![]() My take on ultra-luxury at the time was that old-world traditional luxury was too pretentious and stuffy. I was about 22 at the time and learned a lot, mostly in project management.Īlan and Michael Fuerstman at Montage Beverly Hills How did you go about launching your brands?Īlan: I had been thinking about creating a luxury hotel company for a few years before I launched Montage Hotels & Resorts in January 2002. I begged our development partners, the Athens Group, to let me intern with them-unpaid. I instantly fell in love with the development side of our business. I attended an owner’s meeting with him on a whim, and for the first time in my life saw the makings of building and developing a hotel…a room full of people discussing guest experience, design, value engineering decisions. At this point, my dad had launched Montage Laguna Beach, and was working on the development planning for Montage Beverly Hills. I moved out to LA, bummed out after the failure of my startup. We had an initial amount of success that fizzled quickly, and we had to shutter the business. In 2006, while finishing school, I started a mobile social networking site,, that was like Foursquare before Foursquare existed. I opted for Tufts, to explore if there was something else out there for me. I was always fascinated by hotels, but when it came time to go to college, I was choosing between Tufts University in Boston or The Hotel School at Cornell. My first job was as a pool attendant at the Bellagio when I was 16. I pulled the fire alarm during the pre-opening at the Warner Center Marriott, I’d visit him at work in Palm Desert and have a drawer full of Legos to play with. My earliest memories are running around hotels with my dad. Michael: I can’t remember life without the hospitality industry. In my early forties, I went on to open Bellagio in Las Vegas as the Vice President of Hotel Operations. In my mid-thirties, I became President and Managing Director of The Phoenician in Scottsdale, Arizona where I oversaw multiple hotels and resorts and continued my resort development responsibilities. In that role, I got involved in resort development in addition to my management responsibilities. From there, I was recruited to be the General Manager of the then Sheraton El Conquistador Resort and Country Club in Tucson, Arizona. My career with Marriott culminated in opening Marriott Desert Springs as Resort Manager. Over the next decade, I went on to work at five Marriott properties in various departments such as, housekeeping, front office, and food and beverage, developing my skills and progressing my career towards hotel general manager. I decided not to pursue more schooling and entered Marriott’s management training program. Gaining much insight from him and through that experience, I fell in love with the hotel business. ![]() He persuaded me to take a position opening the resort as its first bell captain. When I got to California, coincidentally the General Manager I had worked for in New Jersey was in the process of opening a Marriott resort in Rancho Mirage. ![]() I worked there as a bellman during my college summer breaks, and after graduation in 1978, I moved to California with a friend with the intent to stay for a year before going to graduate school. ![]() What first got you interested in hospitality?Īlan: As a senior in high school, I got a part-time job as a doorman at a Marriott hotel in New Jersey. Here, from a suite at Montage Beverly Hills, they share with CSQ their paths to success and plans for the future. Meanwhile, its sister brand, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, launched in 2017 by Alan’s son, Michael, has already opened properties in San Diego and Baltimore, with plans for New York (2021), Natirar, New Jersey (2021), Park City (2021), and West Hollywood (2020). Now, with six hotels and residential developments currently open, the brand plans to double its portfolio in the next three years, with openings under development in Healdsburg, California (2020), Big Sky, Montana (2021) and La Quinta, California (2021) announced. Relaxed, unbuttoned, in tune with its destination, and known for top-notch service, the brand was an instant success when Alan Fuerstman debuted it in 2003. Celebrating its 16th anniversary this year, Montage Laguna Beach marked a new era of luxury hotels. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |