There’s a part of Florida that’s gone the way of the plastic lawn flamingo. A coastline once strewn with mom-and-pop hotels, kitschy souvenir shops and open-air hot dog joints is now lined with top-tier-brand luxury properties, soaring condo-hotels and elegant alfresco cafes and restaurants.
Attractions that once showcased the state’s fascinating, and sometimes quirky, flora and fauna have given way to enormous theme parks that rely on technologically generated thrills (although there are still places where you can pay a few dollars to see a big alligator).
“The Florida that we all visited as children no longer exists, or you have to look really hard to find it,” says Eileen Forrow, vice president of sales for Visit Florida, the state’s tourism marketing corporation. “But there’s something new about Florida every day, and we’re lucky to have such an array of fabulous attractions and resorts. It’s an ever-changing palette.”
So for you old-timers who miss the Aquatarium on St. Petersburg Beach, check out the gleaming Florida Aquarium on Tampa Bay, and for those nostalgic for Miami Beach’s Castaways Hotel, head up the street to the Trump International Sonesta Beach Resort, which has tons more meeting space than its hard-partying former counterpart anyway.
“It seems like there’s always something being announced, something under construction,” says Bud Nocera, president and CEO of Visit Florida. “And that’s what makes it fun for us, to be able to offer that to meeting planners.”
Here’s a look at what’s happening throughout the Sunshine State.
Southeast Florida
Development giveth and development taketh away. So it goes in Greater Miami, where a number of venerable properties have met the wrecking ball in favor of newer, hipper luxe brands.
Among the transitions: the Roney Palace, which recently became the Hotel Gansevoort South, and the Sheraton Bal Harbour, scheduled to reopen in 2010 as the St. Regis Resort and Residences Bal Harbour.
Other grande dame hotels, meanwhile, are sporting complete makeovers, including the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels, next-door neighbors on Miami Beach that have entirely shed their former identities as snowbird nests and are entering a new century of super-resorts that offer amenities for nearly every kind of traveler, including large conventions. When they debut later this year, the 1,504-room Fontainebleau will boast 58 meeting rooms totaling 107,000 square feet of function space, while the 349-room Eden Roc checks in with 43,000 square feet.
Next up in the Magic City is a facelift for the landmark Mayfair House Hotel, and the debut of JW Marriott’s Marquis hotel, the newest entry in a wave of luxury brands that has been rolling through the city since 2000.
The same wave has also doused Miami’s neighbor to the north, Greater Fort Lauderdale, where the CVB recently launched a microsite—Lauderdale Luxe—at www.sunny.org to handle inquiries about properties like Fort Lauderdale’s own St. Regis, the Atlantic, the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach, the W (opening this June) and the Trump International Hotel & Tower (due in early 2009), along with such luxuriously transformed hotels as the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, the Hyatt Regency Bonaventure and Lago Mar Resort & Club.
South of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, the Florida Keys’ newest property—Beachside Resort & Conference Center in Key West—joins a host of other meetings-friendly resorts, including Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, the Key Largo Grande Resort & Beach Club and Hawks’ Cay Resort and Marina on Duck Key, which just completed a $35 million renovation.
Greater Fort Lauderdale’s northern neighbor, Palm Beach County, no stranger to the top-drawer lodgings scene, offers a mix of legendary showplaces, including The Breakers and the Boca Raton Resort & Club, and ultra-high-end brands like Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons, all with copious meeting space. Latter-day entries in the luxury category include the Resort at Singer Island, with seven meeting rooms, and PGA National Resort & Spa, home to a 35,000-square-foot conference wing and sporting a multimillion-dollar refurbishment of its public areas, restaurants, pool and clubhouse. And look for a dash of luxury coming to the new Palm Beach County Convention Center—an upscale, 400-room Westin headquarters hotel, developed by Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties, which will be connected by enclosed walkway in 2010.
Southwest Florida
New openings, reopenings and massive remodelings have energized the lodging scene in this serene Gulf enclave, comprising Naples and Marco Island to the south, Fort Myers and Sanibel/Captiva in the middle, and Charlotte Harbor to the north.
The new Hotel at Naples Bay Resort made its debut recently, joining the Bellasera Hotel and The Inn on Fifth as downtown Naples’ premier boutique properties, all of which have meeting space.
Larger groups can check into the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club, offering 34,000 square feet of meeting space, or the newly renovated Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort, whose 732 rooms and 225,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space make it the area’s largest convention property.
