He may be the son of a seasoned hotelier, but the hospitality industry didn’t initially come calling for Michael Fuerstman. Here, the co-founder and Creative Director of Pendry Hotels & Resorts tells of the winding path to uncovering his passion, writes Ayesha Khan.
Making the cut to be a pool boy at the newly-opened Bellagio Las Vegas was a big deal in 1999. Sure, Michael Fuerstman, then 15, had an unfair advantage – his father was one of the big bosses – but he largely relied on his inherited hospitality prowess and charm to land the coveted summer job. “I was lucky enough to have that job for three years and it still may be the best job I ever had in my life. It was incredible,” he quips.
Fast-forward 22 years and the charming young attendant is now the co-founder and Creative Director of one of the hospitality industry’s hottest new brands. Started in San Diego’s trendy Gaslamp Quarter in 2017, Pendry really sprouted legs when Under Armour founder Kevin Plank decided to go in with Fuerstman on a Baltimore flag, set in the dramatic Recreation Pier building that dates back to 1914. “Baltimore was never a city that was on our radar but we partnered with Kevin who is such a visionary,” Fuerstman recalls. “He said, ‘let’s put your vision and our vision together and do something iconic in the city.’ We went to look at the site and fell in love with the neighbourhood. The building is so iconic; it floats over the water and used to be a port of immigration. People set foot on American soil for the first time there, and it was the most trafficked port outside of Ellis Island – such a weighty history! Sagamore Pendry Baltimore showed us that luxury can be a rate-leader – we eclipsed even a Four Seasons in performance.”
The Pendry brand wasn’t built completely from scratch; Fuerstman’s father, Alan, had already catalysed the wild success of his brainchild Montage International, and Pendry was formed as a younger, more urban extension of the brand. “We’d always been thinking about having a complementary luxury brand,” Fuerstman says of the genesis of Pendry. “10 years after we started Montage, we took a look around and had this great point of view as to what was resonating with our guests. We felt that a new luxury customer had come into being, and what they cared about was a little different than what the previous generation cared about from a style perspective. They were really into architecture, design and art as part of their hotel experience.” So, just like the proverbial son following in his father’s footsteps, so too did the Pendry brand, proving to contain all the DNA of Montage, but with a decidedly younger, more current ethos. With a ‘know thyself’ mantra, Pendry’s design is rooted in its host city’s heritage but is notably forward-thinking. The narrative of each hotel is crafted together with local artists and celebrated, and is as relevant for locals as it is for the savvy, younger social set that is the Pendry customer.
“We felt that a new luxury customer had come into being, and what they cared about was a little different than what the previous generation cared about from a style perspective. They were really into architecture, design and art as part of their hotel experience.”
Ironically, and indeed like many second-generation hoteliers, the younger Fuerstman didn’t always have ambitions of joining the hospitality industry. For college, rather than opting to study hotel management, Fuerstman pursued a Political Science degree at Boston’s Tufts University. On the side, he enlisted in the gruelling nightshift at a local hotel, checking guests in after-hours and delivering room service. “It was interesting getting to know all the areas within a hotel,” Fuerstman recalls. “I loved it, but also learned hospitality wasn’t going to be for me, or so I thought at the time. I was looking for something that would test my business mind as well as my creativity.” Discouraged from the failure of a seemingly disruptive social media platform he developed with some college friends, Fuerstman ultimately moved back to his family home of California.
Asked about lessons learned from his industry veteran father, Fuerstman says: “It sounds cliché, but my father taught me the power and value of hard work, combined with dedicating time and energy to the things that light us up. For me, that’s personal and professional. Professionally, it took a bit of a winding path to uncover my passion for creating something tangible that people can experience.”
He goes on to attribute his hospitality foray to nonchalantly accompanying his father to a Montage development meeting. What he learned during that short encounter left him filled with bright-eyed wonderment. “I was hooked,” he quips. “I knocked on the developer’s door and begged him to hire me, even if it was unpaid. I would take field measurements for them, run and get coffee, whatever it took.” Ultimately Fuerstman was hired as an assistant project manager and learned the craft. He recalls: “I was sitting in design meetings, putting together plumbing fixture matrices, looking at everything on site, and what it takes to build stuff.”
Much to the delight of his father, this venture brought Fuerstman right back into the family business. But he is quick to point out that he isn’t simply his father’s son, and that their skills complement one another. “I love working with my dad. We come from complete opposite sides of the business,” he explains. “I started on the development side and he started out on the operations side, and where we are right now is really fun; he brings the perspective of how we can actually do things and for me, it’s about the concept, what’s the hook that guests will get excited about.”
