Owner Terry Hochmuth starts work at 3 a.m. everyday
By BOB KECSKEMETY
It was just a few days after the attacks of 9/11 when Terry Hochmuth boarded one of the first flights out of Midway Airport in Chicago after air traffic was allowed to resume in the United States. He was one of only 12 people on that flight but he had a major goal in mind: to purchase the Villa Venice Resort.
Hochmuth was no stranger to Fort Lauderdale or the Villa Venice. He and his partner, who had died a few years earlier, were part-time residents of Fort Lauderdale and owned a condo on the beach. Every morning, Hochmuth and his partner Dan, would take their morning walk and pass right by the Villa Venice.
“I knew the property and knew it was for sale,” said Hochmuth. “I came down here to look at it and ten weeks later it was mine.”
Hochmuth and his partner owned an office products business in Chicago and after his partner passed, he kept the business running for an additional three years. He then decided, at the age of 45, to sell the business and retire. Boredom caused Hochmuth to look for a new project.
He checked out a few other properties that were available, including one that is now the Coconut Cove, but decided on Villa Venice. Built originally as an apartment building in 1960, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and converted to a resort hotel in 1970, the Villa Venice met his requirements. The previous owner, Michael Hickman, had already turned the Villa Venice into a mostly gay resort for men and women.
“The property had a good structural building and I like the location,” Hochmuth said. Three of the four properties at the intersection occupying Villa Venice were already gay hotels and it was located only two blocks from the beach. “I bought it with the intention of totally gutting it. I closed [the sale] on December 4 of ‘01 and on the 7th of July in ‘02 we closed down for 10 weeks and literally started ripping out the bathrooms that very same day.” He also tore out all the landscaping making room for all new plantings. He made nearly $2 million worth of improvements on the property. “I just started the renovating and sprinkling the ‘fairy dust’ on it.”
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One of the common rooms at Villa Venice. This is where a full, hot breakfast is served every morning. (Photo by Bob Kesckemety)
The Villa Venice has 22 units in 6 different room categories ranging from the basic guest room to the Venetian Suite which has a shower that will accommodate 12 people. Seven units have full kitchens while three have French doors that open to a private patio on the back of the property. There are also ground-level garden suites with their own outdoor patio areas. Most rooms overlook the pool. Off-season rates are from $99 to $189 a night.
All rooms have cable television, WI-FI, DVD and CD players, electronic safe, ironing board and iron, refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker. Complimentary alcoholic beverages are served poolside on off-season Saturdays and Sundays along with non-alcoholic beverages like sweet tea and lemonade.
Unique to the Villa Venice is that it has a fullkitchen and a restaurant license.
“We do full breakfast every day,” Hochmuth said. “Today I made homemade Banana Cranberry Walnut Bread along with an egg dish with potatoes and sage sausage and plum tomatoes. We’re the only guest house with a full breakfast and everything is fresh, except for the bagels, I buy those.”
Hochmuth said that the resort is getting well-known for their breakfast and partially credits it for the resort winning the #1 spot in the Pink Choice Awards in the luxury category from 2006 to 2009. The Pink Choice is a gay version of Trip Advisor where reviews are submitted by the guests that have stayed in the resort.
Hochmuth lives on the property and says that most successful businesses are those where the owner is present every day. He acknowledges that most of the owners of the local gay properties don’t stay on the property themselves but depend solely on a manager to supervise the property. “[But] a manager wouldn’t pay attention to the details like I do,” he stated.
Hochmuth’s wakes up every day at 2:50 in the morning and starts working at 3 a.m.
Bookings at the Villa Venice were double what they were the year before and Hochmuth says he’s very thankful for that. He also said that summer bookings are steady but not great. However, he advised that people don’t book as far in advance for the summer months as they do for the winter months.
Hochmuth also credits much of the resort’s success to his marketing efforts. Off-season the property is marketed heavily to Florida, Georgia and Texas where he says he gets a lot of guests from Houston and Dallas. During the winter months he gets many guests mostly from Western Europe and Moscow where he works directly with a travel agency there.
