Red Carnation Hotel Managers Reveal London Insider Travel Tips

Red Carnation Hotels are historic British buildings in significant London locations.

London’s Milestone Hotel, one of the prestigious Red Carnation boutique properties, offers 43 rooms and 13 suites across from Kensington Palace and down the street from the famed Harrods Department store.

Crossing the cozy lobby, I veered slightly left at a big bouquet of carnations, and then made another left into the newly renovated, dark wood-paneled Stables Bar.

I found it to be a sophisticated series of rooms with green leather banquettes, tartan-clad soft furnishings, and equestrian artwork embracing and celebrating the original use of the space where guests now sidle up to the bar instead of saddling up on horses.

I encountered two dashing gentlemen champing at the bit, in jackets and ties, amidst the subtle, yet dramatic uplighting, which included what passes for sunshine in London, spilling in from a skylight.

Andrew Pike is managing director of the Milestone Hotel and Egerton House Hotel, where his colleague, Dean Sparrow, serves as general manager of the cozy quarters in Knightsbridge, closer to Harrods and near enough for him to have walked over to the Milestone for our meeting.

Had it been evening, I am quite sure resident Bar Manager Angelo Lo Greco would have used his mixology skills to smoke each of us a scotch whisky, as “TNTs” (tiny, little touches) are the dynamite, personal way Red Carnation Hotel staffers make guests feel special.

As it was mid-morning, it would be spring water for me to wash down the perfectly satiating traditional English breakfast, including black pudding, which I had savored only an hour earlier in the Park Lounge.

Pike and Sparrow, which sounds like a good brand name for Whiskey or just about anything, agreed to be questioned by me, an American in London.

Before we got to the insider industry secrets, I playfully threw them some quintessential (or are they cliched) British bon mots. (Asking the questions, I am represented as “Q,” not to be confused with “Q,” Major Boothroyd, the Quartermaster, in England’s famed James Bond 007 books and movies.)

Veddy, Veddy British Questions

Q: You are two of the most “English” gentlemen, Subjects of His Majesty, that I or your Red Carnation guests will ever meet. Let’s have a little cultural debate, saying whatever comes first to your mind?

Q: Black cabs versus double-decker buses? Which is more British?

AP: “Locals will use the buses, but for American tourists or travelers coming into London, the cab drivers have ‘the knowledge,’ and it’s a chance to learn some wonderful values
on life from a London taxi driver.”

DS: “Cab drivers can be real characters, absolutely.”

Q: I had one sing to me once. When you said the knowledge, that wasn’t a throwaway – it is a serious matter.

AP: “The London taxi driver will distinguish themselves from any of the other car companies by the fact that what they do is they have to do ‘the knowledge.’ They’re not allowed to become London taxi drivers until they’ve finished an intensive course. They basically have to know their way around every street in London, the quickest route, not necessarily the most expensive. And that’s the knowledge. That’s the knowledge.”

Q: Which is more English: fish and chips…or Indian food?

DS: “Definitely fish and chips. But you know, Indian food, for a long time, has been very popular.”

AP: “Culturally, it’s become a big part of the scene. I think the Indian restaurants were the first international cuisine that we experienced back in the late 1940s and ’50s, so it kind of got embedded into a culture. And I believe I’m right in saying that curries have taken over fish and chips as the number one most popular dishes.”

Q: Globe Theater or West End?

DS: “Globe Theater.”

AP: “In the tradition of Shakespeare, you’ve got to go there.”

Q: Which is more English? The Beatles, Elton John or the Rolling Stones?

DS: “I would go with the Beatles.”

AP: “Being a London boy, I’ve got to go ‘Stones. But it’s a tough one, that, because Liverpool is almost like our cultural twin. That’s the toughest that you’ve asked to so far.”

Q: Have either of you met any of these performers?

AP: “I came extremely close because I believe Sir Mick Jagger, at one stage, was going to rent some space in one of our residences is here to do some recording and interviews. I was kind of disappointed because it didn’t happen in the end.”

Q: “Which is more English – gin and tonic, Boddington’s or a Pimm’s cup?

AP: “I’m a G&T man, and I consider myself pretty British, so I go G&T.”

