'It's so easy to have love affairs with hotels'

RICHARD Thomason is sitting in one of his hotels and talking about love. It is probably not the first time the subject has been raised in the opulent surroundings of this penthouse room overlooking Lord's cricket ground in north-west London. But it is probably the first time that someone has discussed being in love with a building.

The chief executive of Jarvis Hotels is discussing whether his company should enter the international arena. 'To be successful you must have critical mass and you must understand the culture,' he says. 'Otherwise you are just buying one, two or three hotels overseas and you could be accused of having a love affair.' Pardon?

'It is easy to have love affairs with hotels,' he continues before adding hastily, 'I don't. I seriously do not have love affairs with hotels. They are just bricks and mortar with character.'

Jarvis has 69 such hotels, many of which are under the global Ramada brand. Thomason, 51, was a founding partner of Jarvis in 1990, and has been in the hotel business for 33 years. But he seems pleased, if unsurprised, to have recently landed the job of chief executive.

'The role is a new dimension for me within the company,' he says. 'It gets to the point where you want to set the strategy. I would not have enjoyed it otherwise.'

This is said with a determination at odds with his relaxed and smiling demeanour. Thomason is obviously one of those driven types and he admits that his wife has taken up golf so she can see more of him.

'I've always been someone who liked to achieve and to go at speed,' he says. 'I don't like anything in my life to be at a slow pace - apart from golf. Hotels are by nature fast-moving. When they're fast and fun, they work.'

'Timing is everything'
In 1990, when he received the call from chairman John Jarvis to join the fledgeling company, Thomason had already worked for rivals Hilton, GrandMet and, briefly, Forte.

He says: 'When John came along and said, 'Boy, have I got a deal for you', I couldn't resist it.'

Four years later the venture capital-backed company floated on the stock market, but it had a tough introduction.

'Timing is everything,' he recalls ruefully. 'We started at the height of the boom in July 1990, paying top dollar for hotels. But what John did was to get an experienced team, so though we plunged into an appalling recession, we stayed alive as we got the hotels leaner and meaner.'

Jarvis's timing jinx struck again when it spent heavily on a rebranding programme last August and September. Thomason says: 'On September 10 it seemed like a great idea, and on September 12 it didn't seem so great. But I have worked through a lot of crises that have hit hospitality. When faced with it again, I instinctively know what to do.'

Thomason was flying back to London from Miami on the morning of September 11 and, due to a nearby hurricane, flew over New York in the early hours. 'We landed in London, I went home, turned on the TV and thought I was watching a movie,' he says.

Turnover between October and March fell 11.3%, hitting an industry that had already been pummelled by foot-and-mouth. 'We dropped our average charge for a room by 0.01%, so we stood still,' says Thomason But we should have advanced because we put an awful lot into the business the year before. But there's no value in slashing rates - you've still got your costs.'

'We haven't realised shareholder value'
Jarvis reported a 49% fall in pre-tax profits for the year to March, but present turnover is approaching last year's levels. Unlike many other chief executives, Thomason refreshingly refuses to hide behind September 11 and foot-and-mouth. 'The fact is that much of it is within our control,' he says.

'We haven't realised shareholder value and we're not happy. After last year's results, we agreed to freeze our pay until we deserve otherwise. We can't ask our teams to keep staff levels tight without leading by example.'

What had they done wrong? 'We have not got value from the properties we own,' he says. 'And if you can't do that, you should look at whether you should own the bricks at all.' That's why the company is planning a sale and leaseback programme.

Thomason also plans to turn Jarvis into a 'management services company' that will take over a hotel chain's operating leases on management contracts. And the Jarvis name will disappear as its hotels are rebranded Ramada. 'John's not sensitive,' Thomason says with a smile.

Jarvis has recently attracted the attentions of veteran investor Jack Petchey, who has built up a six% stake. But Thomason is relaxed, seeing Petchey's move as a sign that Jarvis is undervalued by the City rather than the prelude to a takeover bid.

Thomason is one of those people who can instantly read a profit and loss account, a talent shared by his son, who is just about to graduate in economics.

They also share a love of golf and cricket, and Thomason is still obviously excited by the memory of scoring the winning runs for his son's cricket team last year.

However, though he is devoted to his family, one suspects that Jarvis is only just squeezed into second place. 'If I hadn't got the top job, I wouldn't have left because I don't like leaving jobs unfinished,' he says. 'We always said that we'd go overseas when we've got it totally right in the UK. We haven't, so we're not.'