Palm Beach Travel Guide
Hotel News / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Aruba Hotels / → All Tags
Ritz-Carlton Aruba Opening Earlier Than Expected
To say the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott companies are on their grind would be an understatement. We let you know they're moving forward with the long-feared-dead Molasses Reef resort in the Turks and Caicos, and various properties have been opening or renovated left and right.
One of the hotels we're excited about is the Ritz-Carlton, Aruba which we originally reported would open in 2014. When we were on island last fall, construction activity was in full swing. Therefore it comes as no surprise that Marriott International and Ritz-Carlton Hotels has released news that Aruba's first five-star resort will now open November 2, 2013, just in time for winter high season.
The 320-room hotel will have four restaurants, a 15-treatment room spa, two swimming pools, a 24-hour casino, and one of the island's largest meeting facilities. They'll also offer the Ritz-Carlton Club Level with 35 exclusive rooms, concierge service, and five food and beverage offerings. We're not sure what the upgrade price will be, but of our findings, the Ritz' Club Level is known as one of the better options.
Hopefully the construction schedule keeps up the pace and we'll see the new resort ourselves this fall!
[Photo: Ritz-Carlton Hotels]
Florida Hotels / Palm Beach Hotels / Breakers Hotel / HMF Palm Beach / Adam Tihany / Per Se / Restaurant Daniel / Le Cirque 2000 / → All Tags
OMG! HMF is Officially Open at Breakers Palm Beach
Snowstorms in New York, cold front in LA. Who doesn't want to be in Palm Beach, Florida, where the palms are forever swaying to ocean breezes? We're heading there STAT with a cocktail in mind and talk about good timing now that HMF is officially open at The Breakers Palm Beach.
HMF (which stands for Henry Morrison Flagler, who founded The Breakers) is bringing back West Palm Beach's cocktail scene in a major way. Slated as a modern social drinking and eating destination, the bar is uber-nostalgic for that timeless American glamor allure. It's fancy-pants, but in that island style we heart.
Fantasy Friday / Four Seasons Hotels / Palm Beach Hotels / Florida Hotels / → All Tags
Fantasy Friday: Polo and All Things Posh at the Four Seasons Palm Beach
This Fantasy Friday offers is one you might be able to pull off! Imagine, no need to cry in your coffee that you haven't a spare 5-figures (or more!) to drop on a flash hotel experience. Well, today we're going to actually take it down a notch because the amenities on this one are so swank, we couldn't pass up spreading the news.
This time we head to Florida's Four Seasons Hotel Palm Beach, which apparently has a big polo scene with its access to the International Polo Club. Well, alright. We're down with trying the "Sport of Kings (or at least future ones--how ya doin' Wills?).
The Four Seasons Hotel Palm Beach has built up three bonus offers to go along with their rate--and you get to choose which one that appeals most to you. Which would you rather have: an hour-and-a-half personal lesson with the sport’s top talent team, a private gourmet picnic at the Club where you’ll watch a match, or VIP brunch at the Club with preferred veranda seating during the match. Oh, and the kicker for all this? Whichever you pick,you'll be transported to The Club in a sleek Maserati and given copious amounts of Veuve Cliquot champagne during your adventure. Yeah, that's the business, baby!
Hotel Parties / Palm Beach Hotels / Florida Hotels / Hotel Books / Hotel Restaurants / Daniel Boulud / → All Tags
Dine with a Famous Author At Brazilian Court in Palm Beach
Attention, jetsetting bookworms: The Brazilian Court in Palm Beach recently announced its line-up for the 9th Annual Author Breakfast Series—and it's looking pretty sweet.
Presented by Parker Ladd, an exec at Scribner & Sons and famous for being married to noted fashion designer Arnold Scaasi, the Author Breakfast Series offers six author breakfasts, beginning on January 11th and concluding on March 29th.
Gracing the AAA-Four Diamond resort will be Michael Connelly, known for his #1 NYT bestsellers, and Tony Mendez, author of Argo. (If you've seen the movie, you'll remember that Mr. Mendez was played by Ben Affleck himself.) Oh, and we can't forget Rebecca Miller, daughter of playwright Arthur Miller and wife of Daniel Day Lewis. Swoon!
Like every year, the author breakfasts will be held at The Ballroom (pictured) at Cafe Boulud (yes, that Boulud), so it's probably not a good idea to show up wearing flip-flops and jam shorts. A $100 ticket gets you breakfast, valet parking and a copy of the featured book, but all reservations must be booked in advance.
Celebrity Scoop / Reality-TV Stars / Marriott Hotels / Aruba Hotels / Caribbean Hotels / → All Tags
Reality-TV Couple Honeymoon in Aruba
Well, they recently married in Los Angeles, and decided to honeymoon away from the lights of LaLa Land. The location? The Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino. The stayed at the resort's adults-only Tradewinds Club. This a separate section of the hotel, with only 49 rooms that enjoy Club Level-type amenities and perks. The couple also camped out sipping cocktails in a private cabana at the hotel's new 18-and-over H2Oasis pool.