DS: “Pimms Cup is a seasonal drink.”

AP: “I don’t know any hotel bars where you can get Boddington’s.”

Q: I just picked Boddington’s because it’s the most fun to say.

Q: Which is more English – Peppa Pig or Wallace and Gromit?

DS: “Wallace and Gromit.”

Q: Burberry or Turnbull and Asser…or FCUK?

AP: Turnbull and Asser…by Royal Appointment.

Q: Harry Potter or Mary Poppins?

AP: “An account of Dick Van Dyke’s terrible accent, I’ve got to say Harry Potter. When they were doing the theater show here, there was talk he was coming over to do some interviews. Our residences have a rooftop terrace just like the chimney sweep scene from the original movie, so I was hankering to try and get Dick Van Dyke to be interviewed on our residence rooftops. Again, it never happened, MPS.”

DS: “Nevertheless, I would say Mary Poppins.”

Q: Have either of you been in the presence of or met one of the Royal family members?

AP: “I’ve definitely met Prince Harry a few times. When they were living at the palace, we used to occasionally get to look after them here at The Milestone in the early days. That was pre-wedding, that was. He would pop in for a drink. I liked him very much. He was a charming, lovely guy. Very much of the people, I would say.”

Q: World leaders? Prime Ministers?

AP: “I met an ex-Prime Minister: David Cameron. Not too many of the others. Actually, a few ambassadors. I’ve never met somebody that I didn’t like something about them.”

Question Time

Q: Down to serious business now, Mr. Sparrow, congratulations on recently becoming a first-time father.

DS: “Thank you. He is a baby boy named Brydon.”

Q: I thought maybe you would name the boy Charles or William or Harry?

DS: “I was thinking of going down the traditional route, but my wife has the say.”

Q: Her Majesty?

DS: “Absolutely.”

Q: It wouldn’t be Andrew, probably, would it? I guess it will be a while before that royal name is popular again…

Q: Paddington, especially the toy bear with children, is a popular name, though. I arrived from Heathrow Airport via the Heathrow Express train into the historic and visually exciting Paddington Station, and hopped into a traditional London Black Cab, only to be delivered here at Milestone Hotel, with the Union Jack flying out front, right across from Kensington Palace: a thoroughly English experience. And when I stepped into Egerton House Hotel, I encountered a guest book to sign.

DS: “It is an old-fashioned thing to do – to write your name and put some comments there. Of course, we are moving with the times but we need to keep in touch with different ways of doing both. There is something about having the pen and paper and writing it down. We don’t want to lose that touch at the Egerton House. That is part of the reason why people stay with us. That’s where the history is.”

Q: Your old-fashioned notion of a guest book in your lobby at Egerton House is offset by the fact your staff can control the temperature in the guestrooms from the front desk. That’s a new one to me.

DS: “We want to be able to make sure that the guests are as comfortable as possible, and sometimes guests in the room and don’t want to be interrupted, so we’re able to control it from the front desk. If they want to a little bit cooler, a little bit warmer, we can override it without going and knocking on the door and disturbing the guests.”

Q: Egerton House is very near Harrods Department store, if you’re interested in going to Harrods department store, but it is on a residential side street, so it is like walking into somebody’s house.

DS: “The road that we are on, Edgeton Terrace, is a really sort of residential road and you just turn the corner and you are away from the busy hustle and bustle of London. And when you stepped foot in that front door, you feel warm, welcome, and you feel like your home. It really is stepping into a townhouse. Egerton House is two townhouses
that are put together. I am glad you got that homey feel when you walked in the door.”

Q: I sure did, and Rosie was there in the lobby, along with Tessa, who greeted me and started me with a cup of tea and a piece of Bea Tollman’s famed shortbread.

DS: “We have a fantastic, passionate team. Tessa’s been with us a few months, and then we’ve got some people like concierge manager Jacques Conradie, who’s been with the company for 25 years. I have been with the company for 14 years.”

Q: There was a fellow called Ellias who was in the lobby all night and I caught him early in the morning refilling the candy jars. He told me, “They call me the ‘Candyman.’”

