PERSONALITIES
Re-creating a
LEGACY in south Florida
WITH THE BACKING AND BIG BUDGETS OF NEW OWNER MICHAEL DELL , LUXURY HOTELIER DANIEL HOSTETTLER HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH REVITALIZING THE BOCA RATON .
by JEFF WEINSTEIN , EDITOR IN CHIEF
In its day some 40 to 50 years ago , The Boca Raton & Club in south Florida was on everybody ’ s bucket list . It was the height of sophistication . It was chic and elegant . More recently , however , it was mostly viewed as a nondescript , big convention hotel . Now , if luxury hotelier Daniel Hostettler has anything to say about it , the great reputation of a legacy property will be revived .
After being acquired in 2019 for US $ 875 million by tech titan Michael Dell and his family , they turned to luxury hotelier Hostettler to help return the grand dame to its lofty positioning with a modern interpretation that will attract nextgeneration luxury travelers .
“ I described this opportunity the other day as sort of the capstone of my career ,” says Hostettler , who in March 2021 left his 12- year stint as president and group managing director of Ocean House Management Collection in New England to head south for hot and sunny Florida . “ How could I say no to creating a legacy project . The opportunity just doesn ’ t happen very often .”
Now , as president and CEO of The Boca Raton , working for property owner MSD Partners ( Northview Hotel Group has a minority stake and asset manages ), Hostettler has a phenomenal opportunity to create hospitality magic on a grand scale and beat a 2026 deadline to once again make The Boca Raton one of the top resorts in country when it celebrates its 100th birthday . He confidently says he will overdeliver and has an internal goal of returning to the pinnacle by 2024 .
The project , which will be redeveloped over three phases and is just completing phase one for more than US $ 200 million , is now the biggest asset in the MSD Partners portfolio and therefore receiving a lot of attention . Spread over 300-waterfront-acres , The
52 hotelsmag . com May 2022