Destiny now had called to pull
Alfred Pisani in the direction of
hospitality.
After borrowing Lm9,000 for the
works of the restaurant, for which
his uncle acted as guarantor, Al-
fred worked towards setting up
and establishing this at high qual-
ity standards.
He remembers how at the launch
on the 6th December 1962 he
invited some 80-90 guests for a
reception and then invited them
to re-visit for a paid service. The
business was successful however
the follow up opportunities came
about as a result of the developing
socio-economic growth.
Shortly after independence, the
government was looking towards
shifting the economy from one
based on Malta as a fortress econ-
omy to one based on hotel service
and hospitality as also commerce,
industry etc. At the time, the gov-
ernment was offering support and
funding taking the form of soft
loans, grants per room, and sup-
port in taxation and importation.
In trying to tap into these oppor-
tunities Alfred initially proposed
a 40-room hotel annexed to the
villa, however this would not qual-
ify for funding as a minimum of
150 rooms had been set. As a re-
sult, he revised the proposal to
incorporate 156 rooms, and while
government was supporting the
28
Issue 03
“There’s far more focus
on the quality of the
service and the general
ambience of the build-
ing, and this is what we
consider to be our model
in every property we want
to develop”
initiative, he required substantial
funding through a bank - in fact
the development’s total budget.
In order to get funding, he went
from one bank to another until
eventually he got the possibili-
ty for a hearing. He remembers
visiting the bank, being called in
by a girl at the fourth floor and
then sitting in front of thirteen
persons, including the Chairman
of the bank, whose first question
was whether he was attending on
his own. At the time, Alfred was
23 years old. His major surprise
came about when the request for
the 100% loan was approved.
Alfred’s father had some expe-
rience with property and during
his lifetime, he became acquaint-
ed with a local architect who had
just returned from his studies in
the United Kingdom. This archi-
tect was used for the design of the
Pisani residence, and as a result a