DS: “All of Red Carnation Hotels have a complimentary sweet station of candy jars and with bonbons and chocolate-covered cranberries. It’s a nice touch for the guests to have a little sweet treat. It is very difficult walking past those candy jars every single day. They are always in your peripheral vision and we have to be self-disciplined not to put our hands in the candy jar.”

Q: Poor Tessa, she told me she thought I might like the chocolate honeycombs. But she told me she’d never had one. “How can you work five steps from these all day and not give in to temptation?” I asked her. So, the next day I brought her a little paper cone full of the candies. “Thank you, but I don’t think I can take these. They are for the guests,” she protested. I advised her to hide them in her pocket.

DS: “She should eat them as a ‘quality check’ for the guests. Absolutely! I will make sure they can all have a sweet.”

Cookie Monster

Q: Speaking of sweets, here at The Milestone, there was a creative cookie left for me, with my name and logo on it, among other treats, in my Noel Coward Suite.

AP: “We do a little handmade welcome cookie, Michael, and we’ve always done that. We try to ‘bespoke it’ a little bit. If we know that the guest is going to the theater, or going to a sporting event, or whatever it is, we’ll make it totally bespoke.”

Q: Here at The Milestone, you’ve had Royal neighbors at Kensington Palace. But with
Meghan and Harry gone, and the Prince and Princess William and Kate moving to
Windsor, do you feel a bit like an empty nester?

AP: “Well, here’s the thing, Michael, it is still inhabited. We still have nice neighbors – they’re just not there all the time. The kids are gone now. In fact, it’s like ideal neighbors, really, because you get to see them on high days and holidays. William and Kate still have an apartment in what I like to call the West Wing, so they still they still then they’re not all the time. So, we still see the occasional car with a flag driving in, which is good, that’s fantastic for tourism because a lot of our guests come from the U.S. and they have a great interest in the Royals.”

Q: I am not sure how peerage works within the Red Carnation Hotels hierarchy and where you are in line to Jonathan Ragget’s CEO throne, Dean Sparrow, but you have certainly worked your way up, from what I hear.

DS: “Fourteen years ago, I started on something called the management program here at Red Carnation for anyone with a university degree who wants to get into hospitality. You have to work around all departments of the hotels, starting on the ground floor: reception, nights, food and beverage…you learn everything, like, for instance, filling the candy jars, which I did. Red Carnation has six London hotels and I’ve worked at five of them. The only one that I haven’t worked at is, coincidentally, The Milestone.”

Inside the Industry of Haute Hotels

Q: To keep with the English theme, Shakespeare wrote, “the readiness is all.” To be a manager in this business, you must have a great talent for anticipating what could
happen and probably end up surprised sometimes too.

AP: Absolutely, it’s definitely a skill to be able to anticipate the needs of a guest and deliver before the guest even thinks of it. We have a fantastic team.

Q: I met a fellow, one of your staff members, in the evening at Egerton House, named Benjamin. I called him “Big Ben.” I was in the lobby, asking him questions and trying to work out some logistics for the next day, and Benjamin joked, “Ah, if only there were a giant map on the wall where we could have a look at this…” And we walked me over to a big, beautiful mural of London on the wall right behind his desk.

I mentioned to him that I wanted to go to Penhaligon’s for “Royal Appointment” cologne, and Benjamin lit up like a Christmas tree. He loved to talk about colognes. And the next thing I knew, he was online showing me the location of their shops, including the original and the flagship, and current, plus historic scents, such as the blend King Charles wears. Ben also told me that Penhaligon perfume and cologne shops have a tiny pipe sticking out of the front near the door that pumps the scent into the street to lure in passersby.

DS: “Benjamin is fantastic with guest experiences. He will tailor any trip you want. And yes, he definitely loves cologne.”

Q: “The next morning when I came down, Benjamin said, “I’ve got something I want you to smell.” Apparently, he discovered he had a little bottle of Blenheim Bouquet in his bathroom kit.

Good Sports

Q: How is the NFL catching on here in London?

AP: “The doorman said there were a lot of guests going over to watch. In the last two years, people have been planning their trips specifically to be here for the games.”

Q: They’re talking about putting a permanent NFL team in London. So, in terms of sports, it’s not just Wimbledon and strawberries and cream then. I think NFL fans would prefer a hearty, traditional English breakfast.

