Member Article

A Canadian man in Newcastle

Canada’s Gaglardi family have built a formidable hospitality empire through their Northland Properties Group. 49 Sandman Inn hotels, and 140 restaurants - including iconic US diners Denny’s and Moxie’s classic Grill.

In 2009 the family acquired former Scottish & Newcastle Brewery head office in Newcastle’s Gallowgate and established the Sandman Signature hotel and Shark Club Gastro Bar. It was the first international foray for the firm, and family member Mitch Gaglardi was packaged off to the North East to establish the outpost.

Bdaily recently called Mitch just as the Sandman’s lobby was being used in the shooting of a new film. A new revenue stream for the hotel perhaps?

“You know what, the fees are fairly nominal and there is some disruption to our guests, but when the film comes out, people enjoy saying ‘oh I was in that hotel when that was shot’ and it brings a kind of sex appeal to it,” says Mitch in a hushed tone so as not to disturb proceedings.

Newcastle’s hotel offering has significantly widened since the Gaglardi’s set up shop next to St James’ Park, but Mitch is really pleased with their growth.

He explains: “The city has absorbed probably around 13,000 rooms in the last few years but we’ve captured more market share. It’s kind of surprising given that we don’t have an indigenous brand per se. We have a name in Canada that nobody knows.

“I’ve always had a lot of faith in the Newcastle market.”

When Mitch arrived in Newcastle four years ago, he felt something was wrong. He saw a great market and not enough hotel rooms.

“It was ‘under-bedded’ as we say in the business. The four star offers weren’t sensational, and I thought I was missing something. Around the time we actually bought the place, there was a lot of trepidation. I go through life thinking I’m not the smartest guy in the room and I was sure there was something I hadn’t cottoned on to.

“I was coming over at short notice as we were preparing plans and would often ring round hotels only to hear: ‘we’re fully booked.’ They could never understand why this whacko on the other end of the phone was really excited about that.

“As it happens I got lucky and I was the first to realise the potential the market had. All of a sudden there was four or five hotels being built.”

The Group had originally eyed up Gateshead’s Baltic Business Quarter as a home before the financial crash, but when the idea subsided, NewcastleGateshead Initiative lead Mitch et al to Newcastle.

As a relatively unknown brand, Sandman found it challenging to establish themselves in the North East.

He continues: “It was a bit of a detriment to us. We had a lot of public support, particularly as we didn’t destroy the old Scottish & Newcastle building. But, that doesn’t necessarily help to fill rooms.

“Our style of North American service has helped us out, and we’ve played on this.

“We’re very occupancy driven so we needed to get people in to feel and experience the product so they would go away and tell their friends.

“We had a sales team that was bigger and more aggressive than we would typically have in Canada. There we have our own brand of 49 properties - equivalent to the likes of Malmaison and Du Vin here. People know what they’re getting when they walk into a Malmaison but if they opened a Malmaison Toronto, it probably wouldn’t do much for them, until the name was there.”

Outside of work, Mitch says he finds the North East as a real “gem.” Having spent his life across the world, including stints in Canada, Italy and London, Mitch says he has gained a new perspective on the British and finds North Easterners “sensational.”

Now the next project beckons, and the Gaglardi’s turn their attention to further UK expansion.

Mitch continues: “There’s lots of potential. Scotland looks really good and we’ve been trying to crack that nut for a while. Manchester and Belfast are also looking interesting.

“We’re above budget and everything is really rosey. Now we want to get out there aggressively. We always knew Newcastle would do well, but we’ve proved that, and its time to move our product into markets in the rest of the UK.”

So, what has Mitch observed of the UK hospitality industry?

“Hotel owners and operators should have a more connected lobby. We’ve been trying to support that and develop the infrastructure of it. Stronger links between hotels and in the tourism industry in general will always help,” says Mitch.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .