| Frequent Traveller, Peter de Savary | | Print | |
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Page 2 of 2 "The island is largely untouched by mass tourism, the people are among the friendliest you could hope to meet," says Mr de Savary. "At the moment I’m spending about three weeks out of every four in Grenada," he says. "In all I’m probably taking about 15 flights a months, not by any means all in the Caribbean. In a typical month I may do, say, four or five trips within Western Europe, two or three returns across the Atlantic and five or six flights within the Caribbean region." In fact he and his senior executives are travelling around the Caribbean so much that Mr de Savary keeps a private 13 seat turbo-prop lane, known as "Nutmeg One", together with two pilots and a stewardess on standby in Grenada ready to take off at a moment’s notice. Private planes play a big part in his travel plans elsewhere in the world, too. "I tend to use private jets whenever I’m travelling anywhere reasonably short-haul in Europe, the United States or the Caribbean," he says. "The alternative, which is the hassle of passing through airports the normal way is just too stressful. I like to be able to just turn up at the private terminal and 10 minutes later be in the air." And what about when Mr de Savary travels long-haul and there is no private jet available, I wonder. Which class of travel does he chose and which airlines provide a suitable alternative to private planes? "I’ve never flown economy in my life," says Mr de Savary, and even if there is a decent business class available he would clearly prefer to travel in first class. "If I’m travelling across the Atlantic from the UK I tend to choose British Airways or Virgin Atlantic," he says."But I find Air France is an excellent option if I’m travelling from my house in France. They also allow me to take my pet dog into the cabin with me. He travels in a special carrying case I bought for him at Harrods." And what about hotels? Being an expert in the luxury end of the hotel business, how does he go about choosing one to stay in? "There are lots of things which annoy me about hotels but there are plenty which really are very good indeed," says Mr de Savary. "I love staying at The Ritz in Paris. It’s really good, so good that I wrote to Mohammed Al Fayed to tell him so. I have stayed there a number of times and I haven’t had a bad room yet, they really look after me." Generally though, what Mr de Savary wants from a hotel during a business trip is a decent bed where he can get a good night’s sleep and prompt room service. "I’m not a big fan of hotel restaurants. Instead I want really good room service, preferably able to deliver my food within 30 minutes. As a cigar smoker – "I probably get through eight to 12 a day" – he would also like hotels to provide somewhere where guests can go for a smoke without running foul of the anti-smoking legislation now found in many countries. Another thing that annoys him, and he is certainly not alone in this, is the practice of some hotels of not allowing you check in until, say, 3pm. "If I arrive in Europe after a transatlantic flight, I may well be touching down at 7.30am, I need somewhere to go and have a shower and change before my meeting, I can’t wait until mid-afternoon before I can get into my hotel room."
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