Glasgow Grand Central hotel boss on his plans for the future

It is here that the 51-year-old new boss of Glasgow's Grand Central can watch visitors and commuters arriving into Scotland’s busiest railway station as the city wakes.

Glasgow born and bred, after 30 years working in hotels across the UK he has returned to his home city to take the reins of one that is steeped in history and nostalgia.

Over its 140-year history the hotel has hosted movie stars including Gene Kelly, Bob Hope and Mae West and former US president John F Kennedy. 

Sean Connery liked it so much he stayed twice while Prince Philip dined on the city's finest French cuisine at the hotel's renowned Malmaison restaurant.

“I think this hotel is already deemed as an iconic hotel in the city and for me I think it’s about an evolution and maintaining that position," said Mr Ventisei.

“It’s totally individual, there is no other grande dame. There are lots of beautiful hotels but none with the history of this one.

“Ultimately I really want us to have a hotel that Glaswegians are proud of."

One of his plans for the hotel centres on the former Tempus bar and restaurant which is currently being used as the hotel’s breakfast area.

“It’s quite embryonic but we are excited that we have that space and we have thought about how we can bring that into Glasgow’s restaurant scene," he said.

READ MORE: Grand Central light show marks landmark building's glamorous past 

His team will continue to promote the Grand Central as a special occasion destination and somewhere pleasant for commuters to have a drink and a bite to eat while waiting for a train from Central.

“There are people who come every single week at the same time - I’ve seen that already," he says.

Born in Bailleston, the grandson of an Italian immigrant from Lucca in Tuscany, like many Scots-Italians he had an early introduction to the hospitality trade working in the kitchen of the family's fish and chip shops.

His father also owned a restaurant in Glasgow's west end - Da’Sandros -  and he says the things he learned from working in the family business have stayed with him throughout his career.

“When you work in a family business you develop a high level of conscientiousness for sure - things happen fast," he says.

"You learn the importance of hard work and integrity.

“No matter what hotels I’ve worked in, I think those values always come back to me, whether you are working with ten people or 250.

“I’m very proud of my Scottish-Italian heritage, I think it’s a great combination," says Mr Ventisei who lives in Hamilton, with his wife and four children who are aged from 14 to 22.

After studying hotel management at Queen’s College in Glasgow's west end, then joined De Vere hotels and trained on the job at the Grand Hotel in Brighton.

“It was a great experience because at the time it was probably the leading hotel in the south coast," he says.

He has "lots of stories" from the days hosting Tory party conferences but such is his professionalism he will not share any.

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He remained with the group for eight years before moving to Cheshire to run the spa hotel Mottramhall Hall, a favourite of former footballer Wayne  Rooney. 

Returning to his home city in 2002, he ran the Holiday Inn at Glasgow Airport for four years before moving to Edinburgh to run the Roxburghe (now Kimpton Charlotte Square).

Before taking the job at Glasgow's Grand Central he led Edinburgh City's Doubletree Hilton.

He believes Glasgow will always continue to attract new hotels "because it has so much to offer" but says some of the criticism of the city centre is probably justified.

“One of the things from a tourism point of view that would be good to see is some investment around the presentation of the city," he said.

“To me this is the gateway to Glasgow.

"Buchanan Street is beautiful so it would be nice to see investment in those areas on our front door.”

“If you look at the people arriving into the railway station, the railway station is beautiful, you walk in and there is a sense of arrival but when you step out in the city and before you get to Buchanan Street that sense of arrival is lost.

“I do think there is an opportunity there, in collaboration with the private sector.

“Since the hotel was taken over by IHG there has been £10million of investment including approximately £1million in the past two years maintaining the fabric of the building and we will continue to invest.

“I do think the city has a responsibility to say, how do we add to the visitor experience as people come into the city and not just for visitors, for fellow Glaswegians.

“How do we encourage people to come into the city more often and I think there is an infrastructure investment needed.”

He suggested the hotel and its staff could play a role in improving the look of the city centre.

READ MORE: Family sells hotel that was once part of historic estate 

“We talk about the council’s commitment to improving the area but maybe we can improve the area as well and maybe there are areas we can help clean up and tidy up," said the hotel boss.

“Going back to having the resource and the means, we have over 200 people working in this hotel, we all have a sense of pride and belonging to Glasgow and I think we can tap into that.

“I’ve done it in previous hotels. In Edinburgh we cleaned up the water of Leith, we would do clean-ups in Princes Street Gardens, we took a small area of disused land at the back of the hotel and created a small garden.”

He said the arrival of private members club Soho House in George Square was a sign of confidence in the city from investors. 

“It’s a great experience and it’s good for Glasgow to have something like that," said the manager.

"Any kind of investment in the city making it more leisurely, more lifestyle led, making the city cleaner and more attractive to come into has to be the way forward."

The Grand Central benefitted directly from the UCI World Cycling Championships and the general manager believes major events like this can only be good for the city.

“I understand that for some businesses there may have been some challenges but looking at the larger picture I think those types of events are fantastic for Glasgow," he said.

“For us as a business, yes we saw benefits. We were one of the hub hotels for the staff so we hosted a lot of people.

“We felt that the guests who were coming to the hotel, to visit Glasgow were quite buoyant about it and from a legacy point of view I think it’s good to have that association with sports and lifestyle and healthy living."

The hotel is known for hosting charitable events and Mr Ventisei said it was something that attracted him to the job.

“That is a sector I really want to keep at the forefront of the job," he said.

“As an industry that is still recovering. We are seeing them coming back but there are not as many.

“A lot of people who work in the hospitality industry, without sounding twee, we actually do care about people so it’s a very natural thing for our industry to do.”

In keeping with this, there are plans to expand the hotel's relationship with Hub International, which delivers free training for people seeking employment in the hospitality industry in the hotel's former Deli.

“They have trained over 500 people in there and there is potential that we may evolve that relationship into some sort of social enterprise," he said.

“What we do should always come down to hospitality, whether it’s the restaurant, the bar or an event," he added.

“Scotland lends itself to that because we are seen as being a hospitable country. 

“It’s about people recognising that the guest in front of them is there for a reason, they are there to feel special and that’s down to us."