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The James Miami Is Behind Schedule And Quite Touchy About It

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 1545 Collins Avenue [map], Miami Beach, FL, United States, 33139
October 10, 2012 at 9:45 AM | by | Comments (0)

Welcome to another hotel dispatch from our special contributor, The Smooth Operator. We can't divulge his identity but we can tell you he spends about 70 percent of his time on the road, staying in all the hot hotels and checking out their restaurants and bars to see if the social scene and rooms are up to snuff. If you're deciding whether or not to take a chance on that hip boutique hotel in the city, read The Smooth Operator for his opinion first. (Or send us an email and we'll have him answer it for you!)

Last week he happened to be in Miami and we were curious about The James Royal Palm, which was supposed to open on October 1. We've been giving this hotel tons of pre-opening love, so we're disappointed with the recent turn of events. We asked the "powers that be" at The James if we could take a look around since we were under the impression (given our last report) that it would be open on time. Let's just say the response was less than pleasant and we don't dig that, especially when we've been good girls and boys. But, HC has NICE friends out and about, we asked Smooth and another pal to find out what was going on and what was behind all the hostility? Turns out, it's coming from a few directions. Read on for the report of The James Miami's progress thus far.

From The Smooth Operator: The James remains under renovations and is around 4-5 weeks delayed according to the security guard and construction worker I spoke with. They are taking reservations online now, but anyone who already booked for this month has been contacted. They were not sure how many reservations did get booked by people thinking the hotel was going to be ready by October 1st. A representative of the hotel said they're now taking reservations online for November - well ahead of Art Basel and Miami's high season. When I was looking around, I was quickly approached and asked if I was with the media. They're a little sensitive. The lobby is far from done - they were loading in foliage and soil for planters, which is a good sign that they're close. There's scaffolding on the back of the building as they're still painting, etc. I could not get to the pool and it's hard to see the hotel from the beach side.

From a HC Fan: "When I was taking a picture, a security guard came running over yelling "You are not allowed to take photos!" I said back, "I am on a public street and you can't tell me what I can and can't do." She continued to scream, "No photos allowed!" I said "It's a public street." Anyway that's when we walked away."

Ah. So instead of a polite "The hotel isn't ready"--which we would have understood--we got unnecessary attitude, and were told that October 18th would be the day that The James would be ready for eyes to behold it. Our two friends aren't optimistic from what they observed.

The question is--why the drama? Why does The James have security yelling at people? These could be potential guests! One should never assume who you are talking to, we say.

Seems a lesson in manners is in order across the board before this hotel opens up, whenever that happens. As for us, we wish The James good luck when it debuts, and that--as Forrest Gump would say--is all we have to say about that.

[Photos: HotelChatter]

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