For someone who runs her own hotel business and has been to Buckingham Palace “a few times”, Julia Hands seems remarkably unassuming. Perhaps it is because she is used to her husband Guy Hands, the multimillionaire City financier, occupying the limelight with a succession of landmark deals.
The last time that the Cambridge-educated solicitor went to the Palace was just before Christmas, when she picked up the gong she had been awarded in the Birthday Honours. Some rival hoteliers have been uncharitable enough to suggest that her MBE appointment could be attributed to her husband’s political connections - his best man was William Hague. Mrs Hands is almost coy about the award, suggesting that she does not know why she was put forward.
“I don’t know what the criteria are,” she says. “You never get to see the nomination form. It’s very opaque. As a company we put a lot of emphasis on training, reputation and good practice. We’ve won awards for our good practice as a business and a lot of awards for our hotels generally. We were named AA hotel group of the year after three years. I’ve won a few awards personally. I imagine it’s what we’ve done as a group.”
To date, her focus has been on upgrading the former Arcadian and Virgin hotels that she and her husband bought eight years ago for a total of almost £100million, creating Hand Picked Hotels. The £70million invested in the past six years on the fourteen hotels that have been kept has been reflected not only in financial performance but also in the quality rating of the properties, most of which merit highly regarded AA red stars rather than the basic black stars they used to have.
Turnover in the year to the end of November should be about £50million, up from £45million last year. Comparable turnover in 2001, when Mrs Hands took over the running of the business from a third-party management company, was about £36million. Profits over the same period have roughly doubled and this year the group is expected to deliver earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of about £11million. Room occupancy was slightly more than 67 per cent and the achieved room rate exceeded £100.
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Mrs Hands has not turned off the capital expenditure tap, having earmarked a further spend of £15million over the next three years. Nine capital projects are planned across seven of the fourteen hotels, including the addition of further bedrooms. By the time that the next tranche of bank finance has been drawn down, Hand Picked will have more than £100million of debt on its balance sheet.
Yet in a marked change of policy, Hand Picked Hotels is also seeking to expand through acquisition. Mrs Hands, who is the chairman and chief executive, says that although she has been approached from time to time about possible deals since the Arcadian and Virgin transactions in 1999, it is only now that she feels ready to add properties.
“We’re hungry now, and perhaps the market is going in our favour, too,” she says. “The property market over the past three or four years has been so unfavourable in terms of the prices we were willing to pay. It was partly that and partly because we were developing the existing hotels in our portfolio. The market is now beginning to soften and more is coming on to the market that would interest us.”
The mother of four, 47, who spent ten years with Linklaters after reading classics and law at King’s College, Cambridge, says that her target is to reach about 20 hotels in the UK, with London, the West Midlands and the Home Counties as the main focus of her search. Mrs Hands expects to spend an average of about £8million for character properties. However, she adds: “We’re flexible. A hotel could cost £12million or it could cost £5million.”
Despite the undoubted grandeur of hotels such as Buxted Park, in East Sussex, and Rookery Hall, in Cheshire, Mrs Hands claims that she is not trying to create upmarket country house hotels. “I don’t like stuffy hotels,” she says. “I really can’t stand white-gloved, hush-hush perfection. I wanted more of a friendly, interactive feel to the hotels.”
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When the Handses decided to invest some of their personal fortune in hotels, the last thing on their minds was for her to run them. Why did she assume executive control when she had no experience?
“The idea was initially that I would become chairman to steer the group and we’d appoint a CEO to run it,” she says. “We did conduct a few interviews but we found nobody who fitted what I was looking for. In the end I said: - Well, I’ll do it.’ It was a bit of a leap in the dark.”
Despite her lack of experience, her husband, who has no involvement in the business, had faith in her abilities. She says: “Guy said I’d make a hell of a lot of mistakes, but that it was no more than anyone else would do.”
Mrs Hands takes a personal interest in the Hand Picked wine list. She says that she is “broadly” in charge of wine buying and adds: “I work very closely with Bibendum. I did a diploma in wine ten years ago because I had a long-standing interest in the subject.”
She judges wine competitions but has ruled out trying to become a Master of Wine. “I used to think I’d try for it,” she says, “but it’s something you have to apply yourself to totally. It’s not something you can dabble in. You have to study hard.”
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There have been rumours recently that she and her husband have been considering a possible sale of the company. She firmly scotches such a notion.
“Our latest business plan runs for the next five years and I certainly don’t think we’d sell it within the next five years,” she says. “One day we will. Everything’s got a price and circumstances change. But I think we’ve got a lot we can do with the group to grow it both organically and through acquisition.”