It is Fuerstman’s position on the development side that allows him to craft enduring narratives and work with some of the best culinary and creative minds in the industry. Speaking to his creative process, he explains that each project is filled with years of careful planning and curation. “We craft every Pendry from scratch, each and every time. We question architecture and the best use of space. We then make a shortlist of interior designers we want to partner with, a shortlist of brands we want to bring in and a shortlist of culinary experiences we want to offer. We put it together to create a unique guest experience; it is so specific and so different each time.”
Earlier this spring the brand took its winning formula into two key American cities. In the much-lauded hotel and residential project in West Hollywood, Fuerstman teamed up with Martin Brudnizki Design Studio to tell the tale of a chic, Hollywood hotel filled with artist collaborations. “Martin has brought a level of sophistication refinement, boldness and energy to the design,” Fuerstman says. “We’re passionate about designing a community experience for locals by locals and envision the hotel as a hospitality and entertainment anchor in the city.”
The hotel’s culinary partner, Chef Wolfgang Puck, brings an array of offerings, from a rooftop restaurant overlooking the city to a casual eatery described by Puck as a marriage between a French brasserie and Italian trattoria. Located on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Olive Drive, the European-style café offers both indoor and al fresco dining, serving an all-day menu of neighbourhood-friendly favourites. There’s also two bars, and a chic members-only club complete with a screening room and bowling alley that harks back to the Rat Pack days on the Sunset Strip.
“We make a shortlist of interior designers we want to partner with, a shortlist of brands we want to bring in and a shortlist of culinary experiences we want to offer; We put it together to create a unique guest experience.”
2021 has also seen the opening of Pendry Chicago, set in the 1929 Art Deco landmark Carbide & Carbon Building. Here, Fuerstman teamed up with Studio Munge for the design of the 364 guestrooms and suites as well as a signature restaurant and bar concept overseen by Andy Masi of Clique Hospitality.
Pendry’s imminent New York City opening meanwhile will see a collaboration with Studio Gachot and the culinary stylings of Quality Foods, a mainstay on the city’s dining scene. “For Pendry Manhattan West, we studied California and New York design elements. We wanted to take a James Perse-inspired, Malibu clean, with a creamy, calm aesthetic and have warm glowing amber light everywhere. We wanted a palette-cleansing space that is a calm in the hustle and bustle of New York,” Fuerstman says of the property, set in an undulating SOM-designed building in Manhattan’s new Hudson Yards neighbourhood.
Later on this year, a hotel and residences complex in Park City, Utah will bring what Fuerstman describes as a “super-contemporary, architecture driven mountain hotel” to the Pendry portfolio. Designed by SB Architects, the property is influenced by the area’s rich mining history and neighbouring mountain ridges, though is a deliberate departure from the traditional log cabin aesthetic, instead reinterpreting Park City’s past in a new, more contemporary way. Along with the 150 guestrooms, facilities include a spa, meeting space and 4,000ft2 ballroom, while a rooftop pool, Japanese steakhouse and happening Mexican eatery will surely cement the hotel’s position as the hottest new opening of the winter season in the popular ski haven.
Other ventures include a hotel in Washington DC, due to open in 2022 at The Wharf, where DesignAgency will create three food and beverage concepts and a destination pool deck for the waterfront development. There’s also Pendry La Quinta, currently under construction in the heart of Coachella Valley in Southern California, and Pendry Natirar, occupying a grand, Tudor-style mansion and billed as the rebirth of the great, American country estate. The latter, led by Coscia Moos Architecture, will debut in 2022 and sees the restoration of the original manor house as well as a sympathetic newbuild housing events spaces.
Pendry’s ability to shrug off the many pandemic setbacks and single-mindedly pursue its development pipeline is nothing if not commendable. But when will the brand make its first international foray? Fuerstman is tight-lipped but a little journalistic prying elicits some insight. “Our largest feeder market will be Europe for this destination,” he says, assuring us that he will make the good news public later on in the year. “I am really attuned to the fact that the sensibilities of a European traveller are going to be very different from those of an American traveller. That challenge of tapping into that mindset and understanding how to stay ahead of the guests is the challenge with going international,” he explains, insisting he’s more excited than hesitant for this venture. “I know our guests in the States, I am one of them, but in Europe, it’s not quite the same. Regardless, it will be a great learning experience,” he adds with a smile.
We, of course, are left guessing as to where flags will be planted: London perhaps? Paris? Amsterdam? Wherever it may be, Pendry’s first international venture is sure to resonate with urbanites who appreciate this singular brand defined by understated, thoughtful and truly indigenous luxury.
