miami beach Travel Guide
Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Amenities / Hotel TVs / Hotel Design / → All Tags
It's a Mirror, It's a TV! It Takes a Little Work To Get Things Right at the Marlin Hotel
If you've done some hotel hopping lately, you would have noticed the size wars underway.
No, not the size of the bed--or your WiFi bandwith (we wish). We're talking about TVs. The size of flatscreens keeps ballooning--but none we've seen have been as impressive as the TVs at South Beach's revamped Marlin Hotel.
When you first walk into your room, it looks like a mirror. But as you'll soon find once you play around with your in-room iPad, there is a 60-inch LED screen hidden behind the mirror, in service of the also-concealed AppleTV system.
A nice piece of design in theory, but how does it work in the wild? We gave it a test spin during a recent stay...
Miami Hotel Mambo / Retro Hotels / Hotel Rebrandings / Autograph Collection / → All Tags
What The Winter Haven Will Look Like Once It's Autographed This Summer
As we know, Miami will be rocking not one, not two, but three Autograph Collection hotels in 2012.
Turnberry Isle Resort was the latest to go Autograph, and we've had a sneak peek at what the upgrade means for The Blue Moon Hotel. But what about the little-known third hotel, Winter Haven?
After taking a peek at the 1930s-esque renderings of the Winter Haven's Autograph Collection makeover, we're thinking this may just be the sleeper hit in the trio.
Sure, the above shot is only a rendering but we kinda love the glamorous ocean-liner feel, especially the porthole-shaped mirrors. It definitely has more personality than the room decor it's replacing...
Reality TV Shows / Reality TV Hotels / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags
We're Only Days Away From The Premiere of 'The Catalina'
Just a month ago, we dished on the latest reality show featuring hotel staffers---The Catalina, featuring the pretty young things who work at the party hotel in Miami Beach.
Since then, we've seen some various pieces of promotion for the show, namely photos of the hot young cast prancing on the beach. But now as the premiere date edges closes--May 29 at 8pm EST on the CW--we've been wondering exactly what will this show be about. Well, thanks to a press release that's arrived in our inboxes, we can tell you what you expect.
Design Thursdays / Interviews / Miami Hotel Mambo / Philippe Starck / SLS Hotels / Hotel Design / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
Philippe Starck Walks Us Through His SLS South Beach Designs
Welcome to Design Thursdays! This is our day to focus on hotel design through photo tours, video walk-throughs and interviews with hotel designers. Got a cool hotel design story we should know about? Let us know.
We've seen the renderings and they sure look pretty. But as we all know, nothing can capture the feel of a hotel room quite like checking into it for real.
We're just weeks away from being able to do that at SLS South Beach, and in the meantime we have the next best thing to walking through the hotel itself--uber-designer Philippe Starck walking us through his designs.
We asked what we could expect from the rooms and where his inspiration came from. His answer took on a life of its own...
Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Openings / James Hotels / Hotel Opening Rates / Hotel News / → All Tags
The James Hotel in Miami Will Open on October 1 at $299 a Night
The James Royal Palm Miami isn't opening until later this fall but to all your eager hotel beavers out there (you know who you are), we've just got word that reservations for the hotel are now open!
Hopping onto the hotel's website we found a special pre-opening rate of $299 a night for October 1. That rate gets you a 275-sq.ft. room with a king bed, views of the Miami cityscape and Biscayne Bay, a cocktail and snack bar (hopefully like the ones they have at James Chicago), a 42-inch plasma TV, gloriously free WiFi, a private work/dining niche, nightly turndown, custom robes and slippers and Intelligent Nutrients bath amenities. Bigger rooms with partial ocean views are also available for $379 a night.
Miami Hotel Mambo / SLS Hotels / Hotel Openings / SBE / Sam Nazarian / Hotel Gardens / → All Tags
SLS South Beach's Secret Weapon: The Front Terrace
Much of the hype around the SLS South Beach has been over the food truck or the Kravitz Design Inc-ified bungalow by the pool. But there's one other aspect of the new hotel that sbe founder Sam Nazarian is pretty excited about--the front terrace.
Here's what Nazarian told us about the space that is still shaping up along Collins Avenue:
Hotels by definition need to be additions to the community—a place where people congregate, have meetings, people celebrate special occasions, a place where business is done. Like at SLS Beverly Hills, or at The Redbury in Hollywood, that’s what we’ve been planning for SLS Miami Beach – it’s a place where people can come.
