Hospitality

5 Pages 1219 Words

The Breakers


At he beginning of the semester when the term project was assigned I knew right away what resort I was going to pick. I chose The Breakers at Palm Beach Florida because I have very good memories with my family at this property. So I called the hotel and ask for brochures and whatever additional information they could send me. Less than one week later I had all of the information I needed and I will be presenting it to you in the next few pages.
Henry Morrison Flagler built a hotel “The Palm Beach Inn” on the beach front portion of the Royal Poinciana’s property (one of his fist hotels). The Palm Beach Inn, which opened on January 16, 1896, was fully booked for most of that season because it was smaller and quieter than the vast Royal Poinciana and because if overlooked the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of asking for rooms at the Royal Poinciana, many regular Palm Beach guest asked for rooms “over by the breakers.” The name stuck. When Flagler doubled the size of the Palm beach Inn for the 1901 season, he renamed it the Breakers.
On June 9, 1903, as workers were enlarging the wood building for the fourth time in less than decade, The Breakers burned down. The seventy three year old Flagler was shocked by the loss of his favorite hotel but definitely not beaten. Two weeks later he announced that The Breakers would not only be rebuilt but also would open for the upcoming winter season!
On February 1, 1904, The Breakers reopened to universal acclaim. The new Breakers, a rambling four-story, colonial-style building constructed entirely of wood, contained 425 rooms and suites. Rooms started at four dollars a night, including three meals a day. As did its predecessor’s, The Breakers guest register real line a “who’s who” of early twentieth-century America: various Rockefellers, William Randolph Hearts; the five-and dime kigs W.T Grant and J.C. Penney; an even assorted European nobility and U....