MIAMI is the place to indulge your vices — not the sort of hardcore sins
portrayed in the new film, Miami Vice, that opens next Friday, of
course, but luxuries of the delightful, silly and unnecessary kind. FOR THE
committed hotelphile, Miami’s hotels, in particular, are isa test-bed offor
new and extreme forms of luxury. Do you want toroom service that comes with
intellectual improvement on the side? A hotel you could live in
permanently?A spa hotel with DIY treatments?A concierge who will run your
life? Or, slightly more drastically, to be a lift-ride away from a cosmetic
surgeon’s knife?
In Miami, hotels are more than a handy billet. It’s where fashions begin.
While you can catch hotel trends first in MiamiThe trends that you see here,
particularly in the petri-dish of innovation that is South Beach,some will
cross the Atlantic in the nextwithin a few years. Who knows, with global
warming, maybe even Skegness will one day have a tanning butler?
THE FEMALE-FRIENDLY HOTEL
The Sanctuary doesn’t radiate an ecclesiastical sense of calm, despite being
tucked away a couple of blocks from the ocean. In best South Beach
traditions, it’s a party-minded place, with a large rooftop bar area, and a
small rooftop pool. There are only 30 rooms but with a hair and beauty
salon, this is a hotel aimed — unashamedly — at the ladeez.
There are discounts of up to 25 per cent offered for women travelling by
alone, and a roster of male models who can be hired as jogging partners.
The Sanctuary, 1745 James Avenue (991 001 305 673 5455, www.sanctuarysobe.com).
Doubles from £117.
THE TANNING BUTLER
Malcolm Siciak is bronzed, buffed and enthusiastic about his job as the
world’s first tanning butler. Carrying a holster with seven different types
of sunscreen, he patrols the beach and pool area of the Ritz-Carlton in
South Beach, ready to apply the sort of lotion that, as he puts it, “gets
you that second glance”. Despite the high camp factor of the job description
and the uniform that he picked out for himself, including the
“crowd-pleasing” shorts, he loves it: “It’s the world’s greatest job,” he
says, albeit a very different one from his last one, which was serving with
the US Army
in Iraq.
Ritz-Carlton Miami, 1 Lincoln Road (001 786 276 4000, www.ritzcarlton.com).
Doubles from £314.
THE HOTEL WITH AN IN-HOUSE MODEL AGENCY
How do you guarantee a constant glamour quota at your hotel? It’s a tricky
question for any trendy hotel, since the very rich — the odd freeloading
movie and pop star apart — tend to be on the middle-aged and unphotogenic
side. The Raleigh has solved the problem by incorporating
a model agency within its restored 1950s portals. And it’s not just any model
agency, but Ford, which represents a goodly proportion of supermodels. No
wonder the Raleigh’s Sunday party — held in and around its Art Deco swimming
pool — is the hottest ticket in town.
Raleigh Hotel, 1775 Collins Avenue (001 305 534 6300, www.raleighhotel.com).
Doubles from £203.
THE PRIVATE CLUB HOTEL (AND HOW TO GET IN)
An iconic slice of 1980s pop culture, Versace’s old home on Ocean Drive still
draws crowds to its gates. Bought two years ago by Peter Loftin, a telecoms
magnate, Casa Casuarina has been turned into a private club. Membership
costs $40,000 (£22,000) a year, but there is a way to get inside the doors
for much, much less. Book one of the rooms and you become a temporary
member, able to lounge by the gold-tiled pool, enjoy the pebble-encrusted
dining room and be amazed by Donatella’s bedroom, the duplex created for
Madonna, the rooftop observatory and the
store-sized closets of Versace’s own suite.
Casa Casuarina, 1116 Ocean Drive (001 305 672 6604, www.casacasuarina.com),
from £650 a night through Leading Hotels of the World (00800 2888 8882, www.lhw.com).
THE HOTEL WITH A VIBE MANAGER
Hotels today are a form of theatre — and Victoria Prado, concierge at the
Hotel Victor, has a role like no other. On the one hand this means that she
positions the mobile DJ and chooses which scented candle is right for a
particular evening at the Hotel Victor. But she also Sheaims to contact each
guest before they arrive to find out what they might want her to do, whether
it’s restaurant reservations, or something more complicated. “We want to be
proactive, whereas concierges traditionally wait for the guests to come to
them,” she says. A recent request involved arranging — for a guest who
fancied a trip to the casino there — a four-hour flight to the Bahamas, a
hotel room and the guest’s favourite bottle of wine to be waiting for her
when she arrived.
