GOSTELOW REPORT—“Miami Beach really would not be what it is today without Art Basel Miami Beach,” says Alex Furrer, general manager of The Setai, Miami Beach, reflecting on the latest annual event, which finished December 9.
Since 2002, Miami Beach has hosted an offshoot of the world’s most significant art gathering, the privately owned Art Basel, based in Basel, Switzerland.
Under the aegis of Noah Horowitz, director Americas for Art Basel, and with lead sponsor UBS, the five-day Art Basel Miami Beach takes over the town. It is reckoned at least 90,000 art investors and enthusiasts descend, and many locals take time off to enjoy the show – one Uber driver said he gave up driving in favor of a couple of days’ culture (his favorites this year were the cartoon-like sculptures of Alec Monopoly). The Setai, like other properties in the area, hosts pop-up art exhibitions, which coincidentally included Alec Monopoly pieces in a hotel-owned storefront opening off Collins Street, plus, in the lobby, giant montage portraits by Chuck Close.
“Our hotel benefits substantially. The 77 rooms in the original Art Deco building are complemented by 53 letting-pool suites in the 161-apartment early-21st century tower immediately behind the main hotel. Our 130-total units were 100% occupancy throughout. This year, with a five-night minimum stay, our starting price was US$1,500 a night, room only, and average rate fluctuated between US$2,200 and US$2,800 during the event. Add to that packed out entertaining, in our restaurants and bars, and covered-over central courtyard,” said Furrer, with a satisfied smile.
Corporate entertaining by such significant names as BMW and LVMH also means it is impossible, during fair time, to get reservations at other top places in town: That list includes the Versace mansion, Casa Casuarina, which, like The Setai, is now owned by the Nakache brothers, best known for their Jordache jeans.
“Even I could not get a table for some of my regular hotel guests at Casa Casuarina, which is managed separately from The Setai,” explained Furrer. One benefit for those who stay with him, however, is that his hotel is only nine minutes’ walk from Miami Beach Convention Center, anchor of Art Basel Miami Beach – the hotel runs a non-stop complimentary shuttle, by golf cart and Mercedes limousine.
Since Art Basel Miami Beach grows each year, the outlook should be rosy, but there is a potential cloud on the horizon. On October 30, 2018, Miami Beach residents voted to approve an 800-room convention center hotel. “But nothing has been finalized and there is not even a hint of who would manage it. We are, anyway, talking several years out,” Furrer said.
Eventually, all being well, having a hotel right on premise at the convention center could dent his rates during Art Basel time, but he is not worried.
“Art Basel is positioning Miami Beach year-round on a par with, say, St. Barth’s and, during the summer, with St. Tropez, and this helps us at all times. This Christmas, for instance, when we have a five-night minimum stay in our original Art Deco building (with a seven-night minimum in the tower), we are full-house, 50% with Americans, and the rest coming from South America and Europe, especially Germany and Switzerland. And our rates will be on a par with what we achieved during Art Basel Miami Beach,” he explained.