We headed over to the heart of The West End to speak to Ron who owns private members club and hotel The Lib-rary, to discuss their recent nomination for eviivo’s ‘Quirkiest Place to Stay’ Award.
So tell us, what does being nominated for this award mean to you?
Absolutely everything. I mean we are really excited to be nominated and recognised for all the hard work that the team put into ensuring that we are offering an amazing service. So really excited and grateful. It’s a nice accolade to receive… well, if we win it! So just very happy to be nominated at this stage.
So what makes a stay at Lib-rary different from anywhere else?
A lot, seriously a lot. We are firstly a library (not an actual, real library) but a library where you can have drinks, have food, and we have a programme of events every day so there’s always something going, there’s always someone on stage. We also have a wellness suite downstairs. And the rooms are centrally located so we are right in the heart of Theatreland, with the Garrick right next to us, and the National Portrait Gallery, so the location is perfect. The rooms themselves are much, much bigger than your average room size in London. And I think we have very reasonable prices. All of those things make staying at Lib-rary exceptional.
What do you do keep your guests coming back?
We pay a lot of attention to detail, in terms of what we offer guests and the way we look after them. We have a bar, so we make sure everyone gets a drink on arrival. An alcoholic drink, just in case anyone wasn’t clear about that! The team work tremendously hard to ensure that service is always good and all the things I mentioned in my previous answer ensures people keep coming back.
So can you tell us what your story is about how you got into the industry?
I fell into it really. I studied Law, worked a little bit for a law firm and then I quit to set up my own business. I used to do a lot of events management, putting on concerts and gigs, which then evolved into me spending a lot of time in other people’s private members’ clubs and seeing how they ran their business’ and thinking “I think I can do this”. Then an opportunity arose to set something up, about 6 or 7 years ago, and it’s just evolved into what we have now, which is a seven storey building right in the middle of Covent Garden, on St Martins Lane, and it’s just worked out that way. You know, you’re not 5 and at home going “when I grow up I want to own a private members’ club with hotel rooms”, that’s not what happens, you just grow into it.
So obviously you put on quite a lot of events here, can you tell us who the biggest act you’ve had at The Lib-rary?
Well, that’s a difficult question, only because we get so many big acts coming through the door. We get some really big names and famous people here. We have a lot of members who are famous, but I can’t disclose who they are because that’s the reason they join the club. But in terms of performers on stage, we’ve had Idris Elba, Kelis, Roy Ayres, Sebastian Tellier, Haim, Mr. Hudson and Faithless. So if you’re booking a room here, it’s really important to check the events and see what’s going on – and there is always something going on! Coming up in the next couple of weeks we’ve got a conversation with Jon Snow, and Andrew Snernam, an American R&B singer. And if you’re staying in the rooms you get free access to all of it. If you’re not a member you have to request a day pass; the best thing to do is become a member, then you always know what’s going on.
To see all of our shortlisted properties for the eviivo 2016 awards click here.