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Acqualina Resort Ditches the Pamphlets in Favor of Bluetooth
The posh Acqualina Resort in Sunny Isles, FL is going green by, er, going blue. Instead of throwing a bunch of brochures and pamphlets into your guestroom every day, the resort has launched a Bluetooth messaging system that delivers daily hotel news and offerings straight to your mobile device. Yes, oh yes. Candidate for our next Geek Hotels list? We think so.
Whether in the lobby, lounging by the pool or relaxing at the beach, guests and residents can power on their Bluetooth device and automatically receive hotel entertainment news, events, or any other informational materials of interest.
The resort will only send AcquaBlue messages once a day and guests will not accrue any charges, airtime or additional fees. In addition, this service is only accessible while on the resort grounds and is independent of any wireless carrier.
Sweet, huh? The messages can be delivered to any Bluetooth-enabled device (cell phones, laptops, etc) — and they have even gotten this thing precise enough to launch location-specific messages; i.e., you'll hear about the drink specials if you're by the pool while guests in the lobby might receive announcements about different things.
Rates here ain't cheap — the cheapest room we found for a Sunday night in May was $575 — but this service is totally free, at least.
Tags: Miami Beach Hotels / Art Basel / Le Meridien Hotels / → All Tags
Le Meridien Sunny Isles Ready for Art Basel
Miami hotels are already gearing up for Art Basel next month, and plans go beyond hiring extra housekeeping to clean up the trashed hotel rooms of art buyers and "artists". Le Meridien Sunny Isles Beach is going over the top with art installations throughout the property, as part of Le Meridien's broader, brand-wide One Night program.
In addition to literally covering the property with fine art photography (in the form of appliques on windows), Sunny Isles will have newly designed keycards designed by artist Sam Samore. Besides opening guest rooms, they'll also grant access to a contemporary art space in Miami. A big One Night party is slated for December 2, just a few days before Art Basel starts up.
Related Stories:
· Killer View at Le Meridien Sunny Isles [HotelChatter]
· Art Basel coverage [HotelChatter]
Tags: Rosewood Resorts / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags
Rosewood Resorts to Officially Be Out of Acqualina Hotel by Oct. 31st
It's official. Rosewood Resorts will no longer be managing the Acqualina Resort in Sunny Beach Isles, Florida.
On Monday, we got word that RR was pulling out and today we got our hands on the official press release, issued by the Acqualina resort itself. It says:
Acqualina informed Rosewood Hotels and Resorts last month of its decision to end their relationship effective October 31st and to establish its own luxury brand. Acqualina Management, LLC, the hotel management company that has employed the on-site management team supervised by Rosewood,...is to assume complete supervision of the management team.
Hmmm...that sounds like a "We didn't need you anyways" type of release from Acqualina, doesn't it? Nevertheless, it doesn't look like much of the hotel's top management is going anywhere as the hotel's vice president Florent Gateau will stay on as will the sales & marketing director Deborah Yager-Fleming.
The hotel also promises to "build significantly on its membership" in The Leading Hotels of the World program. So we're guessing the resort will do its best to keep returning guests happy.
One last jab in the release: "While retaining its very talented on-site top management group, ownership together with management will focus on continuing to build an even stronger team at Acqualina."
Guests, keep us posted if they live up to this promise or not.
Related Stories:
· Rosewood Resorts Bowing Out of Acqualina Hotel? [HotelChatter]
Tags: Rosewood Resorts / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags
Rosewood Resorts Bowing Out of Acqualina Hotel?
A regular guest of the Acqualina Resort in Florida wrote into us saddened to hear that Rosewood Resorts was ending its management of the hotel. The hotel's website still states that it is a Rosewood Resort so this is not official news. But we thought we'd investigate anyways.
So we emailed a few of our sources to determine why Rosewood would no longer be managing the place, if this is indeed true. While no one could confirm the report, one source said that the Acqualina may have not fit in with the rest of the Rosewood Resort portfolio.
The hotel is way north of Miami Beach on a soulless stretch of Collins that feels more like a highway.
Our source also added that a few managers transferred out of the hotel to the Carlyle in NYC and to Rosewood properties in the Caribbean, a sign that this move may have been planned for a while.
Have your own thoughts to add about the Acqualina and Rosewood Resorts? Comment below.
[Photo: WaveBreaker]
Related Stories:
· The Regent South Beach No More [HotelChatter]
Tags: Miami Beach Hotel Reviews / Killer View / → All Tags
Room with a Killer View: Newport Beachside Resort
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
While Michael de Zayas covers the glamor of South Beach and the hot hotel addresses in Miami Beach, this photo is a reminder that you don't have to be in the fashionable zone to get a killer view and a nice beach to lounge on. Sometimes you're better off at a hotel that snagged a good location long ago.
This shot is from room 404 at the Newport Beachside Hotel and Resort. It's a blocky oceanfront affair that is refreshingly old-Miami, offering good value in a family-friendly atmosphere. It's in the North Miami Beach area, about a mile from Bal Harbour. The room this was taken from, set up like a small suite, often goes for $220 or less--plus the "gotcha" $10 resort fee. Rooms not directly on the ocean run significantly less. (Forget trying to book it for Super Bowl though; they've been sold out for months.)
