Sir Rocco Forte
Sir Rocco Forte is Chairman and Founder of Rocco Forte Hotels, and son of the late hotelier and businessman, Lord Charles Forte.
Established in 1996, the company operates hotels in key European destinations such as London, Edinburgh, Brussels, Florence, Rome, Puglia, Sicily, Munich, Berlin, and St. Petersburg. Rocco Forte House Milan will open in 2024, followed by the highly anticipated Carlton Milan and Costa Smerleda, Sardina, in 2025. Sir Rocco has also revealed plans to further extend the group’s portfolio beyond Europe and build the company’s presence in the US, Middle East and Asian destinations.
A veteran of the hospitality industry, Sir Rocco joined Forte Plc in 1969, becoming CEO in 1983 and Chairman in 1992, when he succeeded his father Lord (Charles) Forte, who founded the company in 1934. During his time at Forte, Sir Rocco had responsibility for more than 800 hotels, 1,000 restaurants and almost 100,000 employees in 50 countries around the world. As Chairman, Sir Rocco Forte significantly expanded the overseas operations of the company, with the acquisition of the Meridien Hotel Group from Air France and further transformed Forte from a UK operation to a multi-million pound business and global entity, encompassing several businesses and hotel brands, including notable iconic properties such as Hotel George V in Paris, Sandy Lane in Barbados, Hotel Ritz in Madrid and Hôtel Plaza Athénée in New York. Forte Plc was sold in 1996 following a hostile take-over bid and has since been broken up.
Sir Rocco was knighted in December 1994 for services to the UK tourism industry and received the highest Italian accolade, the Gran Croce dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, for his entrepreneurial merits and strong links with Italy in March 2005. In 2023, Sir Rocco Forte received the Leonardo International Award in recognition of his efforts in advancing the development of luxury tourism within Italy. The prestigious Leonardo Awards pay tribute to top company representatives and owners in their international roles as ‘ambassadors’ of Italy.
From 1991-1996, he was President of the British Hospitality Association (the main trade body for the UK hotel and catering industry) and has also been an active member of the Executive Committee of the World Travel & Tourism Council.
Born in Bournemouth on 18 January 1945, Sir Rocco was educated at Downside School in England and went on to read modern languages at Pembroke College, Oxford. After graduating, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1969, later becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 1979. Sir Rocco is married to Lady (Aliai) Forte and has three children, Lydia, Irene and Charles.
A keen sportsman, Sir Rocco represented Britain at the World Triathlon Championships in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2007. In July 2005, he participated in his first Iron Man event at Klagenfurt in Austria, finishing 2nd in his category. An accomplished long distance runner, Sir Rocco has completed several marathons raising significant amounts for charity. His other interests include shooting and golf. He and Lady Forte are both Trustees of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Martin Landau
Having qualified as a Chartered Account and spending some years in private practice, Martin became a Director of UK Merchant Bank Guinness Mahon, where he was for several years responsible for their UK and USA Property portfolios. He completed a Management Buy-out in 1986 and the resultant Company was quickly reversed into a UK Listed Company, which following a merger, became Imry Merchant Developers. This was in turn sold to private Investors for a Purchase Price in excess of £325million. He subsequently created a major UK Listed Real Estate Company, Development Securities plc, which carried out some significant commercial developments throughout the UK, notably 1 Curzon St Mayfair and Linklaters HQ in the City of London.
During the last 2 decades he has been actively involved in Commercial Real Estate Development in the UK, several major Cities in Continental Europe and mainland China. In recent times he has been concentrating on prime Hotel projects in UK, Southeast Asia and North Africa.
He has served as a Trustee or Director of several national cultural, arts, and educational bodies in addition to the Barts & Royal London Charitable Foundation.
Alex Polizzi
After reading English at Oxford University, Alex trained at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, worked for Marco Pierre White at the Criterion, helped open various Rocco Forte properties as the company began business and then set up Millers Bakery, with her ex-husband Marcus Miller. The bakery is now a 70,000sq.ft operation supplying most of the five star hotels, restaurants and burger joints in London and across the country.
Before taking over and stamping their mark on Hotel Endsleigh in 2004, Alex, Charlie and Olga Polizzi had already launched Hotel Tresanton at St Mawes in Cornwall in 1998. Alex then became the host of highly acclaimed show, The Hotel Inspector in 2008. With several series of The Hotel Inspector firmly under her belt, Alex's venture The Fixer, hit BBC2 in January 2012. She has now done fourteen years as The Hotel Inspector, and three years of travel shows in Italy and Spain as well as various restaurant programmes for the BBC and Channel 5. In June 2021 Alex opened The Star in Alfriston, the first official joint venture with her mother Olga Polizzi. Channel 5 covered the renovation and opening in ‘Alex Polizzi: My Hotel Nightmare’. This third hotel in The Polizzi Collection is proving to be extremely popular, despite the challenges of opening post-Brexit and during a pandemic!
Last year Alex also worked with LinkedIn and the Department for Business and Trade on a show filmed in New York introducing British businesses to the US market. Alex has just finished filming Series 18 and 19 of Hotel Inspector and spends more and more of her time giving talks on the best practices of customer service to large companies all over the world.
Alex is a trustee of the Landau Forte Academy Trust and of the Brighton based charity, Team Domenica.
Marcus and Alex have two children.
Olga Polizzi
Olga Polizzi is the eldest of the late Lord Forte’s five daughters and is a younger sister to Sir Rocco.
Since 1996, Olga Polizzi has been working with Sir Rocco to build a luxury hotel company, Rocco Forte Hotels, of which she and her brother are the major shareholders. Olga Polizzi is Director of Design at Rocco Forte Hotels and Deputy Chairman of the company.
Prior to the creation of Rocco Forte Hotels, Olga Polizzi was a Main Board Director and Director of Building and Design at Forte plc from 1983 to 1996, when it was taken over by Granada.
Olga was a Westminster Councillor from 1989 to 1994, and was Vice Chairman of Planning. Olga Polizzi is currently on the Council of Edward VII Hospital; Board of the Landau Forte Academies; Board of Fellowship & Honorary Degrees at King's College London; Chairman of The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation; Trustee of The Italian Medical Charity; Trustee of St. Mary’s School Ascot; Trustee Lord Forte Foundation, and is President of The British Italian Society.
Olga Polizzi has three of her own hotels in the West Country – Hotel Tresanton in Cornwall, Hotel Endsleigh in Devon and The Star in Alfriston.
Olga Polizzi is also a director of Miller’s Bespoke Bakery, which she and her daughter Alex Polizzi helped to establish in 1997.
Olga is married to the author William Shawcross; she has two daughters, as well as a step-son and step-daughter.