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Overheard at the W South Beach Pool
During our recent stay at the W South Beach, we did some morning pool reconnaissance around 11am on a Saturday. We were at first annoyed and then amused and then annoyed again by the loud-talking group of revelers taking up 10 or more lounge chairs nearby. The group, mostly women, seemed to be visiting for their male ringleader’s birthday, and were discussing how everyone had fared after the previous night’s partying. (“Who woke up naked?” was asked without sarcasm.)
Tags: Hotel Video Tours / HotelChatter Reviews / W Hotels / Miami Hotel Mambo / Guess The Hotel / W South Beach / → All Tags
Inside the W South Beach (Finally!)
Last week we got to check out the home of that lush garden patio, the W South Beach (which one commenter guessed correctly), and we’ve gotta say: now we’ve seen it, the breathless hype makes a little more sense. (But the rates? Hmm, not quite.)
The hotel is just like its location: beautiful and showy; laidback by day, and a total scene by night. Summer is meant to be low season in Miami, but not at a just-opened hotel like the W. The place was jumping by 7:30 pm on a Friday night—the Bentleys parked outside were only the first sign.
Tags: Hotel Restaurants / W South Beach / Checking In On / → All Tags
How is Mr. Chow at the W South Beach Doing So Far?
We’re heading to South Beach this weekend, with plans to sample the menu at the W South Beach’s Mr. Chow, which opened a couple of weeks ago. To prepare ourselves, we surfed the interwebs for some of the restaurant’s first reviews.
Here’s what we found:
So far, there are 4 reviews on Yelp. One declared Mr. Chow “a first class dining experience,” noting that the mushroom side dish contained “the largest mushrooms I’ve seen in SOBE.” The next reviewer called the meal “fine” and “respectable, but I wasn’t wowed.” The most recent review, however, raved: “Outstanding! Outstanding! Outstanding!!!” Overall, the Yelpers lead us to believe we should order the crispy beef (three out of four loved it), and maybe the green prawns and ginger lobster.
Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Hotel News / W South Beach / → All Tags
Mr. Chow Will Open Very Soon at W South Beach
So, here's the deal: scene-y dining hotspot Mr. Chow is set to open up in the W South Beach this month. The website says August 15th, but we've been hearing some faint whispers of (perhaps?) an earlier, quiet opening prior to that date.
Regardless, it's all sort of fuzzy at the moment: we gave the restaurant a call this morning and were not able to get ahold of a human (to be fair, it was 8:30 am) and all the recorded greetings and menus promise an "August" opening — and that they'd be taking reservations in August.
When exactly in August is still a mystery — but keep your eyes open; you may be sinking your teeth into some Ma Mignon sooner than you think.
Tags: Entourage Hotels / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Packages / W South Beach / → All Tags
W SoBe Introduces 'Entourage' Bungalow
We probably all know by now that the type of dude who struts around as though he believes his life is an episode of HBO's "Entourage" is to be avoided as deliberately and as unmistakably as the type of girl who believes her life is an episode of Sex and the City, so perhaps the W South Beach is doing you a favor by restricting access to its grounds: it's going to be full of Vinny/Eric/Drama/Turtle wannabes.
And how do we know this, exactly? Not because the place is scene-y and Miami trendy, but because word on the street is that the hotel is joining forces with HBO to create an "Entourage"-themed bungalow, a three-story, "extra-ritzy" space that comes with a personal driver, an afternoon yacht excursion, a poolside cabana and jet skis, and dinner for four at Solea. Though the place appears to be BYO-Weed (tell your Turtle-esque friend — and also, we're totes just kidding, don't do drugs), it does come with free alcohol from Grey Goose and Heineken, as well as Sony Playstation3 consoles.
Tags: W South Beach / Hotel Openings / Hotel News / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags
Don't Expect to Check Out W SoBe Without Your Own Room Key
The headline of this Miami Herald story echoes our sentiments exactly: W(TF), W SoBe? Are you for real right now, dudes? According to a reader who wrote into the Miami paper, if you're a non-guest venturing over to the just-opened W South Beach for a bit of lunch (or just to check out the scene at the place), you may be met by a (well-dressed, trendy and chic) staffer asking you to peace the F out.
Per the Herald:
one of our readers ventured to the property last week for a little lunch and a look see and was approached by a security guard and asked to leave. According to the reader, non guests of the hotel do not have access to the restaurants, bars and clubs.
An email the reader forwarded to us from the hotel's general manager, Eduardo Fernandez confirms that, saying, "I apologize if you feel that our staff was not courteous to you during while you visited our establishment. Due to the large volume of people coming and going to the beach and attempting to use our hotel and our restrooms, we have implemented a policy limiting the use of the lobby, living room, and pool areas for guests and residents only."
