Sean Quinn, owner of Quinn hotels and Quinn public houses, topped Mentmore Towers owner Simon Halabi by £50m to become the richest man in hospitality in this year's Sunday Times Rich List with a personal fortune of £3b.
Rising property values boosted the fortunes of many of hospitality's wealthiest entrepreneurs, including Laurel Pub Company and La Tasca owner Robert Tchenguiz (who with brother Vincent is worth £850m, a fortune rising from £490m last year) and Sir Rocco Forte, whose wealth rose from £385m to £450m over 2006.
The Ivy owner Richard Caring is also worth £450m and is closely followed by restaurant entrepreneur Marlon Abela (£400m), London's Docklands hotel tycoon Jasminder Singh (£350m) and pubs and pizza specialist Hugh Osmond (£320m).
EasyHotel owner Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's fortune rocketed from £727m to £1.29b.
The richest woman in hospitality is Julia Hands, who runs the Hand Picked Hotels chain of 14 country-house properties she owns with husband Guy. The second richest woman is design specialist Kit Kemp, who together with husband Tim run an £85m London-centric Firmdale hotel empire.
By Chris Walton
E-mail your comments to Christopher Walton here.
| | Newswire
For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our e-mail news alerts. | |