Across the many years Tollman and her husband, Stanley, have been running hotels, first in South Africa and, since 1984, from their London headquarters, “Bea” has always run the family home, brought up four children and worked day and night to build the family business. She talks about working on the evening she delivered her fourth child, Vicki, and how she had to ask a friend to drive her to the hospital because Stanley was working elsewhere. She delivered the baby and was back working in her sanctuary, the kitchen, no more than a few days later wearing her white overalls, hair tied up, standing behind the long counter to taste everything on the menu.
Hard work and dedication to service excellence has been the couple’s calling since they leased their first hotel in 1954, The Nugget in Johannesburg, using wedding present money to furnish the property. At age 22, Tollman, who initially intended to become a nursery school teacher, was a novice running her own kitchen and time learning the ins and outs of luxury hotelkeeping.
During the early years, the couple added a few properties in South Africa, including The Hyde Park Hotel in Johannesburg, which became famous for its cabaret and was home to their Colony supper club, often playing host to celebrities such as Marlene Dietrich, Petula Clark, George Peppard, Michael Caine and many more.
By 1975, however, the pair decided to leave everything behind during South Africa’s contentious apartheid and moved to London to start over with their four children and whatever they could carry. Today, they own and operate a collection of 20 luxury hotels in the U.K. and Europe, South Africa (including the Oyster Box, where the couple had their first date), the United States and Botswana.
To this day, the two are never apart, according to daughter Vicki, who along other two other siblings are carrying on the family hospitality traditions. And it is just the way, now in her 80s, and 90-year-old Stanley, most always sporting a red carnation in his lapel, want it.
“You have your ups and downs in business, but you stick together, face everything and you just work with a determination,” Tollman tells HOTELS. “And I suppose that’s the most important thing, the determination and creating high standards. It has been a very, very busy life. But you don’t realize how much you can do in your life. You can’t complain; you just get on with it and do it. We’ve worked this way for many years”
For her dedication, endless energy and creation of an admired hotel portfolio, the readers of HOTELS voted Beatrice Tollman the 2020 Corporate Hotelier of the World.
Long days, nights
In the early days of her career, she remembers going to the back of the coal stoves to stoke the flames. “I taught a scullery boy how to do desserts. He became the best dessert maker, using my own ice cream,” says Tollman, who grew up in South Africa as a champion tennis player, a soprano singer and a well-regarded piano player. “You’d make sure the food was right, and that the guests liked it. You just cared about everything.”
Those earlier years in Johannesburg were filled with lessons and her desire to become a true professional in the kitchen. Stanley managed the business affairs and was often found in the front of the house greeting guests.