Franco Ostuni at the World Travel Awards
The Caleta: Moving with the Times
interview | Mike Brufal
This month Mike Brufal speaks to Franco Ostuni, executive director and general manager of the Caleta Hotel, about his role at the hotel, the changing face of tourism on the Rock and plans to build a 5-star bijou hotel and serviced apartments within the footprint of the existing hotel’s site. Making of a Hotelier Franco Ostuni, 46, was born in Brindisi, Milan and moved as a child to Rome. At age 14, when faced with a choice of what to study for the next five years, Franco had no problem choosing as he had already decided his career would be in hotel management. He spent three years at the School of Tourism, followed by two years studying for a Master’s diploma in tourism at Brindisi Istituto Professionale Alberghiero di Stato. During the long summer holiday, students were offered work experience in a variety of hotels in Europe. In 1988 he went to the Holiday Inn, Strasbourg which stands opposite the European Parliament; the next year it was the Holiday Inn, Paris and in 1990 the Holiday Inn, Bavaria. By the age of 19 he had first hand experience of every aspect of hotel work, from scouring the pots and pans to working in reception. In 1991 Franco moved to the UK and joined Thistle Hotels where his first job was restaurant
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manager at the hotel at Brand’s Hatch followed by the same position at the Bedford Arms, a 16th century coaching inn, at Woburn, where he was promoted to food and beverages manager with responsibility for bars, kitchen and room service — in effect everything that involved food and drink. During his two years at this inn he was promoted to deputy manager. He was moved in 1996 as deputy general manager to the Royal Scots hotel in central
The Caleta Hotel has an 80% merit score which is the highest on the Rock. If London is used as a benchmark, of 200 hotels rated four star only 15% receive an 80% merit score
London. This was one of the largest Thistle Group hotels in London and is now the Islington Thistle. Two years later he was appointed general manager of this hotel. The previous year he had married a girl from Brindisi, and his marriage had made him consider moving to a sunnier clime. In 1999 he read an advertisement in the Caterer and Hotel Keeper, the bible of the hotel industry, for a general manager at the Caleta Hotel and, although he knew next to nothing about Gibraltar or its tourism industry, Tim Turner, a close friend who had been general manager of the Eliott Hotel was so enthusiastic about life on the Rock, that he had no hesitation in applying. A three day visit and a meeting with chairman Brian Callaghan resulted in him accepting the job and taking command in July that year. The Caleta Hotel — moving ahead On arrival Franco decided a change was needed and, while not forgetting the past, it was time to move ahead and prepare for the
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • JANUARY 2014