NAPLES, Fla. -- When former Ritz-Carlton executive Joseph Freni
Jr. set out to build his own hotel chain, he envisioned boutique
properties with Ritz-Carlton service but without the marble and
chandeliers. Staff would be "less stuffy and robotic" than their
Ritz-Carlton competitors, and guests would pay less.
The Trianon Hotel Co. will open its first property here Dec. 15,
featuring a 1938 Cracker-style cottage for meetings of up to 20
attendees.
The hotel revamped the cottage -- which gained recognition when
Bob Vila's "This Old House" television show restored it in 1991 --
to create a parlor, porch, and function room. The cottage also
includes a kitchen, and the hotel has lined up five caterers from
which to choose. The 58-room Old Naples Trianon also will include a
20-person boardroom. Overall, small meetings and executive retreats
should account for 20% of the hotel's mix, Freni said. A quick walk
will bring guests to the town's Fifth Avenue shopping district, and
a hotel shuttle will whisk them to the Gulf of Mexico in five
minutes.
Trianon's second property, the Bonita Bay in Bonita Springs,
Fla., is slated to open next October, and its third, the Marco
Beach Ocean Resort in Marco Island, Fla., is scheduled for an
October 1999 debut. Freni said he is scouting for future sites,
eyeing Florida's east coast -- perhaps Vero Beach or Palm Beach --
and cities as far-flung as Hong Kong. "I want to do hotels that I
really enjoy, in places I want to be in," he said.
The 100-room Bonita Bay, "in the heart of golf country," Freni
said, is halfway between Naples and Fort Myers, will host groups up
to 30 with a 450-square-foot conference room and 200-square-foot
library.
The 103-room all-suite Marco hotel will entertain groups of up
to 50 with 1,500 square feet of meetings space in the main building
and another 3,000 square feet in a beachfront restaurant. Trianon
plans to share meetings with the nearby Marriott as well, Freni
said.
Each property will offer continental breakfasts in a lounge off
the lobby.
Freni headed the Ritz-Carlton Naples for 10 years and was a
regional vice president for Ritz-Carlton in Asia, Mexico, the
Caribbean and Florida. He vowed to dodge the Wall Street hotel
frenzy, saying he would much rather keep his chain small and
privately held.
Lexington Services will handle reservations for the Trianon
group.