Of Tourists & Titans

For well-heeled travelers, a trip to Italy more often than not includes a stay at one of the 16 world-famous CIGA hotels. The rich list includes the Grand and Excelsior in Rome, the Gritti Palace in Venice and Milan's Principe e Savoia. At prices up to $100 a day, the CIGA chain has developed a loyal and profitable following by living up to its motto: "The client is a name, not a room number."

Now, in an abrupt about-face, CIGA plans to reach for the equally profitable middle-price, room-number trade. In partnership with Alitalia and an Italian holding company, it is getting ready to build a chain of 800-bed modern "Aerhotels." "They will have all the American internal fittings," says Managing Director Giorgio Campione, "including ice water and paper-wrapped glasses." The first two Aerhotels are to be opened in Milan and Rome in 1970.

Campione figures that Aerhotels will get most of their business from the new 450-passenger jumbo jets. Following the trend started by TWA, which shuffles packaged tours into Hilton hotels, and Pan American, which feeds customers to its Intercontinental chain, Aerhotels will serve Alitalia travelers.

Under Campione's leadership, the hotel chain increased its revenues by one-third, to $17.3 million, between 1961 and 1967. While new plans call for catering to the drip-dry set, CIGA will continue to coddle the upper crust. The rare cathedral glass of Venice's Danieli, which was built in the 15th century, will still be repaired by the only living artisan with the necessary know-how. Faithful customers, who range from Europe's nobility to Actor Peter Sellers, will still receive the same tender care they have learned to expect from CIGA employees. At Rome's Grand, for example, silver-haired Lorenzo ("the Magnificent") Colasanti, a 35-year CIGA veteran, stands as ready as ever to pay Elizabeth Taylor's bills when she goes shopping and forgets her money.

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