1616-17 Various Miami Beach HOTELS
Beach
resort
sends
Hilton
packing
■Turnberry Associates,the
new owner of the
Fontainebleau resort,dismisses
Hilton and plans on running the
huge hotel by itself.
BY DOUGLAS HANKS Ill .-- -
dhanks@heraid.com
For the first time in nearly 30 4
years,the Fontainebleau won't be a
Hilton.
New owner Turnberry Associ-
- ates plans on running the 1,400-
room resort itself,saying the iconic
Fontainebleau doesn't need the
marketing muscle or name recogni-
tion of a major hotel brand like Hil-
ton or Marriott.
"The Fontainebleau name is
strong enough,"said Philip Gold-
farb, head of Turnberry's hotel
division.
The decision will leave the
region's largest resort without the
global sales force,multimillion dol-
lar marketing campaigns, loyalty
programs and aggressive Internet
presence that comes with a
national hotel chain.
On the other hand,the Aventu-
,ra-based company won't be bur-
dened with a costly operating con-
tract or risk having the storied
Fontainebleau's image linked to a
• national brand's reputation.
It also could mark the first step
in Turnberry's effort to turn Fon-
tainebleau into a national hotel
brand with its own following.In his
first interview announcing the Fon-
tainebleau purchase last month,
Jeffrey Soffer hinted the company
might open other Fontainebleaus,
saying:"I think the Fontainebleau
name has got tremendous legs to it.
In fact we might be looking to con-
tinuing that on."
Soffer could not be reached for
comment Monday evening. Gold-
HOTELS I FROM THE FRONT PAGE
Fontainebleau owner dismisses Hilton
FONTAINEBLEAU,FROM 1C ton in Nashville. His contract limits Hilton's for mid-March.
Turnberry is building con- ability to open other proper- Soffer has promised $150
farb said the Fontainebleau do-hotel components for the ties in the Miami Beach area, million in renovations to cre-
will be the first resort Turn- MGM Grand casino in Las and those restrictions would ate a Las Vegas-style feel for
berry will operate itself,but Vegas and the Atlantis resort evaporate once Turnberry the former Rat Pack hangout,
"it won't be the last." in Nassau, Bahamas, but it takes over. with a hopping nightlife and
Turnberry is best known will not be operating them. Fontainebleau executives big-name restaurants and
for a resort it no longer owns:. Current Fontainebleau notified resort workers Mon- entertainment.
Turnberry Isle in Aventura, owner Stephen Muss signed day of Hilton's pending Goldfarb declined to pre-
which it sold in'the 1990s. It Hilton to run the hotel 1978 at departure.The timing of the dict how Hilton's departure
currently owns and operates a time when most major switch is still under negotia- would impact the resort's
several Marriott-branded chains were steering clear of tion.Turnberry's purchase of payroll or whether any of the
hotels in Aventura and Miami Beach's reputation as a the Fontainebleau from Muss roughly 900 current workers
Orlando and a high-end Hil- dreary retirement destination. and his partners is scheduled would lose their jobs.