Montage Hotels & Resorts was founded in 2002 by Alan J. Fuerstman and opened Montage Laguna Beach in February 2003. The brand built its identity around resort settings, residential design and service for long leisure stays. Its portfolio reached seven resorts before Montage Kapalua Bay left in March 2026. By August 2026 Montage operates six resorts in the United States and Mexico, with four destinations under development.
The brand
Montage Hotels & Resorts is the ultra-luxury brand within privately held Montage International, which also owns Pendry Hotels & Resorts and both residential platforms. Alan Fuerstman remains Founder, Chairman and CEO. In February 2024 the company received strategic investment from Luxor Capital Group, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and BlackRock-managed funds to support expansion.
The six operating resorts are Montage Laguna Beach, Montage Deer Valley, Montage Palmetto Bluff, Montage Los Cabos, Montage Healdsburg and Montage Big Sky. Five are in the United States and one in Mexico. Montage Cay, Punta Mita, Valle de Guadalupe and Ras El Hekma remain under development. Membership in Preferred Hotels & Resorts gives access to the third-party I Prefer Hotel Rewards programme rather than a proprietary points system.
Philosophy
Montage describes its operating idea as comfortable elegance combined with a strong sense of place. Architecture and interiors are expected to reflect the destination: Craftsman references in Laguna Beach, mountain-lodge warmth in Deer Valley and Big Sky, Lowcountry character at Palmetto Bluff and Baja materials in Los Cabos. The consistency is carried less by a repeated visual template than by service, residential proportions, dining, spa and destination programming.
The founder’s service culture remains central. Montage began as a hospitality management company, yet residences became structural to growth. Spa Montage, Paintbox, Compass Sports and culinary experiences give the resorts a recognisable framework while developers and owners provide the real estate.
What distinguishes it
Resort first, not urban. Montage has deliberately remained a leisure-resort brand while sister brand Pendry carries much of Montage International’s city and lifestyle expansion. Every operating Montage house is organised around a destination landscape rather than an urban business district.
Residences are structural. Branded homes have accompanied most Montage developments and are not a late licensing extension. Large accommodations, residential services and owner facilities shape the hotels as well as the real-estate proposition.
Families are core guests. Paintbox, destination-specific activities and multi-bedroom residences make family and multigenerational travel part of the principal operating model rather than a secondary children’s amenity.
Service precedes spectacle. Montage properties can be large and expensive, but the brand’s identity is less dependent on theatrical interiors or celebrity associations than on detailed personal service, food, spa and the feeling of being comfortably settled into a resort.
The portfolio can contract. Montage Kapalua Bay’s departure in March 2026 shows that a management-led collection is not fixed like an owner-held group of houses. Brand scale depends on retaining operating agreements as well as opening new projects.
Montage is a weak fit for travellers who want city-centre coverage, a proprietary points programme, adult-only social energy or a network repeated across many continents. The six houses are substantial North American resorts designed around families, residences, golf, skiing, spa and extended leisure stays. Guests seeking small historic hotels, nightlife or radical design may find Montage more polished and residential than distinctive. I Prefer offers third-party loyalty access, not the ecosystem of Bonvoy, Hilton Honors or World of Hyatt.
Signature houses
Competitive landscape
Editorial note — Code and book number checked against the current LHL register. History, leadership, destinations and pipeline were checked against official Montage materials; investment, Preferred membership, I Prefer access and Kapalua Bay’s transition against the relevant official sources. Reviewed August 2026. Operating count: six resorts in two countries; pipeline and residences excluded. THE LUXURY HOSPITALITY LIBRARY · LHL-022 Register v50.0.