COVER STORY
Alan Fuerstman had a different idea about luxury .
IN MONTAGE , IT ’ S BEEN A TRIUMPH .
THE FOUNDER OF MONTAGE HOTELS & RESORTS LOOKS BACK ON TWO DECADES OF SUCCESS .
By DAVID EISEN
Alan Fuerstman founded Montage International in 2002 . The brand was built on the idea of a different type of luxury that avoided pretense . “ The next generation of luxury traveler was looking for something more humble ,” he said .
It ’ s been 20 years since Montage Laguna Beach opened its doors . Back then , global worry centered on SARS not COVID . Alan Fuerstman , meanwhile , was focused on his brandspanking-new luxury brand , Montage Hotels & Resorts . He made what might not sound intrepid now , but back then was a bold bet : approachable luxury .
In the early aughts , luxury was still dominated by the legacy flags , Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons , to name two , purveyors of heavy luxury . They had it down to an art form , all the way to the dense drapery . Fuerstman , now an Orange County resident by way of New Jersey , saw a gap in the market , the awareness that another type of luxury traveler existed who wanted a less stuffy experience that was still high end and high on style .
“ My take on luxury was that it was too pretentious , too formal and that the next generation of luxury traveler was looking for something more humble in the form of style , service and culture ,” Fuerstman , the founder , chairman and CEO of Montage International , told HOTELS about his vision some two decades ago .
By that time , he had worked his way up the ladder . A product of the 1960s , when idealism was a practice and not a fancy , Fuerstman worked part-time as a bellman at a local Marriott hotel until shipping off to Gettysburg College . Upon graduation ,
72 hotelsmag . com June 2023