The end of an era...

I was very sad to see the news today that Lord Forte had passed away.

One of my first forays into the hospitality business was with Forte...or THF (Trusthouse Forte - a rather old history of the company is found here) as it was then known (now I'm showing my age!!!)

Lord Forte was a hotelier of the old-fashioned variety and the hotels he originally purchased showed that. Unfortunately the company grew out of control and was represented at too many different levels of the industry which confused the public...Little Chef road side cafes to the George V in Paris...was just too great a variety for his corporate organisation.

They really don't make hoteliers in the same mold anymore!