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Q+A: Grace Leo, Part I

(May / June 2011) posted on Thu Jun 30, 2011

The founder of G.L.A. Hotels, who designed Hotel Jules shown here, talks about the evolution of her design philosophy and what designers can do to get noticed.


By Mary Scoviak

click an image below to view slideshow

Grace Leo has built a career on knowing when to break the rules. It started in 1981, when the young Hong Kong native parlayed a degree from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration into a position overseeing Warwick Hotels International’s expansion from Asia to North America and Europe. In 1986, she launched her Paris-based management, development and marketing company, G.L.A. Hotels (which stood for Grace Leo-Andrieu, a surname she changed after her divorce), going against advice from all quarters that the move was “crazy.” Big-name chains ruled the hotel world then, but she saw a major opportunity for unique, style- and service-led boutique hotels. Clearly, she’s been proven right, having built out her portfolio to more than 24 properties worldwide and created marketing alliances with Taj Hotels and Morgans Hotel Group. Here, the first lady of boutique hotels talks about fashion, fads and what makes a hotel fantastic.

BD: Your father was a businessman in Hong Kong whose investments included The Astor on Kowloon, which means you grew up with hotel operations. When did you start to see the importance of the design side?

Leo: Even at Cornell, I was always interested in the design, but there was little opportunity at the time to learn more. When I landed a job with Warwick and moved to Paris, the group was buying up tired hotels that needed renovation. I was confronted with design on a pragmatic level. At the time, the function of interior design was about making the hotel look pretty, not about creating a marketable identity. I really saw what style could do when Ian Schrager opened Morgans Hotel in New York and used the French designer Andrée Putman. That property was modern, sleek, ahead of its time. I was inspired to do the same in Europe.

BD: How did you define what your boutique hotels would be?


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