May 22–When The Peninsula Chicago opened in 2001, it became the most exclusive luxury hotel in Chicago overnight.
Since then, dozens of new hotels have entered the market, including such upscale competitors as The Langham and Trump International Hotel & Tower, challenging the Peninsula to up its game in pursuit of well-heeled guests.
The result? The Peninsula just completed a $37 million renovation, sprucing up more than 330 rooms in a rich motif inspired by luxury yachts, and adding high-tech features such as multilingual tablets that control everything from the TV and lights to the drapes.
Maria Razumich-Zec, 58, general manager of the hotel and regional vice president of The Peninsula Hotels group, said the renovation will help stave off newcomers and keep the hotel on top, which has been her mission since taking the reins in 2002.
There are 10 Peninsula hotels worldwide, including Beverly Hills, New York and the flagship in Hong Kong. This year, eight of the hotels achieved the highest five-star rating from Forbes, including Chicago.
The Peninsula Chicago trumps the local competition in one exclusive club — biggest-bill bragging rights. Its three-bedroom Peninsula Suite starts at $10,750 per night, making it arguably the most expensive hotel accommodation in the city.
A Whiting, Ind., native and Purdue University graduate, Razumich-Zec launched her hotel career in 1985 as assistant manager at the Chicago Hilton and Towers (now Hilton Chicago), where her primary responsibility was serving as the "complaint department" from a lobby desk.
She worked her way up the Hilton chain to become the first resident manager of the Palmer House. In 1994, she left to helm the New York Palace, formerly the Helmsley Palace.
Razumich-Zec, who lives in the Gold Coast with her husband, travels extensively for work and pleasure. When she's not at a Peninsula, she usually stays at a luxury competitor "for a good rate."
She sat down recently with the Tribune in a newly renovated Peninsula junior suite. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What's the hardest part of a career in hotel management?
A: It's 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The hardest part was Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, working every single holiday. Luckily now I don't have to do those things, but when you're starting off in your career you have to do that.
Q: What obstacles did you face as the first female resident manager at the Palmer House?
A: I had a huge office and huge bathroom. Inside the huge bathroom there was a huge, working urinal. My boss said at the time, feel free to have it taken out. I said I'm not going to be here that long — usually it's a couple of years and you get promoted. So we put a flowering plant in there. To this day, it's still a joke.
Q: You managed the New York Palace, which had previously been the domain of the "Queen of Mean," Leona Helmsley, who was exiled after being convicted for tax evasion. Were you, in essence, heir to her throne?
A: Yes. I had her office too.
Q: Were there many staffers remaining from the Helmsley era?
A: There were many, and they could all tell you all kinds of stories. But the staff, they liked her a lot, they really did. She did a lot of things right with the hotel.
Q: Were you extra nice to them?
A: It did work that way, because I lived at the hotel also. I had a good relationship with the employees there. I loved them. It was like my home.
Q: Some hotels tether the TV remote controls to the bedside table. How do you prevent your new Peninsula tablets from walking?
A: We've only had one tablet stolen. I think people realize it's not going to work once they leave this room. It's strictly for the room. You can't access or download any of your own information on it.
Q: Do people still steal towels?
A: It's not a huge problem, but some people will take hangers or towels or sometimes these heavy, weighted notepads that people will decide to take along.
Q: Chicago added more than 2,000 hotel rooms last year, with much of the new construction aimed at upscale guests. Has this put downward pricing pressure on your hotel?
A: No. We don't charge for things like using the spa or the gym. We have Mini Coopers that will take somebody around for three hours to go shopping or sightseeing. Once you start cutting rates, it goes lower and lower and then you have to start cutting services, and that's something that we don't want to do.
Q: Do you see any business out of an event like the NFL Draft?
A: We have some. Usually it's the high-end business.
Q: I assume these are not the face-painting, jersey-clad fans who drive in from Indianapolis to boo at their team's draft choices.
A: We never talk about our guests.
Q: What hotels do you compete most directly with for guests?
A: The Four Seasons, The Langham, Trump — those are probably the ones we compete with most often.
Q: Why is the Peninsula sign on your building so much smaller than Trump's?
A: We're a little more discreet and a little more humble.
Q: What makes the Peninsula Suite worth $10,750 per night?
A: It's a spectacular space. It's 3,500 square feet. It's like a home. It has three bedrooms, 3-1/2 baths, full living room with a baby grand piano, a dining room, kitchen, it has a small gym, it has a media room, it has an office. And the thing that people really love is a wrap-around terrace.
Q: Who stays there?
A: Heads of companies, celebrities, heads of state. It's not for everybody, but for people that want that type of exclusivity and want the services that go with it, it becomes a value. We have people who are devoted to anybody staying in that suite, so whatever they want, whatever they need — as long as it's legal — they'll help them to get it. Many times we have families that stay there. They're probably flying in on their private jet, but we do have families that stay there.
Q: What's the longest anyone has stayed there?
A: We had one person, once upon a time, stay six months. If you stay six months, you're going to get a good deal. But normally, the average length of stay is probably three or four days.
Q: Do you throw in a free continental breakfast?
A: They usually just get room service.
