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Miami Beach's Fontainebleau shifts its pitch from sexy to family
The Miami Herald
May 9, 2009
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BY DOUGLAS HANKS
dhanks@MiamiHerald.com
Six months ago, Victoria's Secret fashion models showed off their underwear at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for a national television audience. This week, Kelly Ripa was the star at the newly renovated resort as she and Regis Philbin took their morning show, Live! with Regis and Kelly, to Miami Beach.
''Another day in paradise from the Fontainebleau Miami Beach,'' the former soap star declared as the Wednesday show opened live a few feet from the resort's pool deck.
The shift in spotlight wasn't an accident. The Fontainebleau is making an effort to change its image from seductive beachside escape to a family-friendly vacation spot.
When the hotel opened, the marketing campaign ''was to play hot and sexy,'' said Howard Karawan, chief operating officer of Fontainebleau Resorts. ``Coming out of the winter, we knew that wasn't going to work. We had to go for family.''
The switch is dramatic. After spending $5 million on the Victoria's Secret bash, the Fontainebleau has all but halted the advertising campaign that melded perfectly with it: a series of black-and-white images of a sultry, nearly naked woman positioned next to the Fontainebleau logo.
Now the Fontainebleau is helping pay for Regis and Kelly's Miami Beach getaway -- shows that have been airing live from the resort's pool deck all week.
Karawan would not say how much the resort paid the show, but did say the amount is less than $1 million.
After Ripa's intro, Philbin gave the audience a lengthy synopsis of the dining offerings at the Fontainebleau. ''In this hotel, I have not found a weak restaurant yet,'' he said.
Karawan describes the move as a natural shift as the new owners tried to make a splash with the Fontainebleau's November debut and reposition the hotel away from its image as a dated Hilton and into a fashionable rival to popular South Beach hotels.
But the makeover comes as Miami Beach hotels struggle with lower occupancy rates and a reluctant market of travelers. Designed as the region's largest convention hotel, the Fontainebleau in particular has been hit hard by a steep drop in corporate meetings.
To burnish the resort's family appeal, Karawan said, the restaurants picked for their star-chef appeal have boosted their kid-menu offerings. And hotel staff took Ripa's children on a tour of the Fontainebleau's pastry kitchen and a talk with the in-house chocolatiers.
The push for families mirrors a broader strategy for Miami Beach in the summer, when the destination's natural appeal in the Northeast market gives way to steamy temperatures and stormy afternoons. Beach hotels target families looking for short vacations from other Florida cities, and the Fontainebleau hopes to take a large chunk of that market. |
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