When guests visit Belize's Blancaneaux Lodge mountain retreat, they'll have access to everything from stunning jungle views to waterfalls to on-property horseback riding and modern amenities such as an alarm clock with an iPod docking station.
What they won't have is air conditioning. Which is exactly how its owner, director Francis Ford Coppola, wants it.
"It's not good for the environment, and it creates noise," said Christine Gaudenzi, director of sales and marketing at Coppola Resorts. "He doesn't want a hermetically sealed environment."
Indeed, celebrity-owned hotels that typify glitz and glamour, like California's Beverly Hilton (formerly owned by Merv Griffin) and Australia's Palazzo Versace (owned by Donatella Versace), may be becoming passe. Celebrities looking to get into the lodging business are now investing in secluded, largely warm-weather and very natural settings. And while they will still be posh and expensive, they will likely have a decidedly ecological bent.
Leonardo DiCaprio and partner Delos will redevelop part of the actor's private island in Belize into what the developers say will be "the greenest island resort ever built." Half of the island will be maintained as a wildlife preserve, and the reef will be artificially expanded to promote fish breeding.
Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Douglas and Robert De Niro are among the stars working on Caribbean and Central America resorts that will complement top-of-the-line amenities with an emphasis on both personal wellness and ecological sensitivity, their development partners say.
Meanwhile, technology mogul Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle Corp., who purchased 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012, is working on a plan to make the island, which includes two Four Seasons resorts, a model of ecological sustainability with investments in solar-energy capability and increasing organic-farming production.
Additionally, the cult of celebrity is being invoked by the developers of the Brando, the super-ecoluxe resort that opened last summer on the 4.5-square-mile Tetiaroa atoll owned by actor Marlon Brando's estate in French Polynesia.
Whether such investments are being spurred by financial savvy, environmental concern or ego is open to debate, but what is certain is that, whatever the motivation, these developments share a strong environmental sensitivity, long a passion in the entertainment community.
For Douglas and the luxury cottages project he's developing in Bermuda, that means solar-generated electricity, a construction method that uses stackable foam blocks filled with concrete and rebar to conserve energy and the preservation of a couple of salt-water pools.
Douglas and development partner Olympic Property Partners acquired the Ariel Sands Resort, a property that had been owned by members of Douglas' family for more than 70 years, and plan to reopen the 82-key resort in time for the 2017 America's Cup yacht race in Bermuda. They broke ground on the redevelopment last November.
"He's very much an environmentalist," said Olympic Property Partners principal Seth Weinstein, who added that the actor's affinity for Bermuda is also spurred by the fact that members of Douglas' mother's family have lived on the island since the 1600s. "He wants to create something that's great for Bermuda."
Meanwhile, DiCaprio and development partner Delos announced this spring that they would redevelop Blackadore Caye, the actor's private island in Belize, as "the greenest island resort ever built." Half of the island will be maintained as a wildlife preserve, and the reef will be artificially expanded to promote fish breeding, while much of the resort will be designed to rest on platforms and pylons over the ocean in order to minimize ecological disturbance.
The developers also say the resort will be "triple-net zero," meaning that it will be designed to produce as much energy and water as it uses while also eliminating waste.
"Islands and coastal areas all over the world are being threatened by climate change due to rising sea levels, ocean acidification and habitat pressures," DiCaprio said in a statement last month. "This project is leading a new way in ecotourism, development and green building and demonstrates that human development can be truly restorative and beneficial for the environment."
Michael Douglas and Olympic Property Partners are redeveloping a Bermuda site long owned by the actor's family into an 82-room, ecoluxe resort slated to open in time for the 2017 America's Cup yacht race.
Late last year, Robert De Niro, whose investments include the Nobu Hospitality chain of restaurants and, more recently, hotels, and Australian developer James Packer, who heads Crown Resorts, said they were going to redevelop the shuttered K Club Resort site on the island of Barbuda. Few details were revealed for the site, which closed more than a decade ago.
And Ellison is about four years into his efforts at making the 140-square-mile Lanai, which includes the Four Seasons Resort the Lodge at Koele and the Four Seasons Resort at Manele Bay, more environmentally sustainable. In addition to Ellison's plans for expanding the island's usage of solar energy and boosting production from its organic farms, Four Seasons has instituted a policy of using a water filtration system in which the resorts' still and sparkling water is delivered in refillable glass bottles to cut down on waste.
Such projects mark a shift in focus from many previous examples of celebrities investing in the lodging industry.
Merv Griffin owned the Beverly Hills' Beverly Hilton (and lived in its penthouse) from 1987 to 2003, while Fess Parker of "Davy Crockett" and "Daniel Boone" fame developed the Fess Parker DoubleTree Resort in Santa Barbara in 1987.
Blancaneaux Lodge's thatched roofs help keep the rooms ventilated. An organic garden at supplies 80% of its produce.
In fact, such actors and other higher-profile individuals are following in the footsteps of a couple of directors who've long owned resorts that combine exclusivity and amenities with natural beauty. Robert Redford bought Utah's Sundance Mountain Resort ski area in 1968 and later built out part of the area into a year-round destination that includes cottages and cabins and is the home of the Sundance Film Festival.
Somewhat more recently, Coppola, who had considered buying property in the Philippines after filming "Apocalypse Now" there during the 1970s, became enamored with Belize because of its similar physical characteristics. He transformed an old lodge he had acquired there into Blancaneaux Lodge in 1993. Among "green" touches there are the usage of nearby Privassion Creek to supply the property's hydroelectric power, thatched roofs, an organic garden that supplies 80% of the resort's produce and no A/C.
