SIR ROCCO FORTE looks relaxed and at home – as well he might, since he is giving me a guided tour of his favourite suite in Edinburgh's Balmoral. It's one of his own, naturally, though he claims to have no favourites among his portfolio of 11 luxury hotels. "They're all nice," he says.

The Scone and Crombie Suite enjoys grandstand views of the city's skyline, from the Castle, sweeping across to Arthur's Seat and beyond. (He could also peek in the Argos window, on North Bridge, if he chose to lower his gaze a little, though that would be unlikely to tempt this man, whose family fortune is estimated at £450m.)

He wears his wealth well. Tanned, groomed and looking young for 63, his only nod to excess is the complicated-looking watch peeking out from his immaculately cut sleeve. "It's an Audemars Piguet," he says almost apologetically. "My wife gave it to me as a birthday present."

And though he is softly spoken (a result, perhaps, of his hearing loss following a lifetime's passion for the grouse moor and the dancefloor) there is no sign of the shyness he has occasionally been accused of.

It costs a trifling £1,600 a night to stay in this suite, which is why Forte doesn't mind too much if someone already has their feet in the complimentary slippers when he comes to stay.

The Balmoral holds a special place in his heart, since it was the first hotel he bought after losing the empire his father had built up during a hostile takeover by Granada (the company was later broken up and sold off, piece by piece, for less than was paid for it).

He had joined the family firm in 1969, but it took another 23 years before his father was ready to hand over the reins. Lord Charles was 84, his son 47. "The only bad feeling in my relationship with my father was in that two-year period leading up to my taking over," he says. "I had a terrible time. He sacked me three times. If I'd taken over earlier, things might have been different."

Lord Forte died in February last year and his son says now: "The one thing I regret is that I wasn't able to find some way of keeping him involved – maybe it wasn't possible, but I wish I'd been clever enough to find a way to do it.

"He was a man of great passion and he was very generous, not only in monetary terms but also in spirit. If I've inherited half of what he had, it's pretty good."

It must have been galling to see the company this great man had built up – which included the George V hotel in Paris and the Ritz in Madrid as well as the Trust House Forte chain, and the Little Chef and Happy Eater motorway service stations – being snatched from under him. "I was annoyed," says Forte. "I'd worked in that business for 20 years. I had a passion for it, I believed in it, I had a vision for it."

The takeover left him with a tidy sum in his pocket, however, and, at the age of 50, he wasn't about to retire. "I'd be bored out of my mind," he says, "so I needed something to do. And hotels are the business I know."

His purchase of the Balmoral in 1997 was an especially sweet moment, not only because it had been part of the original Forte portfolio, but also because it continued the Scottish connection that had begun many years before when his grandfather moved to Alloa from Italy. "The bank agreed to lend me £50m and that was what got me going."

His ambition was to create a collection of luxury hotels in key European destinations. "The luxury market fascinates me," he says. "It is so much more complicated than any old hotel." What this means for the guest is going the extra mile, whether that be unpacking their suitcases or servicing the room at unsociable hours. "It's about treating the customer as an individual, looking after their personal requirements," says Forte. "And the concierge service is highly professional."

For example? "An American customer rang up our hotel in Rome. He was coming to stay there and was going to get married. The problem was that he didn't have a fiancée yet and he was looking for one. Could they help sort out an introduction agency? So they organised the whole thing, he met this woman, they fell in love and got married in Rome. All arranged through our hotel."

Forte's other hotels in which you may or may not meet the woman of your dreams include the Astoria in St Petersburg, Brown's in London, Hotel de Russie in Rome, the Lowry in Manchester, the Savoy in Florence, Hotel de Rome in Berlin and Le Richemond in Geneva, while the near future will see him moving into Prague, Marrakech, Sicily, Abu Dhabi and Jeddah. Then will he take a rest?

"I'd like to be in Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Moscow, Venice … to start with," he says with a smile. "Then I'd love to be in New York."

And are there any more of the old Forte hotels he would like to get his hands on? "I'd love the Plaza Athénée in Paris, but I don't think the Sultan of Brunei would be inclined to sell it to me. And if he did, it would be for a sum I couldn't possibly afford."