AP: “That breakfast has always been something people love to do in a London hotel. We also now offer some health-conscious options. If you come here and spend three nights, which is typical for our guests, we always say spend the first two nights in Stables Bar and sample all the cocktails. Then, if your conscience is hurting you, go and have a workout in our health club.”

Q: You certainly can get your steps in in London. And your slurps, which is what I learned from Egerton House’s Sardinian bar manager, called Gianfranco Spada?

DS: “Ah, yes, the ‘Egerton Slurp.’ Our famous martini is served tableside on a trolley. Vodka or gin; dirty or dry…served right up to the top of the glass, so it has an ‘infinity edge.’ Just when you think nothing else can fit in it, Gianfranco somehow slips an olive or a lemon rind in, and it still fits in and transfers it over to the table in front of you.

The only way to sip that martini is via the ‘Egerton Slurp’: you must lean in and bow to the drink, put your face right over that martini, and take the first sip or gulp. Because if you try to pick it up or bring it to you, then you will end up with something called the ‘Egerton Slip.’ And no one wants a martini all over themselves.”

Q: Gianfranco told me he would leave me and give me privacy so I could slurp as loudly as I liked.

DS: “Ironically, our martini is not ‘shaken or stirred.’ We’ve got a very special freezer where the temperature is set at minus-22 degrees and the glasses are also chilled to the same temperature, so when the drink is poured, we don’t need to shake it or stir it to get the alcohol down to cool it to the right temperature. It is pure alcohol, without ice, so it is a little bit stronger.”

Speaking of “Shaken…Not Stirred…”

Q: Speaking of “shaken, not stirred,” you must be happy to hear that despite new
producers, writers and a director, the James Bond character in the 007 movies, filmed
not far from here at Pinewood Studios, will be played by a young, unknown, English
actor.

DS: “I haven’t heard that, but I think it’s a quintessentially British thing absolutely, so that’s good. The first James Bond, Sean Connery, was virtually unknown when they made the first movie. The second ‘double-O-seven’ was an Australian, George Lazenby, that didn’t go very well – he did only one movie, and I don’t think it was because of his accent.

Q: Then Connery came back for one before the very English Roger Moore took over,
followed by the Irishman Pierce Brosnan.

Origin Story of Red Carnation Hotels

Q: There is a name that I would like to be introduced to as if she were sitting here, if you wouldn’t mind telling me about Mrs. Bea Tollman?

AP: “That would be a pleasure and honor, MPS. Bea Tolman, our founder and president of Red Carnation Hotels, along with her late husband Stanley, were passionate hoteliers from day one with a vision to create something that was a little bit different. They’re from South Africa originally, but have had hotels internationally. London has become our main home over the years.

The Tollmans wanted to instill that passion in the people at work for them, so Red Carnation’s culture, and the way we do things, has evolved from the family connection of a belief in true hospitality. It’s sometimes not what you do or say, necessarily on its own, but rather the way you make people feel. The Tollmans live it, and they’ve always lived it, and that’s gone through to the next generation. It’s become our legacy and a hallmark of how we look after people.”

Q: Even in the elevator here at The Milestone Hotel, I noticed a vase of red carnations.

AP: “Yes, we captured the corner on the red carnation market. Legend has it that Mr. Stanley Tollman, in the early days, was looking for a name for his new hotel collection and had a young marketing guru working with him. He took one look at Mr. Tollman and noticed him wearing a fresh red carnation in his lapel.

There were no hotel companies named after a flower. Mr. Tollman, when he liked something, he made a decision, so right there and then and he said, ‘That’s it!’ And the name Red Carnation Hotels was born.”

Q: The various Red Carnation Hotels, though they are under one name, are very individual. The ones I have seen are not cookie-cutter like some brand-name chain hotels. For instance, here at The Milestone Hotel, I was assured by your very colorful doorman that there is actually a “milestone.”

