"I will not sell Piešťany even though I am not happy with it yet”, says the owner of Piešťany Spa Sir Bernard Schreier
He is exceptionally wealthy. According to the British newspaper The Sunday Times, the property of Sir Bernard Schreier and his family is valued at approximately GBP 215 million (about SKK 12.4 billion). On the wealth ladder of people living and doing business in Great Britain and Ireland, he took 199th place. For comparison, the English queen took 177th place with a fortune of GBP 250 million. At a lowly 233rd place was Sir Elton John, the performer who recently had a concert in Bratislava. This extravagant singer with a fortune of GBP 175 million often makes himself visible with his overstated image of a multimillionaire – he flies with his personal plane with many bodyguards and helpers, he uses the most luxurious hotels, drives crazily expensive cars, and in public he shows off only in designer clothes. Elton John is a proper billionaire in the eyes of public – he earns well and does not hide what he spends his money on. According to this simplified impression, Sir Bernard Schreier is a grey mouse among billionaires. Even though he belongs to the elite, he stays inconspicuously in the shade. His vast property portfolio also contains Piešťany Spa. What is its owner really like?
The birth of the company: The eighty-seven-year-old Bernard Schreier is a significant personality among European spa men and hotel owners. He comes from Austrian Graz, but as he says he has forgotten where he was born. He does not have any business activities in our western neighbours. After the rise of fascism, he fled to Palestine as a 21-year-old. In 1955 he went to London, where two of his sisters lived. He started there more or less from nothing by establishing a small company for making building machines. This smart engineer used his technical talent to construct the first hydrostatic pipe layer, and invention for which he obtain a patent in 1960. He started to be more and more successful in business, and the company grew to become eventually the huge international concern CP Holding Ltd (Contractors Plant Limited). Currently, he employs more than ten thousand and has seven divisions with a huge portfolio of activities in the area of machinery, agriculture, international business, engineering networks, tourism, hotel and spa ownership. For thirty-two years Bernard Schreier was involved in the business of mining coal. Fifteen years ago new opportunities started to arise in Eastern Europe, and he started focusing on hotel services. Through the Danubius Hotels Group he owns approximately forty-five three, four and five-star hotels in Eastern Europe, and two hotels in Israel.
Transfer to spa services: In 1992 Bernard Schreier bought his first spa in Budapest. "I never envisaged doing business in Hungary. I do not know a single word in Hungarian. I may be spoiled, but I have an excellent assistant who translates everything for me,” says this smiling gentleman. “A standard tender was announced for the spa, and we applied and won. We started doing business in Hungary in 1989, and we have nicely built up the distribution network and storage facilities all over the country”. The entrepreneur spread his good style of doing business to Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. After the purchase of Mariánske Lázne, Piešťany was next on the list. “I understand the political background and doubtful privatization,” he states now without an easy smile. “We took over the company three years ago for SKK 1,018 billion, and we currently own approximately ninety percent of shares. The Spa was not in good shape, and we needed to make some inevitable changes. The organization was run in a communist style, it did not care for profit, and it employed too many people just so they were employed. We had to change that. We stabilized and consolidated the situation. We invested a lot of money in renovations, reconstructions, we built a nine-hole golf course, and recently we opened the Water World area. However, we are still only halfway through it.”
Rosy future: What can Piešťany Spa expect in the future? Is the spa finally in good hands after the controversial Mečiar and Martinka’s privatization? "Piešťany is now in my hands, and I have to say these are the right ones,” he smiles. “I personally think it is the most beautiful place we own. It is nicer here than anywhere else. Unfortunately I come here only twice a year. I would like to see the company progressing. Currently we have not been lucky with the market: the target German clientele slowed down because the economic situation in Germany is not good. We need to attract more customers, a younger generation rather than retirees. I have taken over many companies in Europe and my philosophy is: leave the management, do not exchange it, only educate it. In Piešťany we were not lucky with our first or second general director. Starting September, a new manager will come. Piešťany should not worry about anything. I am not happy with it yet, but I will not sell it,” assures Sir Bernard Schreier. His business philosophy stands on simple foundations: buy, improve, extend. And do not sell. “I believe in hard work. If you want to achieve something, you need to work hard and be fair to yourself and the surroundings. In mining, it is true that a handshake is more than a contract.”
Inconspicuous: And why does an eighty-year-old man still work and not relax as he should? He lives in a suburb of London and for many years he has arrived regularly at his office by 7.45 in the morning and does not leave until 6.30 at night. He says that he works hard so he will forget one sad story. He had a son who worked in his company after finishing university. Seven and a half years ago he died from a heart attack. In the evening they wished each other good night, and in an hour the son had passed away… “I work because I think I can better forget. And I also want to make a good future for my grandchildren. My son had four children, and there is my daughter as well. They will inherit everything after me,” says this active octogenarian. He appreciates money, he never threw it away. He does not care for billionaire manners. He does not travel by private plane, he does not have a yacht or bodyguards, and he does not spend his vacations in The Bahamas. He lives in his hotels as a common guest but he does not take the exclusive and private apartments. During visits to the spa he checks on the business and at the same time takes some of the treatments and has medical checkups. For his age he looks very young and fresh. His employees have only good things to say about him; he is a modest and normal person. He seems so inconspicuous that many times he is unnoticed when he comes to the Spa.
Too old to change his wife: In 2000 the English Queen Elizabeth II awarded Bernard Schreier a knighthood for his extraordinary business, entrepreneurial and personal qualities. Apart from this knighthood bestowing the title sir, he has received other awards in recent years such as the Order of White Double Cross 3rd Class from Slovak President Rudolf Schuster, and also an award from the Hungarian President and Israeli government. Does the knighthood have any meaning for this businessman? “It is a great honour and an advantage to be a knight. For example, you can get better seats in restaurants, theatres or the cinema. England has become my home. I like the English mentality and environment. I do feel being an Englishman,” he says proudly. And what about hobbies, friends? I have two large dogs, I like meeting new people and playing bridge. Bad habits? I cannot tell you about those. You have beautiful women here, but I have been happily married for sixty-two years. I met my wife in Palestine, but she is from Vienna. In Hungary half of the management exchanged their wives for younger replacements. But I am too old to change my wife,” he says with a mischievous smile. And do you have any unfulfilled dreams at your age? “I am too old for dreams, as well,” concludes Sir Bernard Schreier. "I would be happy if the company I established was progressing. I did not have an easy life. I have overcome many difficult obstacles and, unfortunately, many of my friends are not alive any more."
Published in Plus 7 Dní, 14. 07. 2005
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