His ambition in business is equal only to his ambition in sport, and in 2005 he came second for his age group in the Iron Man endurance event. He is also a frequent competitor on the triathlon circuit. The pressures of business mean he hasn't raced this year but, he says, "I want to do next year's world championships, which will be in Australia, so I've started the training now. I've never finished better than 11th, so I really want to surpass that this time."

Also keeping him young is the glamorous Lady Aliai Forte, 20 years his junior, whom he married in 1986. "I met her when she was 16," he smiles, "but we didn't start dating until she was 20." He is almost embarrassed to tell me how they first hooked up, but confesses finally: "I went out with her elder sister – that's how I met her. She keeps me on my toes."

The couple have three children – Lydia, 21, and Irene, 19, who are both at Oxford, and Charles, 16. All have served time in the family business. "My son did three weeks in a summer holiday. He worked in every department: got up at five to work in the kitchen, concierge, housekeeping. Then he did another two weeks on our website. Irene spent six weeks in the marketing department, and Lydia spent six weeks working in the St Petersburg hotel."

Will they end up in the business? "It's a bit early to say. I don't want to force them into anything. It would be nice to have all three of them working with me – they all have quite different skills."

And though a pipe and slippers are certainly not on the cards ("I'll never retire – it's a huge mistake to retire. If you've worked all your life, you're finished as soon as you stop"), his interests extend beyond the workplace. Once an avid art collector, he says such an extravagance is now out of his reach. "If you set up a new business and expand, you don't have that much spare cash." But he admits to spending rather a lot on shooting and going to concerts. And a recent investment was the purchase of the Catholic Herald.

"I ended up controlling it almost by mistake," he says. "It was in a mess, losing money, but I managed to turn it around and it's doing quite well. I think that might get me some Brownie points 'up there'," he chuckles.

Being wealthy has also allowed him to help people on a personal level. "I prefer helping people directly," he says. "It is much more tangible than giving to a charity.

"I have a hearing problem – I wear a hearing aid – and I met this retired chap who was doing a lot of committee work. He told me, 'I'm going to stop all this because I can't hear what anybody's saying.' So I sent him off to my specialist, bought him some hearing aids and gave him another ten years of committee life. It's things like that which make a difference to someone's life. It's nice."

How to bag a billionaire

MARILYN MONROE, Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall had to choose between love and money in 1953's How to Marry a Millionaire. But as millionaires are now ten-a-penny, social climbers are setting their sights on the world's most exclusive club: the billionaires. Here's the lowdown on some of the top earners.

Mark Zuckerberg, 23

Net worth: 1.5bn

The world's youngest billionaire was a student when he set up a clever little social networking site called Facebook. Send him a message, name-checking his (and your) favourite band, Green Day.

Charles Dunstone, 44

Net worth: 1.8bn

Don't you just love those great deals at Carphone Warehouse? The correct answer is yes if you're to stand a chance with the company's CEO, Charles Dunstone.

Heidi Horten, 67

Net worth: 3.7bn

Age should be no barrier with the Austrian widow of a German department store mogul. These days, she splits her time between Switzerland and the Bahamas, so ensure your passport is up to date.

Sergei Polonsky, 35

Net worth: 1.2bn

All those hours spent watching TV property shows might finally come in useful when striking up conversation with this Moscow property mogul.

Peter Thiel, 40

Net worth: 1.2bn

This billionaire was the first investor in Facebook, but if you want to win his heart, challenge him to a game of chess.

Richard Li, 41

Net worth: 1.4bn

He's the chairman of PCCW, "the largest provider of communications services in Hong Kong".

Hind Hariri, 24

Net worth: 1.1bn

She inherited her fortune via the family's banking, media and construction holdings. If you want to catch this fashionista's eye, blag an invite to Paris Fashion Week.

Fahd Hariri, 27

Net worth: 2.3bn

Hind's brother can also be found in Paris, where he runs a furniture design studio.

Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis, 24

Net worth: 2.3bn

This German prince is yet to meet his fairytale princess. But he studied economics and theology at the University of Edinburgh, so why not try bonding over shared Auld Reekie memories.

Louisa Pearson