North of Naples, South Seas Island Resort on Captiva reopened last spring following a $140 million renovation, while the Pink Shell Beach Resort & Spa capped off a multimillion-dollar transformation with the addition of the 43-unit Captiva Villas. Next year, look for Charlotte Harbor to take its place among Florida’s many meeting hubs when the 43,000-square-foot Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center opens in downtown Punta Gorda.
Central Florida
No news may be good news, but Orlando and Kissimmee continue to challenge that axiom with an ever-expanding roster of hotels and convention facilities. The list includes new properties like Hyatt Place Orlando/Convention Center and Rosen Shingle Creek; reflagged and refurbished gems like the Regal Sun (formerly the Grosvenor Resort); and ongoing upgrades at established properties like Caribe Royale All-Suites Resort, which recently redesigned its two-bedroom villas, and Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, which added a realistic 12,000-square-foot coral reef to its Key West atrium, one of three themed environments in the resort.
And there’s much more on the horizon, including the Vista Royale, a Wyndham Resort, set to open in 2009; Starwood Resorts’ Element hotel, opening near the convention center in 2009; Ravallo Resort & Conference Center, coming in 2010; Amalfi, a 242-room hotel that will be part of a mixed-use center slated for completion in 2010; and Icon Celebration, a two-phase condo-hotel project with meeting space that is due to open in late 2010.
Central East Florida
Representing one of the state’s most dramatic transformations, Daytona Beach has shifted from hosting spring break traffic to convention traffic in just a few short years, with elegant new and renovated venues like the Shores Resort & Spa, the Plaza Resort & Spa, the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront and a convention center that will double in size by the end of the year.
Just south of Daytona in New Smyrna Beach, Phase III of Oceanwalk, a condominium community that includes vacation rentals, is under construction. Farther south, along Florida’s Space Coast, the Hilton Melbourne Beach Oceanfront is adding an 82-room seaside tower featuring two seventh-floor, ocean-view meeting rooms, which will bring the hotel’s total meeting space to 9,000 square feet.
Central West Florida
Tampa’s Westshore business and shopping district is making news with the recent rebranding of the Wyndham Westshore to the InterContinental Tampa, while the Clarion will rebrand as a Crowne Plaza in early 2009. Other new properties are planned, including Avion Park, a complex of three mid-rise hotels opening this fall; the Westin Tampa at Rocky Point, scheduled to open in March 2009; and a 269-room Ritz-Carlton, due for a 2011 opening.
On the neighboring peninsula of St. Petersburg/Clearwater, a recent flurry of condo-hotel projects has slowed due to the real estate slump, but several projects still have a green light, including Aqualea Resort & Residences, slated for a January 2010 opening, and Kiran Grand Resort and Spa, which has not set an opening date.
On the hotel side, the recently opened Sandpearl Resort on Clearwater Beach—featuring 253 rooms and 20,000 square feet of meeting space—replaced the Clearwater Beach Hotel last year; the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Clearwater Beach completely remodeled its two towers and offers 3,000 square feet of meeting space; and the Grand Bohemian Hotel and Residences is scheduled to open in 2010.
South of Tampa Bay in Sarasota, the Longboat Key Club and Resort recently completed a $6.5 million room renovation.
Northeast Florida
It may still be 1565, or 1720 or 1895 in some parts of Florida’s historic “First Coast,” but properties like the Omni Jacksonville Hotel are definitely up to date with in-room amenities and cutting-edge meeting space.
Renovations and enhancements also are under way at a number of hotels, including the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village, which completed an $8 million refurbishment earlier this year, and the Sea Turtle Inn, which just rebranded as the OneOcean Resort following major interior and exterior renovations. Meanwhile, the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, a Florida landmark that sits on 300 oceanfront acres and features more than 30,000 square feet of meeting space, received AAA’s coveted Five Diamond Award for the sixth year in a row.
Northwest Florida
With a new international airport on the way (see sidebar, page 8), impressive upgrades such as the recent $20 million renovation of the Bay Point Marriott Golf Resort & Spa and a slew of new hotels in the works or completed, Panama City Beach leads the march of development in Northwest Florida, though other areas are not far behind.
On the lovely ribbon of coastline known as the Beaches of South Walton, the town of Alys Beach will be joining such Old Florida-flavored resort communities as Seaside, Rosemary Beach and Sandestin, where event space ranges from oceanfront gazebos and charming town halls to state-of-the-art conference centers. In addition, the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa offers two ballrooms, a 106-seat theater and a private boardroom.
To the east, along the Emerald Coast, newcomers include the Palms of Destin Resort and Conference Center, with 6,000 square feet of meeting space, and Waterscape, a ResortQuest property located right across the street from the Emerald Coast Conference Center.