Coppola also tries to have guests "give back" at his Central America resorts with programs such as letting guests fish for lionfish at Belize's Turtle Inn (that species is non-native and harmful to the local reef, according to Gaudenzi) and encouraging guests from the U.S. to bring with them pencils, books and other school supplies to be donated to local schools.
Most recently, in 2012, Coppola opened Palazzo Margherita in a redeveloped 18th century building in central Italy.
While such projects are being positioned as a way to combine luxury amenities and secluded locales while embracing environmental sustainability, they're more than just vanity projects. These celebrities are also focused on return on investment in a lodging sector that is rebounding as strongly as any part of the industry.
Francis Ford Coppola
While breaking out recent results from the ultraluxe sector in which these resorts will be competing is difficult, both the Caribbean and Hawaii have been experiencing a spending rebound, while Scott Smith, senior vice president at PKF Consulting, estimated that high-end resort demand in general "has come back to prerecession levels." More specifically, Caribbean hotels' revenue per available room last year advanced 8% from a year earlier, primarily on room-rate increases.
And that demand could rise further as more guests arrive from Brazil, whose Southern Hemisphere seasons can spur business in the Caribbean during what is typically that area's low season, according to Smith.
Scott Berman, U.S. hospitality and leisure practice leader at Pricewaterhouse-Coopers (PwC), said in January, "I have been pleasantly surprised to see the rebirth of the resort segment and the importance of resorts in the overall definition of the lodging industry."
Meanwhile, high-net-worth individuals such as DiCaprio, Douglas and De Niro are uniquely positioned to secure the financial backing to finance these capital-intensive projects. That's because Caribbean banks are loath to finance such projects after being burned during the most recent recession, Smith said.
Additionally, as the global economy has recovered and travel spending has surged, the concept of luxury resorts has appeared to have lost the stigma it gained in the aftermath of the recession, when companies such as AIG and its infamously expensive retreat at the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Southern California were regarded as examples of irresponsible spending.
Speaking at the STR Global Data Conference in September 2013, STR Global's Vail Brown called luxury "a bad word." By January of this year, however, Montage Hotels & Resorts CEO Alan Fuerstman, speaking at the Americas Lodging and Investment Summit, was saying that "luxury's not a bad word."
So while paying a starting rate of $350 a night or so at Coppola's Turtle Inn or more than $1,000 a night at Ellison's Four Seasons properties on Lanai or $8,000 a night for a three-bedroom villa at the Brando may have seemed gauche five years ago, it appears to be a bit more acceptable now, especially since the resorts are positioned as environmentally sensitive, respectful of their local cultures and beneficial to the nearby economy.
For example, an 80-room luxury resort can employ as many as 500 people, motivating government leaders in countries such as Bermuda and Antigua-Barbuda to voice their support of the projects involving Douglas and De Niro, respectively.
Still, the financial risks are real and, aside from Dolly Parton's continued investment in Tennessee's Dollywood theme park and nearby DreamMore Resort, those risks are far larger than an earlier generation of lodging investments by entertainers.
For instance, Richard Gere helped restore upstate New York's eight-room Bedford Post Inn in 2007, while U2's Bono and The Edge have owned Dublin's 49-room Clarence hotel since 1992. Pro golfer Arnold Palmer developed the 109-room SpringHill Suites in his hometown of Latrobe, Pa., in 2002.
Conversely, Weinstein estimated that his and Douglas' Bermuda project, which sits on 13 acres and boasts almost a quarter-mile of waterfront, will cost $90 million, or more than $1 million per key. And while DiCaprio's representatives declined to disclose the estimated development cost of the Belize project, its estate homes will be priced from about $5 million to $15 million, indicating the steep price tag associated with building out the type of infrastructure required for the resort.
The Four Seasons Lanai at Manele Bay sits on the Hawaiian island that tech mogul Larry Ellison acquired in 2012 and is gradually turning into what he hopes is a model for resort environmental sustainability. Ellison is making investments in solar-energy capability and increasing organic-farming production.
Meanwhile, reports peg the estimated price of De Niro's redevelopment in Barbuda at as much as $300 million, while Ellison is said to have paid as much as $500 million for 98% of Lanai in 2012.
Whether the resorts' association with such high-profile individuals brings in additional business is anyone's guess. Smith said the optimal combination is what resort operators such as Four Seasons are doing by having amenities like golf courses designed by big-brand retired pros such as Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer while maintaining the resorts' branding and management itself.
And while the co-developers of both the Douglas and DiCaprio projects haven't been shy about associating the famous names with those resorts, Gaudenzi said her company downplays Coppola's name recognition.
"If you're at Turtle Inn, other than Coppola Wines, you're not going to see Coppola branding," she said. "They are passion projects to him. I swear, they are not ego projects."
That passion can help profits, too, given the challenges of creating infrastructure in some of the remote locations being developed.
"It makes financial sense," Smith said. "A lot of these resorts have to be ecofriendly to begin with. The cost of electricity and water in some of these destinations is triple what they'd be in Florida."
Regardless, in the end, the financial prospects of these celebrity projects are likely more dependent on the more mundane factors of location and amenities than they are on star power.
"Belize is already an established destination, but you've got to take another boat to [DiCaprio's] island," Smith said. "Michael Douglas already has that tourism infrastructure. He could make lots of money."
The article previously referenced an infamous 2008 AIG retreat as taking place at Laguna Beach, Calif.'s Montage Resort. That event actually took place at the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Southern California.