Like, jigga wha? That's pretty lame.
Also, the Herald admits that they "weren't met with any resistance" when they stopped by the property themselves, so this "policy" may have some exceptions — or it may not be enforced 24/7.
So, uh, if you're interested in seeing W SoBe, we guess you have three options: either shell out a few hundred for a room, wait for Mr. Chow to open on August 15th and make a rezzie there, or knock back a few shots of tequila and take your chances.
Tags: Snapshot / W South Beach / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags
First Look at W South Beach's Rooms
Our tipsters are awesome. A big, huge, incredibly grateful hug goes out to the anonymous reader who sent in these snaps of his digs at the W South Beach, which we assume to be a suite based on the separate bedroom we're seein' here.
The place officially has three guest reviews posted on TripAdvisor, and by the looks of things, the building itself seems to be ready to go — but folks are saying the service still leaves a bit to be desired ("service is very uneven," said one guest who had some issues at the front desk during check-in).
Tags: Snapshot / Hotel Pools / W South Beach / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags
First Look at the W South Beach Pool
Although we haven't been able to get our pale and pasty butts down to Miami just yet to check out the W South Beach for ourselves (it's open! Really! Seriously! Rejoice!), a very generous tipster shot a couple of pics of the pool area for us and sent 'em our way.
We don't have much to say here, since we cannot accurately get a reading on the pool scene without a shot of the hardbodies and fake boobies and the women who will undoubtedly be stomping around poolside in high heels and lots of jewelry (why do people do that?), but we suspect it will be bumpin' and colorful and, you know, W-pool-ness merged with what a typical swanky South Beach-y pool scene might be.
Tags: W South Beach / Hotel Openings / Trip Advisor / Refereeing Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
W South Beach Gets Its First Review
We're sick of seeing renderings of the W South Beach. Got a real snapshot of the new hotel? Send it to us.
As we'd been highly (highly) anticipating for a very long time now, W South Beach is now open. Glorious! And after its inaugural weekend, the place has gotten its very first review on TripAdvisor. Even more glorious.
Not so glorious: it's not very good.
Okay, yes, so it's the very first review on TripAdvisor — we understand that one person's experience does not necessarily represent the quality and performance of a brand new hotel (nor is the quality and performance of a brand new hotel necessarily representative of how the hotel's going to operate later on), but it's worth taking a look at only because it's the very first review.
Tags: Hotel Openings / W Hotels / W South Beach / Hotel Delays / → All Tags
W South Beach Is Open!
The day has come: W South Beach is open. Yes, open. It is July 2nd, 2009 and, presumably, there will be heads on brand new W SoBe pillows this evening. Surreal, isn't it? Consider it your very special Fourth of July holiday present. Or consider it a sweet, sweet miracle.
As we've already noted, this weekend appears to be sold out — but if you're really jonesin' to get in there, you can get a room on Sunday night (there appear to be some available) — and rooms are actually down below the $300 mark; you're looking at $295 (before taxes) for a king.
But don't go booking a bikini wax, a massage and a romantic meal just yet: the on-site Bliss Spa isn't opening until December 15, and Mr. Chow isn't supposed to open until August 15.
Are you inside the W South Beach this weekend? Send us pics and tell us what the scene is like!
Tags: Stalking W SoBe / W South Beach / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags
The Making of W South Beach: A Dramatic Play in Too Many Acts
Next week is the glorious, magical week: W South Beach is opening. On this, the almost-eve of the property's birth, we felt it was appropriate to take a look back at our favorite and least favorite moments of the dramatic saga that has led up to those doors opening.
Sort of like Seinfeld and Friends did when the series' ended, come with us on this series-finale-esque montage.
HotelChatter presents: W SoBe, a Dramatic Play in Too Many Acts.
Tags: Stalking W SoBe / Hotel Opening Rates / W South Beach / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags
Florida Residents Get 20% Off Rooms at W South Beach
So, as we continue to stalk the W South Beach this week (leading up to the hotel's still-supposedly-happenin' July 2nd opening date), we're going to go ahead and ask if anyone down in Florida is up for goin' and checking it out for us since we can't make it down there ourselves — cause they get 20% off the best available rate at the hotel. Just saying.
We were cruising the special offers section of the hotel's website where we found not only a package that involves a bar crawl through the hotel's various drinking establishments (it's called the "Heat of Haute" package, should you be interested), but also a Florida Resident Rate that knocks 20% off your room's price.
We managed to snag a room for 265.68 (well, that is, if we would be able to present a valid state ID at check-in) and the promo runs for rezzies booked by December 31, 2009 for stays through June 30, 2010.
What else is goin' on with W SoBe? Send us some dirt.
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