EP Perspective September 2016

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: THE CAPITAL
and more. He has an eye on two or three
new deals as we talk.
David’s story began in Glasgow where he
grew up. In those days, his parents wanted
him to take on a traditional profession and
were resistant to his entering the hotel
industry which they believed was a very
difficult career path to achieve success. From
their perspective, they believed that the
leading players in the industry were Italian,
French and German and very few from
Britain attained the highest levels.
But David was unperturbed. He began his
career with British Transport Hotels before
moving south to take over the Royal Oak pub
in Berkshire. This was a turning point for
David as it gave him the belief that he could
make money and nurtured his love for
business. The pub cost him £15,000 and
he made the same in profit in the first year.
His dream though was a five-star London
hotel and this is where his attention turned
to The Capital, in the heart of Knightsbridge,
which celebrates its 45th birthday this
year. He has developed a legacy that he has
handed over to his daughter, Kate (pictured
opposite with David), to run. “I created
a boutique hotel with 50 rooms and a nice
restaurant – the word ‘boutique’ was not
a known term in those days as it is today,
but in some ways that was the aim; to create
something high quality and personal.
Everyone said, ‘Don’t do it, it won’t work.’
The 70s were a tough trading environment
but I believed that customers wanted
something different.”
Levin was Restaurateur of the Year in
1991 and Hotelier of the Year in 1994, while
The Capital was the Good Hotel Guide’s
London Hotel of the Year in 2008 and was
awarded Most Excellent Hotel Restaurant
the same year by Condé Nast Johansens.
Most hotels focus on the rooms but the
key here has been the food. At first, The
Capital was seen as a restaurant with rooms
rather than a hotel and David was relaxed
about this perception as he knew that a great
restaurant would bring in the guests.
It is an interesting thought as so many
hotels today view food and beverage as
their weakness and seek to outsource the
operations. However, David’s success began
with food and one can see that food has been
central to David’s philosophy throughout.
The restaurant was one of the first hotel
eateries to be awarded a Michelin star, and it
gained its second in 2001. In the intervening
years, Levin has nurtured the careers of
great chefs including Brian Turner, Gary
Rhodes, Richard Shepherd and Paul
Merrett. Today the hotel boasts ‘Outlaws’,
which is an alliance with Nathan Outlaw.
It is also fascinating to try and understand
what makes one great hotelier different
to another and one of the great fascinations
about the sector is that each is often so very
22 | Perspective | September 2016