Now, we know quite a bit about the Caribbean, and agree Aruba was a good choice for this couple for a few reasons:
Hotel WiFi / Aruba Hotels / Caribbean Hotels / → All Tags
Aruba's Brickell Bay Beach Club's Confusing WiFi Connections
Keeping along with our world-wide WiFi Report, today’s “Huh?” report calls out Aruba’s Brickell Bay Beach Club .
To be fair, the hotel does offer free WiFi in the lobby. That’s better than what a great many hotels offer on this island where internet access is a pricey purchase, and hotspots are rare. Plus, Brickell’s room rates are pretty stellar as well at $135 a night (and from $115 when you book 60 days in advance), including Continental breakfast. And as long as you book a room AWAY from the pool that also faces the loud Palm Village Mall area, you’ll actually get some sleep. But we digress.
Hotel News / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Aruba Hotels / → All Tags
Ritz-Carlton Aruba to Open in 2014
Any time there’s hotel construction going on in the Caribbean, we at HotelChatter adopt the island phrase “soon come” and just wait to see what develops. See, these things take time, so we never fully know when, or IF a project is going to be completed. So, when we were in Aruba last week checking out new developments, we were shocked to see a new Ritz-Carlton being built. Like, actual workers working. We had to wonder if we had had too much sun or rum. Or both.
Hotel Restaurants / Four Seasons Hotels / Palm Beach Hotels / → All Tags
The Four Seasons Palm Beach is Serving Up the Ultimate BLT
It’s a smorgasbord of choices that lets you craft your ultimate BLT.
Now, we don’t usually get so excited about the normally plain Jane BLT sandwich, but this ain’t your momma’s BLT.
In celebration of Florida’s tomato season, the Four Seasons Palm Beach Resort is picking heirloom tomatoes from its very own chef’s garden and offering them up in this classic sandwich, turning a garden-variety lunch item into a gourmand’s delight.
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Summer Deals for Palm Beach. Yes, Palm Beach
A recently renovated room at Four Seasons Palm Beach
We know. Savings is not a word you associate with Palm Beach. But things are different in the summer. You know, the season when all the ritzy residents relocate to the Hamptons...
Which makes it a great time to splurge at hotels like The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach or the Four Seasons Palm Beach, which may be out of reach for most of the year.
Here's what these posh properties are offering in the way of summer deals now the temperature is soaring...
HotelChatter Reviews / Palm Beach Hotels / Hotel Wedding Crashers / Hotel Weddings / → All Tags
Inside the Omphoy Ocean Resort in Palm Beach
We were headed to a Palm Beach wedding (local for us) and wanted to stay the night with the wedding party and out-of-town guests. The hotel of choice for the guests was The Omphoy Ocean Resort. We were excited to spend the night at The Omphoy having last been to the property when it was the
Were we disappointed with the 134-room oceanfront hotel? Well, mostly no but we spent a little too much time feeling like we worked there. Read on to find out why.
Hotel Renovations / Four Seasons Hotels / Palm Beach Hotels / Hotel Design / → All Tags
Four Seasons Palm Beach Gets A Nip And Tuck For Christmas
We're not sure how many Palm Beach dames have asked Santa for a facelift this year, but we bet they'll be happy to show them off at the similarly nipped and tucked Four Seasons Palm Beach this festive season.
All 210 of the resort's rooms have been spruced up by interior designer Brian Gluckstein, who also worked his magic on the hotel's spa last year. From what we've seen of the fresh new room decor, the man could be in demand in an area known more for OTT opulence than understated elegance.
Snapshot / Hilton Hotels / Palm Beach Hotels / Hotel Matchbooks / Hotel Relics / → All Tags
A Matchbook From The Old Palm Beach Hilton
Here's one last photo to admire before we bust out of this joint for Memorial Day Weekend.
Check out this old matchbook we found at our parents' house for the Palm Beach Hilton. Ladies and gents, this is a piece of history you are looking at.
For starters, the hotel no longer exists. Well, it does but as the Omphoy Ocean Resort, which has given the oceanfront resort a brand-new boutique hotel look. It also has a restaurant from a James Beard award-winning chef, Michelle Bernstein's.
Also, check out that area code on the matchbook. That's now just the Miami area code. Yes, once upon time Palm Beach and Miami-Dade (formerly just Dade) counties shared the same area code. Now PB phone numbers are preceded by 561.
Lastly, this is just further proof that the new Hilton logo is essentially the old one, but tipped over and painted half-gold and half-silver. (Golf claps.) While we appreciated the antiquity of our matchbook find, we still prefer the Maritime Hotel's kinky ones instead.
