Fortune - USA (2020-04)

102 FORTUNE APRIL 2020

explains Biousse. On top

of that, he realized he

had already identified the

ideal client for the kinds of

hotels he envisioned creat-

ing—the same people who

loved the mid-range luxury

brands he previously had

built and grown. The only

difference in 2019, he says,

is what luxury entails. “The

luxury of tomorrow isn’t

money or recognition—it’s

meaning and purpose. And

that’s especially true in

travel. It’s tied to conserv-

ing local heritage, agricul-

ture, and permaculture.

It’s putting local first.”

In the past year, Biousse

FONTENILLE

MENORCA:

TORRE VELLA

Two historic fincas

on the Balearic

island of Minorca

were converted into

boutique hotels and

working farmland.

be the couple’s new family

home, a deliberate move

toward a slower routine.

Foucher, the seventh

generation in a family of

farmers, wanted to recon-

nect with his agricul-

tural heritage. The restless

Biousse, who had moved

23 times in 20 years, was

eager to lay down roots for

the first time. But the scale

of the project outgrew their

needs. “[32,000 square

feet] of space for two peo-

ple and a dog was simply

too large. We realized to

restore the structure’s gran-

deur, we needed to make it

a commercial project, and

making it a hotel was the

most natural format.”

The duo invested more

than $15 million into the

refurbishment of the estate

and opened it in 2016 as

Domaine de Fontenille,

a boutique hotel com-

plete with vines, produce

gardens, a state-of-the-art

wine cellar, and a one-

Michelin-star restaurant.

The move proved to be a

worthy expenditure of time

and money: Fontenille

quickly became a popular

getaway for Parisians,

in-the-know travelers, and

high-profile personalities

including singer Vanessa

Paradis and Manuel Valls,

a former French Prime

Minister.

Biousse and Foucher’s

future as hoteliers was as

much about transforming

their lives as it was about

capitalizing on a business

opportunity. “When I was

on the road, I was sleeping

in different hotels around

the world that were

beautiful but without any

real character or vision,”

HOS.W.0420.XMIT.indd 102 FINAL 3/6/2020 6:30:49 PM