![]() The stacked-fieldstone facility is an indoor-outdoor pleasure dome concealing marble saunas, Niagara-force open-air whirlpools and fitness rooms opening onto the beach. Boyce, who trained with Daniel Boulud, leans toward clean Mediterranean-flavored combinations that make the most of Laguna's farmers' market and the daily catch (spiny-tail lobster is a local specialty). Take a window table or cozy up to the tasting table-or reserve the private dining room off the spectacular country-style kitchen headed up by James Boyce. The dress-up one is Studio, a clubby maple-paneled venue that sits on its own view-intensive point. When the room-service menu palls, there are three restaurants. The baths impress without showing off-oversize soaking tubs, showers with water pressure you wouldn't mind having at home. Beds are feather-top and swaddled in down TVs are 27-inch flat screens and are accompanied by DVD players and the sound system is high-end. The designers (Dallas-based Wilson Associates) finished the guest rooms with the same mingling of dark woods, light fabrics and luminous paintings that characterize the public rooms. Rooms are spacious-the very smallest measures 500 square feet-and all of them, whether luxury suites perched high above the main pool or discrete bungalows down by the beach, survey the Pacific from broad Craftsman-style porches. Still, the place is a resort, and it doesn't stint on the creature comforts. And plenty of bypaths loop down to the beach itself, a sequence of white-sand coves as sexy as Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster themselves. A bluff-top trail rambles through the park, past silvery coastal gardens and ocean lookouts. There's a pool for swimmers, a pool for loungers and a pool for toddlers. Regis), the Laguna Beach Montage is fully oriented to outdoor pleasures. ![]() "That's precisely what we planned to achieve here." Unlike some of its loftier neighbors (The Ritz-Carlton, the St. "The Arts and Crafts Movement melded nature into design and architecture," says Alan Fuerstman, founder, president and CEO of Montage Hotels Resorts. These events still draw thousands to the coastal town every summer-and if some of Laguna's natural charms have faded over time, the place has aged more gracefully than many of its neighbors along the California coast. In 1920 Payne became president of the newly incorporated Laguna Beach Art Association, which would promote the work of his peers and generations of future artists with events like the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters. The bungalows of Greene and Greene (and their imitators), the woodwork and metalwork produced up north and the pottery and ceramic tiles out of Southern California harmoniously coincided with a flowering of plein air art celebrating the mountains and deserts and beaches of the Golden State.Īrtists' colonies sprang up in aesthetically congenial settings such as Laguna Beach, whose rocky coves and eucalyptus-shaded canyon inspired painters like Edgar Payne and William Wendt. Starting out as a doorman at a Marriott hotel in New Jersey, Alan worked his way up to managing several hotels and was eventually tapped by Steve Wynn to be the opening Vice President of Hotel Operations at Bellagio in Las Vegas before venturing off on his own to launch Montage in 2002.ĭuring our conversation, we talk about everything from Alan’s childhood and college days, how he became interested in hospitality and his advice for those looking to break into the industry today, how his positive attitude and the relationships he built throughout his career helped him when launching his own company, partnering with the founder of eBay to open the first Montage hotel, how the pandemic has impacted Montage as well as the industry in general, what the future of the brand looks like, and much more.With its reverence for nature and its emphasis on raw materials, individual craftsmanship and organic designs, the English-spawned Arts and Crafts Movement found a welcome second home in turn-of-the-last-century California. Alan Fuerstman is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Montage International, a luxury hospitality management company encompassing Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Montage Residences, Pendry Residences, and management of some of the country’s premiere golf courses and clubs.
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