AP: “First off, you are correct about Steven, our legendary head doorman from Wales. He is colorful, and he will give you plenty of fishing tips, too…whether you want them or not. The “Milestone” marker is exactly that, and that’s where the hotel gets his name. For many years I have been telling visitors that marker goes back to the sixteenth century and it and it was where the stagecoaches used to stop on their way out on the Great West Road. Then one of our lovely engineers said it’s time to refurbish and renovate that sign. He rubbed it right down and he discovered a date at the bottom: 1834! So, I was only off by about two hundred years!”

Touching Touches

Q: One of the intriguing touches on the desk in the rooms and suites at Red Carnation Hotels is a metal canister with red pencils in it. They are visually stimulating and nostalgic, but what is the meaning of that touch?

DS: “In our rooms and suites, we’ve always had guests writing notes, so we’ve always had compendia and stationery, and facilities there for guests with a notepad in the rooms.”

AP: “I guess it’s a strong nod to cultural values. These days so many people literally live and work from their phones, and the concept of paper, something tactile, and the smell of the lead… We used to have pens, but we went to pencils a couple of years ago. But it was for that reason that we thought, ‘People are going to take a souvenir – it’s quite nice for them to take a pencil. Not many hotels had a quality pencil you could take away. It’s just a little bit different.”

Q: That’s touching because we do live in a sort of seemingly disposable era.

AP: “For us, it’s all about making memories and being different, but being authentic. If there’s a chance to get a little authenticity into the guest experience, a pencil’s not a big deal. It’s not going to make a huge difference, but it’s a detail!”

Q: Other side of the coin. There used to be a big pile of newspapers at breakfast that were out of date the minute they were printed.

DS: “Now you have a QR code which gives you all the news you can read. You can scan it with your phone and that gives you access to a whole host of information.”

Q: And I am very lucky. I’m staying in the “Noel Coward Suite,” and as someone who is as a writer, that is special. And there are calling cards on the desk printed “Michael Patrick Shiels, In Residence, Noel Coward Suite, The Milestone Hotel.” Noel Coward is long gone now, but you do get a lot of repeat business, don’t you?

AP: “A huge amount? We’ve been doing this a while, so it may have started with a
grandparents’ generation who were coming here twenty-plus years ago. They introduced their young children. Those children are now grown up, and they’re bringing their grandchildren. So, we have three generations of families that will come and stay in our properties and that’s quite nice.”

Star-Spangled Awesome

Q: The American president was in town recently for a big dinner at Windsor Castle. Do the English like American visitors?

DS: “We like them and they are absolutely welcome with open arms.”

Q: That’s a lovely tie you have on, Mr. Sparrow. Is that from the famed Savile Row?

DS: “This tie is actually a Huntsman from Savile Row…and, it is the latest Mr. Tollman’s tie.”

Q: Legacy! How did you get it?

DS: “He loved his ties, and there were a number of his ties in his office after his passing, and I was lucky enough to receive one.”

Q: That is very special. I don’t know how it gets any sweeter. Red Carnation’s CEO is
Jonathan Raggett, a lively and diplomatic man.

AP: “I joined Red Carnation Hotels 27 years ago and Jonathan Raggett, who came to the company in 1998, has always been my boss. I started my Red Carnation life at our Rubens at the Palace Hotel across from Buckingham Palace.”

Q: I have an envelope which I hope you won’t mind giving him?

AP: “I’m going to personally deliver that to him when I see him later today.”

Q: Inside the envelope is a thank-you note and a token of my esteem. I was at Windsor Castle yesterday, and I bought him a hand towel embroidered with the Royal logo. I figured in the time-honored tradition of guests stealing towels, I would nick him one
from Windsor Castle as a gag. Do hotel guests still steal towels?

AP: “Some people do like to take a souvenir, like a pencil, but guests are not walking off with the lampshades and things. The occasional bathrobe, I suppose. But we go about that in a very British way. Because we don’t want lots of paper and signs everywhere in the room, it’s not our style.

Instead, if we think somebody is enjoying something, we will make them aware that it’s either available to purchase or direct them to the Red Carnation website, so it won’t be a confrontation. Maybe if you’re staying with us a little while, we’ll make it a surprise parting gift. We want them to leave with memories and come back again.”

Read more of Michael Patrick’s work at The Travel Tattler and contact him at
MShiels@aol.com Order his book Travel Tattler – Less Than Torrid Tales at
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