Oct. 9, 2002 -  Marco Selva's eyes warm over when he talks about the new Ritz-Carlton in Coconut Grove, which he manages and which officially opens today. When talk turns to snaring a five-star rating from ExxonMobil, the hotel world's equivalent of winning the Triple Crown, Selva's gaze sharpens, eyes light with a competitive gleam. 

"I'm very confident that I'm going to bring the five-star back to Miami, back to Coconut Grove," Selva, 39, said. "I know what it takes." 

Miami has not had a five-star hotel since the Wyndham Grand Bay Coconut Grove won the honors from 1994 through 1996. (It has since slipped to three stars.) Selva tasted the victory: He was working there when it won. 

Yet, as the helmsman of Miami's latest luxury offering, a 115-room hotel tucked into a two-towered condo-hotel complex, Selva has bigger concerns, among them winning customers from competitors and keeping the new hotel full during one of the industry's toughest times. 

"Of course, the economy's a concern," conceded Selva, who came from the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne and, before that, the Ritz-Carlton in Naples. "But I believe the luxury market is underserved in Miami. Miami is a gateway and will continue to have that visitor flow." 

Coconut Grove is the Ritz-Carlton's second location in Miami and seventh in Florida, which has the most Ritz-Carltons of any state. 

The hotel's arrival is nine months late, delayed after its original developer, McCann Inc., was taken off the project last February. 

Another Ritz-Carlton is being built in South Beach, raising the question of saturation. 

"We have a pretty unique hotel that's going to have a very boutique, high-end feel," said Doug Tymins, managing director of SunAmerica, a mutual fund and retirement-planning company and part of the Grove Ocean partnership that owns the hotel. "We think it will compete well with the other Ritzes." 

Analysts said each of the area's Ritz-Carltons will cater to a different crowd. Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, which opened in July 2001, has cultivated a strong family and leisure clientele. South Beach, when it opens, will target the young jet set. Coconut Grove is aiming for regional corporate travelers on weekdays and leisure travelers on weekends. 

"They're all very distinct submarkets in this community and will likely be complementary properties," said Scott Berman, a hospitality analyst with PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

Early indications have been encouraging. When the hotel opened its doors Sept. 20, a "soft opening," to prepare for the official one today, executives were aiming for a 35 percent occupancy rate. In the 20 days since, Selva said, occupancy has exceeded 65 percent. 

Meetings from Fortune 500 pharmaceutical and financial firms, including Lehman Brothers, have long been on the books. 

"The good news about opening in a soft economy is that you know you're in one, so you can budget and staff appropriately," Berman said. "And the hotel's size is key. They don't have to chase business like larger hotels, and a very high end of the group market looks for small, intimate luxury settings." 

The Ritz's outward appearances do not point toward small or intimate. The property, two 22-story mauve and aqua towers joined by a sprawling atrium, stretches across 4.5 acres. 

Condo hotels have become common in the luxury-hotel market because they offer a solution to dried-up financing by recouping money up front, through condo sales. The Ritz in the Grove's Southern tower, called The Residences, is made of 120 condominiums, which have all been bought. Floors nine through 22 in the northern, or Executive, tower house 88 condominiums, 60 percent of them sold. 

The hotel is housed in the Executive Tower, on floors one through eight. John Nichols, of Nichols Brosch Sandoval architects, designed the hotel, melding Italian Renaissance with Miami touches. The marble floors are reproductions of those in nearby Villa Vizcaya, and the hotel's 124-seat restaurant is named the Bizcaya Grill. 

Sepia-toned pictures of Vizcaya hang in the rooms. A 12-foot fireplace, unlit, sits at one end of the lobby. Twenty-foot Roman columns stretch toward a 40-foot atrium ceiling. 

"Florida yet timeless," Selva said. 

For all its grandeur, early guests said the hotel's relatively low room count played out in its service and intimate feel. 

"We wanted something quieter than Miami," said Justin Render, 34, on vacation from Wales with his wife, Julia, 28, a teacher, and their 10-week old daughter, Lois. "It's very friendly and personal here. That's the thing: Everyone's got a bit more time for you than they do at a big hotel." 

Opening rates start at $165 and are slated to hit $325 in high season. Perks include a Shopping Butler, who can scope out goods at Neiman Marcus and report back, and a Bow Wow Butler, who can tend to dogs. 

The nearest competitors, Selva said, will be the Biltmore in Coral Gables, the Mandarin Oriental in Brickell Key, and, when it opens, the Four Seasons in Brickell. 

To prepare for the opening, 85 Ritz-Carlton experts were flown in from around the country to test services and the painstakingly selected staff. More than 4,000 people applied for 240 spots, and successful applicants underwent a "quality selection process," Ritz-Carlton parlance for hiring. 

Bagging a job required acing three or four interviews plus a psychological profile that tested one's proximity to the ideal Ritz employee: naturally friendly, able to intuit and meet needs, eager to get ahead. 

'Our motto is: `Ladies and gentleman serving ladies and gentlemen,' " Selva said. 

Employees also get paid above-average wages. Dishwashers start at $7.50 an hour and housekeepers at $7.75; both usually fetch the federal hourly minimum of $5.15 an hour. 

As for the coveted five-stars, Selva will likely have to wait. The awards are doled out stingily by ExxonMobil each year. Just 27 hotels nationwide won in 2002; three of them -- the Breakers and the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach and the Ritz-Carlton in Naples -- were in Florida. 

No hotel has received the honor its first year out. Yet Selva, having tasted honey, remains dead set. 

"It has become my personal goal," he said. 

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(c) 2002, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. MAR, NMG, FS,