PERSONALITIES
WHEN PLAN B fulfills dreams
LUNGARNO COLLECTION CEO ANTONIOLI HAS FERRAGAMO FAMILY ’ S SUPPORT TO GROW THE LUXURY PORTRAIT BRAND .
Contributed by PIPPA ISBELL
His original dream was to be captain of the Starship Enterprise . Undaunted , Valeriano Antonioli , CEO of The Lungarno Collection , still aims to boldly go where no man has gone before — at least in the hotel industry .
In 2012 , after two years with the Florence-based , Ferragamo-owned Lungarno Collection , he realized the group was missing some opportunities and set out to “ create a brand different from everything we knew at that time .” So Portrait Hotels came into being .
Evolving in 2013 from the Portrait Suites in Rome and opening in Florence in 2014 , Antonioli calls the brand bespoke tourism and describes it as “ transforming uniform luxury into spontaneous personalization .” The idea was that guests should feel that they are staying in a private mansion , with 5-star hotel services , that reflects the city in which it is located . Suites meet their personal needs and desires , and from there they embark on experiences crafted to their lifestyle . Hence the Portrait name . “ A place where the portrait of the city meets the portrait of the guest ,” as Antonioli puts it . He created the Portrait University , which selects , recruits and trains young people as “ lifestyle attendants ” with “ the right attitude , empathy and savoir faire .” Once trained , Antonioli empowers them to “ do and say whatever is right in front of every customer .” Their job is to create a relationship with guests , which sometimes starts a few weeks before arrival .
Hotels have two attendant teams : one international and multilingual for guests , the majority of whom come from the United States and Canada but also the U . K ., Italy , Russia , the Middle East and Asia . The second team is local to Rome or Florence and know their city inside-out . Both are salesaware , knowledgeable and independent .
Antonioli is proud of the very personal relationships that are created and tells the story of a guest at Portrait Firenze who asked about a jogging path because he was training for the New York City Marathon . Two lifestyle attendants trained with him while he was in Florence and ended up
18 hotelsmag . com September 2018