the Eternal City was proving such a boon to the senses; even window shopping felt like a glamorous treat. Temperatures seeking no more than a light shawl over bare shoulders; tourists aplenty, to be sure, but only in polite clusters.

This visit was not to imbibe the splendour and drama of Rome’s unrivalled monuments. We’d done our version of the Grand Tour. No, my companions were here to pay serious homage to the luxury brand, and they finally found their catharsis in the Palazzo Fendi on Largo Goldolini. I, on the other hand, was in Rome for an entirely different fix.

A leading hotel

The Hotel Eden floats like a cloud above the city. Six elegant stories of classical Italian architecture poised at the summit of the Spanish Steps in the historic Ludovisi district, the hotel marked its 120th anniversary in 2009. Paradise ad infinitum -- in 2007, Hotel Eden was named Prix Villegiature’s Best Hotel in Europe.

Although I’d only known of the hotel by name before, subliminally I must have always associated it with the rich, famous and cultured. History – the hotel’s, that is -proved me right. Everyone who is anyone has stayed at the Hotel Eden, from true blue to Tinseltown royalty, Sigmund Freud to Margaret Thatcher. It’s also perfectly placed for the Via Condotti.

Meeting Marcel Levy

Two weeks before my trip to Rome, Mark Norris, CEO of Profile, had suggested it might be worth paying a visit to Hotel Eden so we could feature his old friend, the cosmopolitan and erudite Marcel Levy, in the next issue of Leader.

I have since learned that the Managing Director of Hotel Eden is a transplanted Frenchman with the adaptable soul of a Roman. His wife is an Italian doctor, so in a sense they have come home. As a younger man, Levy’s first GM posting was at a hotel across from the United Nations headquarters in New York. It remains his most memorable experience. Before then, he’d never seen so many celebrities and politicians in such a short space of time. He quickly grew used to dealing with the great and the good.

Before he took over the running of Hotel Eden in 1999, Levy’s career followed the trajectory of the elite hotelier: postings in global and exotic cities, a stint on a tropical island. One profession’s loss is another one’s gain – the alternative was to become a lawyer in the footsteps of a successful uncle whose clients were mainly hotel companies. Today he says his greatest influences are his peers, hoteliers all: George Rafael, Bernard Lambert, Jean-Jacques Gauer, Roeland Vos, Reto Witwer and Jean Gabriel Peres.

A noble invitation

In truth, I did not see Marcel Levy in Rome. He was away celebrating his birthday on the night we would have met, but nonetheless my companions and I were invited to sample Chef Adriano Cavagnini’s haute cuisine at the celebrated La Terrazza dell’Eden.

Would they show us to Fellini’s favourite table, I wondered?

We arrived at the hotel entrance at the appointed time, dipping under a canopy shaped like the chic peak of a lady’s hat. The lobby was bright, sumptuous yet restrained, filled with impeccably chosen antique furniture and painted landscapes. It whispered good taste.

Culinary temple

As we stepped out of the lift on to the sixth floor, a smiling attendant stood ready to whisk away our capes and coats. We were told the maitre d’ at La Terrazza had been waiting for us before we were ushered to our table like movie stars. Now that is the language of good service.

A bottle of Louis Roederer Vintage Rose appeared unexpectedly, an aperitif to help one admire the view of the Seven Hills? Here’s the Piazza Venezia; there the Vatican. How I wish our host had been with us! But I imagined his ghost everywhere in this glamorous and exhilarating room with a view.

My companions, both wine aficionados, were beside themselves. Sipping our champagne, we happily ordered from the a’la carte menu. I chose a starter of sea bass carpaccio while Lulu and Lyn had generous portions of lobster foi gras. As a main course, I relished the swordfish with barley and artichokes; they savoured their fillet of veal and steak. Each dish took us deeper into the Mediterranean. We appreciated the silent choreography that ensured our glasses remained filled at all times and our plates never hurried away. Our verdict: one of the best dinners any of us could remember.

Privileged access

There was more to come. Back downstairs in the lobby, we were met by Assistant Front Office Manager Marco, who returned us via private lift to the sixth floor. We stepped into the sleek Penthouse Suite, a 200-square meter, two-bedroom emblem of Levy’s stylish regime.

Art deco features mingled with classical touches; colours and decorative motifs suggested masculine and feminine counterpoints; the marble bathroom recalled the ancient Roman thermal baths. Interspersed throughout was the latest technology and at the window was another glorious panorama of Rome. We posed for pictures with Marco and wished upon several stars!

Crossing the Piazza di Spagna towards our own hotel at the edge of the Via Condotti, my companions and I couldn’t help reviewing the evening over and over again. Our verdict: flawless.

The thinking man’s hotelier

‘The Hotel Eden is a very fine mix of elegance, history, tradition and old-world service, coupled with modern-day efficiency and personal attention to guests,’ Levy explains. I am calling to thank him for his hospitality and to learn a little more about his world. ‘In truth, all luxury hotels purport to be a home away from home. In my humble opinion, few do it as well as the Eden.’

While speaking to Levy, I am somehow reminded of another sophisticated continental: the Italian poet, lawyer and musician Paolo Conte. Could Levy be the thinking man’s hotelier? His reading list includes Sartre, Barnard-Henri Levy, Proust and Camus. His voice certainly sounds anything but broody, though; it’s warm and smiling.

And he seems to have his feet planted firmly on the ground. He spends time every day with his revenue manager and devotes his afternoons to the prosaic but necessary business of managing figures: forecasts, budgets and sales.

‘For me, the good hotelier is fifty-percent businessman and fifty-percent hotelier,’ he muses. And what of the new generation entering the industry? ‘I don’t really believe in generalisations. Our trade has always attracted all sorts of people, talented and less talented. The new generation may be different in many respects, but I make it a point of learning from them as they learn from me,’ he says.

Can he make any suggestions as to how hoteliers should nurture talent? Levy pauses. ‘Spot the hardest workers, because there is no such thing as talent without hard work, ‘he says, ‘Be open with hopefuls. You should let them know you believe in their ability to progress and you should teach them by example. Explain to them why you want things to be done in a particular way, and listen and discuss if they disagree with you. Empower those who are willing and able to make their own decisions, but redirect them if they go wrong. Never stifle.’

I remember the quiet confidence of his staff at La Terrazza, and Marco’s natural flair for presentation during our Penthouse tour.

A wish come true

In Levy’s world, former employees never really leave. ‘Once people move on to other hotels, keep in touch and show interest in their career development. The hotel world is a small one, and people who have gained experience elsewhere are assets that may be rehired one day.’

Perhaps he may choose to crossover to another line of business one day?
‘Is there a world outside hotels?’ he laughs. ‘Seriously, I never had a dull moment in my professional life. I never wished for anything else than to run luxury hotels in great cities.’

Judging from what we glimpsed in Rome and at the Hotel Eden, Marcel Levy got his wish – and it’s a world of grace and beauty.

To find out more about the Hotel Eden, including La Terrazza dell’ Eden, visit their website at www.edenroma.com .