The $336,000 Suite With A View
We've been a little spaced out today, so Amuse-Biatch had to bring this Herald story, about tourism bureaus and reality TV shows, to our attention. There's a lot of stuff about shows we don't watch (Beach Patrol, Miami Ink, etc.), but there is some interesting information about the economics behind Top Chef. The first nugget of information, about the Fontainebleau:
The supporting role didn't come cheap for the resort. Fontainebleau executives traded six weeks of free stays at both the $8,000-a-night suite and roughly 100 rooms for producers and support staff.
''We think the value of the publicity more than offset our costs,'' said general manager David Feder. ``Shows like that are much more believable than running a 30-second ad during the program.''
Did they really need that many rooms for staff?! We seriously underestimated the amount of technical support necessary to produce this show. And not only did the hotel provide these rooms for free, but it also had to reimburse unit owners for any losses in rent. That's a lot of dough. (Actually, Amuse-Biatch did the math for us: Bravo saved $336,000 on the cheftestants' housing.)
We also learned that the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (the same people who brought you Miami Spice) were the ones behind the Miami location for the show's third season. They contributed $20,000 to Bravo for production costs, in the hopes that the show will help promote Miami as a culinary destination.
Tourism bureaus try to wedge into popular TV shows [Miami Herald]
Amuse-Biatch Digs the Digs [Amuse-Biatch]
Fontainebleau Miami Beach [Official Site]
Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau [Official Site]
Photo: Bravo, via Miami Herald