This part of the Florida coast hasn't escaped the ridiculous amount of construction going on though: cranes and concrete crews are working overtime up and down the beach, maybe building more hotels but mostly building condos. It all seems like bubble-time to us, but there's no denying that this tropical stretch of sand is one of the most enticing in the U.S.--especially considering you can still swim in the ocean comfortably in mid-January.
Tags: Killer View / Miami Beach Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Room with a Killer View: Le Meridien Sunny Isles
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
Lately, we've beeh in a rut thinking that Killer Views had to come from a hotel abroad. However, QuirkyGal shows us on Flickr that a great room view can be had here in the states. Specifically, the 25th floor of the Le Meridien Sunny Isles. With floors so high, no wonder the service is pokey.
Related Stories:
· Le Meridien Sunny Isles is Pokey With Service [HotelChatter]
Tags: Honeymoon Hotels / Lists / Miami Beach Hotels / → All Tags
Get Romantic in 2007
If your New Year's Resolution is to crank up the romance in your life, then you need to know what about.com's Susane Breslow Sardone considers to be 2007's Best New Hotels for Romance. With tips spread from downtown New York (luckily this time avoiding the yet-to-open Downtown Hotel) to Rio and rural Ireland to the charming Czech Republic, there's a find for everyone, but the big gold medal goes to North Miami Beach's Acqualina.
Less than a year old, the Acqualina is described as "romantic fantasy come to life". Of course, everybody's got their own individual ideas of romantic fantasy (and some of them we just don't want to know about), but if an adults-only tranquility pool and marble showers built for two fit into your imagination, book now.
If you're trying to use it for that special moment, the concierges are even equipped to give you hints on how to propose! (On top of that they're multilingual and can arrange for your pets to be walked, too). Just twenty minutes from Fort Lauderdale airport, and you can let the romance begin.
Also on the list are Gramercy Park Hotel, for the scary gothic sex freak in all of us.
Related Stories:
· Acqualina reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Best New Hotels for Romance [about.com]
Tags: Hotel Staff / → All Tags
A Proposal Concierge is Forever
Hey guys---you've heard of the four c's when it comes to buying an engagement ring, right? Er, you know, color, cut, clarity and carat. Right? Never mind, because now, thanks to Acqualina (a Rosewood Resort) there are five c's---the fifth one being concierge. Huh?
That's right, the swank Sunny Isles Beach resort is offering a service that will come to the rescue of many a man--or very forward thinking woman.
The hotel's Proposal Concierge, Samuel Garcia, provides the perfect rescue plan to the time-deprived or creativity-starved individuals ready to pop the question. Whether the occasion is exclusive to the couple or a surprise family and friends event, the resort's dedicated Proposal Concierge is ready to offer ideas or assist with the planning and timing of this once-in-a-lifetime moment.
Whether it's an elaborate formal dinner party or an intimate candlelit picnic for two on the resort's private beach with the proposal scrolled in the sand or a specially built wedding cake sand castle, (but let's hope it's not that cheesy) your spouse-to-be will never know you received any help in executing the perfect proposal.
Seems like the only thing Garcia can't do is make her--or him--say 'yes.' Then again, if you need that sort of help, maybe you're just rushing into things and need to slow things down just a bit, dontchya think?
Image via Coed/Flickr
Related Stories:
· Acqualina Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Hotel Reviews / Le Meridien Hotels / → All Tags
Le Meridien Sunny Isles is Pokey With Service
The NY Times hit up family-friendly Le Meridien Sunny Isles in Florida just a little outside South Beach.
Because it's a condo-tel, most rooms have amenities that you would find within an apartment such as two televisions, a kitchen stocked with cookware and utensils, stainless steel appliances and a living room with a sleeper sofa.
However, while the hotel scores points for accomodations and beachfront location, the service is described as pokey (slow and inattentive) and the hotel has high prices for cheap stuff. Like a breakfast with the quality of Dennys and a $16 resort fee for the use of the hotel's small hot tub and pool. Valet parking at the hotel, which is in a town still full of retired elderly people, costs 25 bucks.
And if you want some nightlife, forget about staying here as there's no scene. Miami is only 30 minutes away, but you're better off fronting the money to stay there. Otherwise, you'll have to rent a car and put up with some of Florida's worst drivers--the old people in their cadillacs wearing ginormous sunglasses and visors.
Summer rates are currently offered at $209 to $639.
Related Stories:
· Check-in, Check-out [NY Times]
· Le Meridien Sunny Isles reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Hotels / → All Tags
Another Hotel On Florida's Coast
A new hotel is hitting the Miami area, and just in time for spring break.
But Sunny Isles Beach's newest addition, The Acqualine Resort is not your average spring break hotspot.
The resort bills itself as an "oceanfront masterpiece," possibly because it is located on 400 feet of oceanfront property, or else because it is designed to look like an Italian palace-- think Baroque fountains, and columns.
Obviously the place is a good choice for families with its various activities for children, and a swank swimming pool. For those skittish of kids, rest easy. There is an adult-only pool.
The hotel itself is relatively small with 54 rooms and 43 suites, all with ocean views and private terraces. Many suites offer full kitchens, for those who are inclined to cook or who just like add-ons.
Expect to pay around $675 for a room during the high season.
Related Stories:
· Near South Beach, a Luxury Hotel Caters to Families [NY Times]
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