There’s no question that 2020 has been a year of mixed fortunes for most people involved in the hospitality and hotel industries world-wide. For leading international travel brand The Travel Corporation (TTC) and ‘family brand member’ Red Carnation Hotels (RCH), the tough year has been balanced out but a few bright lights.
Not only are TTC and Red Carnation celebrating 100 years of Hospitality in 2020, but RCH founder and president, Beatrice (Bea) Tollman has received the prestigious, ‘best in the industry’ Corporate Hotelier of the World award from the premier US hotel industry magazine HOTELS, “for her dedication, endless energy and creation of an admired hotel portfolio”. No mean feat for a woman who started out her life in hospitality in Johannesburg.
Red Carnation’s history began when her husband Stanley’s father, Solomon Tollman, opened in August 1920, a small hotel in Paternoster on South Africa’s west coast. Smuggled out of the Russian Empire aged 14 years to escape military service under the Czar, and with nothing but a few gold Roubles stitched into his clothing, Solomon began his ‘hospitality journey’. After escaping by train to England, he bought a ticket to board the steamship Braemer Castle and first laid eyes on the summit of Table Mountain a month later in 1911. Here in Cape Town, he befriended a number of prominent local farmers, entrepreneurs and expats. Just nine years later, he had accumulated enough friends to open his first property, The Paternoster Hotel. As a result of Solomon’s hard work and personal oversight, The Paternoster rose to fame for its hospitality. A few hotels and a move to Johannesburg later, Solomon’s son Stanley, TTC chairman and inspiration for the Red Carnation Hotels name, was born.
Fast forward a few years, and enter Beatrice (Bea), whom Stanley met in Johannesburg in 1950. Across the many years Bea and Stanley ran numerous hotels, first in South Africa and, since 1984, from their London headquarters.
Hard work and dedication to service excellence has been the couple’s calling since they leased their first hotel in 1954, The Nugget in Johannesburg, using wedding present money to furnish the property. At age 22, Beatrice, who initially intended to become a nursery school teacher, was a novice running her own kitchen and learning the ins and outs of luxury hotelkeeping.
“Bea” has always run the family home, brought up four children and worked day and night to build the family business. She talks about working on the evening she delivered her fourth child, Vicki, and how she had to ask a friend to drive her to the hospital because Stanley was working elsewhere. She delivered the baby and was back working in her sanctuary, the kitchen, no more than a few days later wearing her white overalls, hair tied up, standing behind the long counter to taste everything on the menu.
Beatrice Tollman, who has been called ‘the gold standard for excellence’, is dedicated to her craft and has an unwavering determination to deliver the best of everything. For the founder and president of the Red Carnation Hotels Collection, hotelkeeping is a 24/7 love affair.
Today, Bea (now in her 80s) and 90-year-old Stanley, own and operate a collection of 20 luxury hotels in the U.K. and Europe, South Africa (including The Oyster Box, where the couple had their first date), the United States and Botswana.
To this day, the two are never apart. “You have your ups and downs in business, but you stick together, face everything and you just work with a determination,” says Tollman. “And I suppose that’s the most important thing, the determination and creating high standards. It has been a very, very busy life. But you don’t realize how much you can do in your life. You can’t complain; you just get on with it and do it. We’ve worked this way for many years.”
When Tollman is not in the kitchen, she is usually touring the properties, making sure staff training is ongoing and is focused on service delivery. Many general managers have been with the group for more than 20 years.
Respect has also been a key to Bea Tollman’s success. “You have to respect the people you work with and who work with you,” she says. “I treat everybody with respect, no matter who they are or what they are because everybody has to earn a living.”
Amongst her other passions are her dogs, who keep her company as she still works long hours. “I’m always working. I’m always in my office,” Tollman says. “I read every report every day and answer every guest comment. So, I can’t get out of my office… It’s in my blood because it’s so important when you want to make high standards in a business. You’ve got to watch everything and that’s a lot to watch.”
For more about the 100 Years of Hospitality https://ttc.com/100/
