While Miami and Palm Beach gobble up the best hotel brands, benefiting from a seemingly never-ceasing bevy of five-star openings, Fort Lauderdale often felt like an afterthought.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, there\u2019s already a Ritz-Carlton and a W Hotel, and in 2022 an oceanfront Four Season debuted. But for the so-called \u201cyachting capital of the world\u201d these were relatively slim pickings, compared to its neighbors north and south.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, finally, the city is splashing out with fresh rooms that will tempt the world\u2019s wealthiest. Even JSX, the charter air carrier that sells individual seats and has become a popular way for tony New Yorkers to zip from Westchester to Miami and Palm Beach, just added Fort Lauderdale\u00a0to their routes.<\/p>\n
Charter carrier JSX has added a Westchester-Fort Lauderdale route to its repertoire. JetSuiteX<\/p>\n
The 32-acre resort at Pier Sixty-Six, originally built by the Phillips 66 oil company, has undergone a multi-billion-dollar, eight-year resurrection.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reimagined by Tavistock and unveiled in January, it sits on one of the largest superyacht marinas on the eastern seaboard and has a revolving lounge at the top that offers views of the ocean and skyline and does a 360-degree turn every hour.<\/p>\n
The property\u2019s 325 rooms are bright, with a mid-century style. <\/p>\n
Did we mention Pier Sixty-Six\u2019s deluxe waterslide? Pier Sixty-Six<\/p>\n
It also sports 12 different dining spots, including a high-end restaurant inspired by the French and Italian rivieras, and two casual poolside cafes.<\/p>\n
The hotel\u2019s Zenova Spa is a big draw, with a dry heat room that is infused with aromatic essential oils, sound therapy and Sauna Meister-guided rituals. <\/p>\n
In case you are missing winter, there is also a snow room kept at 14 degrees Fahrenheit that cools the body down, boosting metabolism, improving circulation and alleviating soreness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the Convention Center, a new Omni Hotel is under construction. Omni Hotels<\/p>\n
Just across the water, an 801-room Omni Hotel will be part of the Broward County Convention Center\u2019s overhaul. It\u2019s still waiting on a precise opening date, but when it does welcome guests, it should appeal to pre- and post-cruise visitors. <\/p>\n
It also hopes to transform business travel in the area, feeding off the convention center. To that end, it will have expansive meeting rooms, all within a short drive of the airport.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen these projects are complete, the destination will be at a whole new level and totally unrecognizable.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Ina Lee, president and owner of TravelHost Fort Lauderdale<\/p>\n
There is a lofty attraction here, too, in the form of a rooftop terrace and lounge on the 29th floor overlooking Port Everglades, the ships and beach. <\/p>\n
The Mokara Spa has a full hammam, complete with rituals, and the gym has Pelotons, but the more adventurous can take a hotel bike and explore the area. If you want to practice your game off the greens, there is a Topgolf swing suite and a large, resort-style outdoor pool on the 10th floor, with private cabanas. Six dining spots offer varied options, from a Caribbean-accented coastal restaurant to a sports bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen these projects are complete, the destination will be at a whole new level and totally unrecognizable,\u2019\u2019 said Ina Lee, who serves on multiple tourism boards in the area and is the president and owner of local publication TravelHost Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n
Fort Lauderdale\u2019s top hotel, the Four Seasons, is learning new wellness tricks. Four Seasons<\/p>\n
Even hotels that are already operating are continuing to upgrade and expand their offerings. The Four Seasons has introduced new wellness programming including group high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and beach yoga classes, as well as therapies like Reiki sound bowl healing. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a newly renovated salon allows guests to create their own bespoke scents. The hotel\u2019s restaurant, Maass, earned a Michelin star this year, and its other restaurant, Evelyn\u2019s, received Michelin recognition.<\/p>\n
Over at the Ritz-Carlton, the pool area has been reborn as the Sea la Vie Sundeck with a new cafe.<\/p>\n
The Ritz-Carlton makes a splash with a reimagined pool deck. Alain Martinez Studio<\/p>\n
It\u2019s new Lallier ocean-view cabanas come equipped with lounge chairs, champagne, water, a tropical fruit plate and snacks like crudit\u00e9s and tuna pok\u00e9 tostones, along with sunglasses, baseball caps, sunscreens and games. There is also now beachside service, and a separate Shirley Temple bar for the pre-teen set.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still more properties are on the horizon. A high-end St. Regis Resort Bahia Mar and Residences is being designed by Arquitectonica on the bones of the old Bahia Mar hotel, while ultra-luxury boutique hotel, the Whitfield, and Hotel Indigo are due to open next year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once upon a time Fort Lauderdale may have drawn a spring break crowd \u2014 now, with a five-star\u00a0everything\u00a0ecosystem under construction \u2014 they\u2019ll just have to find somewhere new to descend on.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Miami and Palm Beach gobble up the best hotel brands, benefiting from a seemingly never-ceasing bevy of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[28,249,251,250,3964,555,687,20227,107],"class_list":["post-27027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-florida","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-hotels","tag-lifestyle","tag-restaurants","tag-spas","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}