| Sir Rocco Forte | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 18, 1945 Bournemouth, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Hotelier |
Sir Rocco Forte (born 18 January 1945) is a British hotelier born in Bournemouth.
After Downside School he went on to read modern languages at Pembroke College, Oxford,[1] where he won a blue for fencing. He is the son of the late Lord Forte from whom he took over as CEO of the Forte Group in 1992.
In 1983, in Rome, he married Aliai Ricci, a seventeen year old Italian, daughter of a psychiatrist.
In the mid-Nineties, the Forte Group was faced with a hostile takeover bid from Gerry Robinson's Granada. Ultimately, Granada succeeded with a £3.87 billion tender offer in August 1995 that left the family with around £350 million in cash.
In 2001, following the de-merger of Compass Group from Granada's media interests, the use of the Forte trademark was returned to Forte in a gesture intended to dispel the bitter legacy of the takeover.
After the takeover, Forte set up his own chain of hotels - initially known as RF Hotels and re-branded as The Rocco Forte Collection after the return of the Forte brand name. He bought the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh and Brown's Hotel, London for £51.5m. The Rocco Forte Hotels group now operates 11 luxurious hotels around Europe, with three more to open within the period 2008-2009.
Forte's family wealth in 2006 was listed as £385,000,000.
Forte funded a series of lectures at Westminster Cathedral in April 2008 organised by Cardinal Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. The first of these was given by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who launched his "faith foundation" there. Later, Forte was reported to have criticised Blair for passing anti-Catholic legislation.[2]
His niece is Alex Polizzi, a hotelier and the presenter of Five's the Hotel Inspector.