Miami Hotel Mambo / Sam Nazarian / sbe / SLS Hotels / Lenny Kravitz / Philippe Starck / Hotel Design / → All Tags
SBE's Sam Nazarian Dishes On The Star Designers of SLS South Beach
It's no secret that we're psyched for the upcoming June opening of SLS South Beach. As June 14 gets closer (and we hear rumors that the hotel will soft open even sooner), details of the room decor is starting to trickle out. But what's the official line?
We spoke to sbe founder Sam Nazarian and asked what we can expect from the SLS South Beach rooms designed by Philippe Starck.
Photo Galleries / Miami Hotel Mambo / Kimpton Hotels / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags
Inside a Room at The Kimpton Surfcomber (No Sheep Here!)
Now that we've got you working on a name for the Surfcomber's lone black sheep, we thought you may want to take a look at one of the hotel's rooms--so you know what to expect if you win the name-the-sheep contest on Facebook and all.
The hotel was made over last year, reopening in 2012 with a fresh, sometimes funky, Kimpton feel. You can see what the lobby, bars and restaurant, Lantao Kitchen + Cocktails, look like from our earlier stories.
Now, check out the room in our gallery below.
Hotel Toiletries / SLS Hotels / sbe / Ciel Spa / → All Tags
Here's What You Can Expect to Find in SLS South Beach's Pink Bathrooms
Just in time for the opening of SLS South Beach with their pretty pink bathrooms, sbe has unveiled their Ciel Spa toiletry line which will now be found in all sbe hotels (SLS at Beverly Hills, The Redbury and the Four Points by Sheraton at LAX).
Named after the SLS spa, the Ciel line includes shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion and two soaps, all in stylish black packaging. It's a win-win for everyone--the guest gets some cool-looking, non-anonymous bath toiletries (especially the folks at the airport hotel) while the spa gets non-stop advertising.
Facebook / Hotel Contests / Miami Hotel Mambo / Kimpton Hotels / Hotel Sheep / → All Tags
The Surfcomber Wants You To Name Its Sheep. Yes, Sheep
____ the Sheep, pulling all the weight at the concierge desk again.
We knew something was in the works with those sheep (the cows, too). Each time we'd been by the The Surfcomber in South Beach, the animal statues were in new positions--around the pool, peeking out from behind a door in the lobby, and hanging out by the concierge desk.
Then the sheep and cows popped up on the hotel's Instagram feed during Winter Music Conference. Now, at last, their role in promoting the newly Kimptonized hotel is becoming apparent--they are but furry pawns in a game to drive traffic to the Surfcomber's Facebook page--and, naturally, to the hotel itself.
They're calling it the "Local Rock Star Needs Name” Facebook contest. You see, one lone black sheep in the flock (four cows and four other sheep) remains nameless. (The others all have names but have yet to be introduced. Stay tuned.)
The Surfcomber is turning to its fans to name the fella--yes, it's a boy sheep--and is providing a little background to help get the creative juices flowing...
SLS Hotels / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Openings / Hotel News / Philippe Starck / Jose Andres / Sam Nazarian / → All Tags
The SLS South Beach Sure Looks Sexy (Thanks to That Mirror on the Ceiling)
The SLS South Beach doesn't open for another two months but we're finally getting a little more insight as to what the second-ever SLS Hotel will look like.
And like most things, in South Beach, it will be oozing sex appeal. But only up in the guestrooms. The rest of the joint is taking an eclectic design approach.
USA Today has some scoop on the interior design details of the hotel including a retro American camp theme at reception:
The reception desk is made from a distressed slab of wood; the lighting, from an antique wood kayak hanging from the ceiling. Vintage shots of camping trips reinforce the camp theme.
Down at Bazaar, the restaurant from Chef Jose Andres (which is also found in the first SLS Hotel in Los Angeles), Philippe Starck designed a room that is to be covered in grandma-approved art in only one color, acid yellow.
Expect love-it-or-hate-it acid yellow touches throughout the room - in photographs, on book shelves and in paintings.
Eeeeeeeee.
Reality TV Hotels / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotels on TV / Hotel Staff / → All Tags
Catalina Cast, Er Hotel Staff, Prancing on Beach in Anticipation of Reality Show
As the preview spot for the new CW show, The Catalina, tells us: 'If you think the guests like to party, wait til you meet the staff.' Thanks to their recent cavorting on South Beach captured in The Daily Mail, we have our opportunity.
The article doesn't tell us much about the cast... er, hotel staff of the Catalina, but if a picture says a thousand words, this piece is a thesis worthy of The New Yorker. They're young, they're thin and buff... they have a bit of the Jersey Shore about them, they work with hangovers--what else do we need to know?
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