Fontainebleau

"Sol soaked up every ounce of knowledge that he could from the American. He now had to get back to South Africa and build his mini-Fontainebleau. Even if he did not fully realise it at the time, he had learned far more from Ben Novack than just how to design a resort hotel; he had also seen how to run one. The result was not a 1 000-room beachside hotel in an established resort town but a 72-room replica of the giant Miami hotel, located in an undeveloped village on South Africa’s Natal coast. Sol stopped short of naming his hotel the “Fontainebleau”, which his prospective local clientele would not have understood. Instead, he settled for “The Beverly Hills”. Everyone in South Africa knew what that meant."

"Perhaps even more importantly, Ben was not only the developer and owner of the Fontainebleau. He was also the general manager. He patrolled his kingdom with an eagle eye, criticising his staff when required but also praising and encouraging them. Not a day passed without Ben visiting every corner of his empire, greeting both staff and guests while his all-seeing eyes noted the tiniest of details. Maintaining high standards was, to him, imperative. It was, therefore, not a surprise that he discovered on his rounds a young man from South Africa, a guest at the hotel, who appeared to be asking lots of questions."

"Much to the satisfaction of his investors, Sol worked hard at every operational aspect of The Beverly Hills. Just like Ben Novack, his mentor at the Fontainebleau, he was everywhere. He was just as likely to pop up in the laundry or the boiler room as he was to be found at the front desk. He wanted to know what was going on at all times. He knew exactly how many people had visited the Copa or dined in the restaurant the night before. He knew how many check-ins and check-outs there had been and whether he had too many or too few staff on hand. He met his guests frequently and observed his staff while doing so."