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By Newsweek Editors
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Eloise had the right idea. A luxury hotel can be a grand place to live, and not just for impish little girls. These days so many people want to be permanent residents of five-star establishments that innkeepers from Bali to Key Biscayne, Fla., have gone on a building binge, constructing private homes attached to or affiliated with their full-service hotels. Big chains plan to open more than a dozen high-end condos around the world in the next two years--most offering sterling hotel services at platinum prices. Many buyers are empty nesters who want elegant quarters with dial-up conveniences. "It's assisted living for the rich," muses one hotel executive.
The very rich, as a matter of fact. A small (750 square feet) condominium at Ritz-Carlton's Boston Common starts at $515,000, plus an annual maintenance fee of $5,600. A stand-alone, pueblo-style house at the Residences at the Four Seasons in Scottsdale, Ariz., start at about $1.5 million. Residents pay extra for housekeeping, laundry, room service, parking and other amenities.
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Most owners don't worry about the money. Many already split their time between hotels and other homes, following the sun or the social season from one venue to another. Les Turchin, a New York investor, and his wife, Sharyn, bought a penthouse at Starwood's new St. Regis Hotel and Residences in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. "Everything is anticipated and done in a first-class manner," he says of the movable-feast lifestyle. He also expects topnotch security. "Your personal treasures are safe," he says.
So is your favorite spot by the water, where residents have reserved beach chairs, says Midge Clark Bachewicz, who has already sold 24 of the 29 homes at the Ft. Lauderdale development. Prices range from $1.5 million to $10 million, and extra-cost services abound. "You can have a room-service dinner for eight or a pedicure in your living room," says Bachewicz. "Where else could you do that but in a hotel?" That suits the many purchasers who are of post-child-rearing age. "This is better than a retirement home," says Michael Saunders, real-estate agent for the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton being built in Sarasota, Fla. "You have someone to walk your dog, someone to pick up your prescription."
Edward Bongart and his wife, Jacqueline, early retirees from Atlanta, are only in their 40s. But they're buying a home at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota. Bongart likes the idea of mixing with vacationers staying in the hotel. "This will be exciting, with people coming and going," he says. But all the extra-cost hotel service and security will, of course, lend it that exclusive touch.
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