The Beverly Hills

"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."

"In the late 1960s, Sol approached Ted Sceales, then the chairman of SAB, with a proposal to build and operate a chain of resort properties in South Africa, aimed at both domestic and foreign tourists. The proposal went way beyond SAB’s modest plan to build motels for travelling salesmen. Sol’s proposal was straightforward. He would contribute his controlling interest in The Beverly Hills and a 50-year land lease that he had recently acquired on Durban’s Marine Parade, while SAB would fund the construction of resort hotels in Durban (on Sol’s land and on other sites), in the Eastern Transvaal (near the Kruger National Park), in Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route, and at other sites still to be agreed. Financially, Sol’s proposal was simple: SAB would put up the money, he would do the work and they would split the ownership 50/50."

"Sol, time was money. From those early days at The Beverly Hills to the day that he stopped creating dream destinations, he never started a construction job without projecting when it would be completed. Overruns can be costly, and, in the…"

"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."

"Within days of the grand opening, most people in South Africa had heard of The Beverly Hills. It became an instant “must-see/must-visit” destination, even to the many who could not afford it. “If they can’t afford it, they can fucking dream about it,” Sol would mutter while lighting yet another Peter Stuyvesant."

"On 6 December 1964, The Beverly Hills opened with a splash. Sol organised the biggest fireworks display that South Africa, at that point, had ever seen. Pictures of the hotel, the party and the glamorous invitees were plastered all over the front pages of every newspaper in the country and beyond. Articles soon appeared in magazines and journals in countries that had been carefully selected by Sol as potential sources of business. Back then, the printed word or photograph was the most important means of promotion, long before social media and influencers. Sol was demonstrating what would become one of his most potent tools: his ability to promote his unique products."

"He was not ashamed to copy the decor of the original clubs in Paris, Monte Carlo or New York, but he always added a personal twist to make it even better. The “buzz” he created in his hotels made them vastly different from their competitors. It had kickstarted his first hotel, The Beverly Hills, with its Copacabana club, and it allowed him to charge more. The concept, now widely copied and cloned, transformed the hotel scene in South Africa and beyond, and it later helped him expand his international empire."