In the heart of New Port Richey, FL's quaint little downtown, a historic hotel built in the 1920s in the Spanish Mediterranean style has been renovated and reopened. On the west coast of Florida, north of St. Petersberg, the Hacienda Hotel survived the recent Hurricane Ian largely unscathed.
Miami Beach, a city of hotels, is often known for its most famous establishments of yesterday and today: places like the Fontainebleau, the Eden Roc, and the Delano. But there are scores of lesser-known hotels that have come and gone and often show different, more surprising sides to the beach. A catalog of hotel postcards from the University of Miami Libraries shows some of the big famous hotels, but even more smaller establishments that have been almost forgotten over the years. Check them out, this way.
Back in September, we reported that the Kimpton Hotel Palomar South Beach would open in late 2019. Well, guess what? 2019 has practically come and gone, and although construction at the hotel is on the home stretch, it still hasn't opened. The latest word from the hotel's publicist is that a tentative January 27th opening date has been set.
West Palm Beach is getting a new design-y hotel called the Ben West Palm, slated for opening on February 13th 2020, the day before Valentine's day. The 208 room hotel appears to be inspired by early Floridian history, with an interior design that evokes adventure and tropical escapism. While the public spaces are richly decorated, the guest room interiors will be light and airy, with cream-colored fabrics, leather headboards, and copper fixtures.
Officially called "Kimpton Hotel Palomar South Beach," the new hotel on the corner of Alton Road and the Collins Canal, overlooking Dade Boulevard in Miami Beach, has announced they are opening "late 2019" as construction workers hustle to finish the job. The hotel is hedging its bets, however, and only taking reservations for April 2020 and later.
In a fun and silly example of Miami's decadent tourist culture, the Dream South Beach Hotel, destination for the vacationing party crowd, has hired a "Chief Float Officer," whose job is to set people up with floaties at the rooftop pool.
OLA, the South Florida mainstay that served creative latin cuisine at the Sanctuary Hotel for fourteen years, until it was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017, has just reopened at South Beach's Gates Hotel after moving around for a few years. Always a happening place at the Sanctuary, the restaurant hopes to continue its success with a new executive chef, Chris Castro.
Downtown Miami's Kimpton EPIC Hotel is getting a major renovation, which will include the lobby, hotel rooms, and pool area. The whole shebang will be ready in time for the fall and winter tourist season. Check out the press release, and remodeled guestroom photos, below:
YotelPad Miami, the combination condo and hotel tower coming to Downtown Miami under the Yotel brand, has released updated interior renderings of its 231 residential units. (The building will also have 222 traditional hotel rooms) The close-to-micro-unit condos are characterized by their compact and efficient square footages (somehow they squeeze two bedroom units into 700 square feet, for example) and for having zero rental restrictions. Short term, long term, you name it.
