It all started with Muhammad Ali ... but let's go back to the real beginning — more than 26 years to Boynes' start in the hospitality industry. He first worked for Robert's Motel in Chicago, Illinois, and from
there moved on to the Playboy Towers on Chicago's ritzy Gold Coast. After a visit to the Virgin Islands in 1981, he and wife Lorraine relocated to St. Thomas and for the next fourteen years he was the assistant director
of Convention Services at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef. It was a visit by Muhammad Ali to the Virgin Islands in 1993 that identified a needed hospitality service to Boynes. During the visit Ali stayed at Frenchman's
Reef and Boynes clearly remembers his lack of peace at the hotel. "It took an hour," he recalls, "to bring him from the restaurant to his suite. Every time the elevator door opened, more people would join
the crowd." Ali never made it to town because of all the people. Finally, Boynes took him to his own home, so he could relax. "People in the public eye have earned adoration, but they've also earned the
right to 'kick back' in private. They stay in larger hotels while earning their living, but they prefer to stay in something more intimate in private," he said. The idea for L'Hôtel Boynes as a small, intimate,
upscale hotel had been conceived, but Boynes ran into a snag with financing. "Although I have sterling credit, had been in the business for over 25 years, was a solid member of the community, married 40 years and
educated four sons, I could not get local financing." Boynes said. Despite the fact that his business plan included using himself and the hotel as a training ground for Virgin Islands youth in tourism, hospitality
and entrepreneurship, he was forced to go to Puerto Rico where he had no difficulty obtaining the needed financing. Now, as opening day approaches, what was a dream is on the verge of reality. Boynes says, "those
in need of privacy can come here. With eight rooms, how many people are they going to have to interact with?" As for his teaching plans, Boynes is still planning to use the hotel as a training center and has been
invited by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship in New York to join their ranks. Visitors to the hotel will learn that there is much more to the structure than its exquisite, atmospheric rooms and
lovely, grounds — but we're coming to that — there is also the link between the hotel and Sam Boynes' search for his roots ... all of his roots. The name of the hotel is taken from a hotel originally built in Paris in
the 1700's by Etienne Bourgeois De Boynes, ancestor of Sam Boynes. The original L'Hôtel Boynes is distinguished as being the location where Emperor Napoleon and Princess Josephine were married and, today, is the Bank of
Paris. The search for his roots began for Sam years ago with curiosity over the fact that his family was the only Boynes in the Chicago telephone directory. He later learned from the Mormon Genealogical Society that
the only Boynes in their computer originated from France. Attempting to trace his family back to France, he ran into a dead end with his father's father. Later, a chance meeting with a St. Croix resident led him
to the Virgin Islands where the name abounds. Boynes soon met the late Captain Loredon Boynes, pioneer of the ferryboat system between St. Thomas and St. John. He learned that the Captain had three uncles who went
to the states on cane-cutting contracts and lost contact with the family. Chances were good, they felt, that Sam Boynes was the progeny of one of those three men. From that point, Boynes proudly states, he was
treated as one of the family. From the Virgin Islands, Boynes traced the name to Haiti and of course, to France. Today, still on the track of his ancestors, Boynes has completed a novel about his search that is
scheduled for publication this year. Research documents, including copies of the original floor plans of L'Hôtel Boynes in Paris, will be on display in the hotel's lobby. Also, the Boynes coat of arms is reproduced on
the hotel's vehicles and printed materials. In the National Registry of Homes, the hotel is described as having a colonial ambiance with modern conveniences, including a telephone in each room, and each bathroom, air
conditioning and cable television. Each bedroom has a name, such as "Harborview East" and "Harborview West." The "Red Room" has tall mahogany doors, Persian carpets, huge four-poster with
netting and a private balcony with its own ceiling fan. A favorite is sure to be "The Whimsy." Originally part of the old Danish kitchen, -the most startling and unique feature of the room is the bed with its
head alcoved by a huge stone Dutch oven. |
See Sam Boynes at: ``Marketing
Opportunities in Black Entertainment" 