Hotel Victor, 1144 Ocean Drive (001 305 428 1234, www.hotelvictorsouthbeach.com).
Doubles from £179.
THE DIY SPA HOTEL
How do you bring down the notoriously pricey cost of spa treatments? The new
Standard Hotel in Miami (owned by Andre Balazs, who also owns the Raleigh
Hotel) is bursting with innovation, from the ozone-treated pool (which looks
more kindly onis kinder to coloured hair than chlorinated oneswater), sound
showers (soothing noises accompany the spray of water), the DIY open-air mud
lounge (where you and your friends can play with pressure hoses) to the
food, which is of the organic, line-caught, or grain-fed variety (but is
comes with naughty cocktails).
“It’s about options,” says Jason Harler, the hotel’s spa director. “It’s
detoxing, but it’s fun.” There are standard spa treatments but the mud
lounge and the wet areas are included in the price.
The Standard Miami, 40 Island Avenue (001 305 673 1717, www.standardhotel.com)
Doubles from £106.
THE PLASTIC SURGERY HOLIDAY
The modern multi-tasking holiday that incorporates nips, tucks and five-star
aftercare, with strong celebrity overtones. The delightfully-named Miami
Institute for Age Management and Intervention is handily placed underneath
the Four Seasons hotel. While not part of the hotel (they’ll stress this),
there’s a handy lift from the surgery that can take you straight from the
recovery area to your hotel floor without the need to be seen swathed with
telltale bandages. And they’ll arrange foryour stay in the hotel and for a
nurse to stay overnight to accept room service on your behalf.
Miami Institute for Age Management and Intervention (001 305 624 0009, www.miami-institute.com)
Four Seasons Miami 1435 Brickell Avenue (001 305 458 3535, www.fourseasons.com)
Doubles from £176.
Getting there: Sarah Turner travelled with Virgin Atlantic
(0870 574 7747, www.virgin.com);flights start at £469 return, andstayed at
the Ritz-Carlton South Beach and the Setai.
MIAMI NICE: THE PARTY TOWN GROWS UP
by Will Hide and Kate Quill
DOWNTOWN Miami is going up in the world. The skyline is getting taller as
multi-storey offices and apartment blocks shoot up, and the city is ditching
its downbeat image in favour of a cooler, more cultured, vibe. October sees
the opening of the Miami Performing Arts Centre (www.miamipac.org), on
Biscayne Boulevard, a new complex with three theatres, an educational centre
and an outdoor plaza.
The easy, laid-back mood is visible everywhere. Along Ocean Drive and Collins
Avenue in South Beach, up to the pedestrianised, café-lined Lincoln Road
Mall, crowds eat outdoors late into the night, something that, with the
exception of Las Vegas and parts of Manhattan, you’ll rarely find in
American cities.
One reason is the fall in crime. The number of tourist-related robberies has
dropped 80 per cent in the past ten years thanks to heavier policing and the
removal of the distinctive number plates that made hire cars an easy target.
On South Beach, as long as you don’t leave your common sense on the plane,
you’ll have no more bother than a week on the Costas, but certainly a much
higher celeb-count.
- Later this year the Breakwater and Edison hotels on Ocean Drive will join as
one and be renamed “Nicky O, a Nicky Hilton Hotel”, a project brokered
by the less famous sister of Paris Hilton.
- Soho House owner, Nick Jones, will open Soho Beach House Miami in Mid Beach.
This will be an apartment hotel, that will offer rooms and suites for
sale. Prices start at £325,000.
- The Sky Bar at Shore Club (001 305 695 3100, www.shoreclub.com) is a favourite
with Miami’s fashionable crowd: three distinct areas, all of them
chilled and sophisticated.
- Casa Tua (305 673 1010, www.casatualifestyle.com) is an excellent Italian
restaurant with a beautiful outside terrace. Romantic, classy and hidden
away.
- Social Miami at the Sagamore hotel (305 786 594 3344, www.sagamore hotel. com)
houses a contemporary art collection as well as a games room, art-video
lounge and screening room.
- Afterglo (305 695 1717, www.afterglo-restaurant.com) offers a cuisine designed
to “restore cellular health . . . and reveal one’s true beauty”.
- On Biscayne Boulevard, Michy’s (305 759 2001) doesn’t care about your age or
beauty; it just offers great food. Expect dishes such as ceviche, and
braised duck with sherry and peaches.
- For a night on the tiles, check out www.cooljunkie. com for what’s hip when —
a cool club on a Friday may be empty on Saturday. Try Mansion (good all
weekend), Social at the Sagamore (Fridays), Back Door Bamby at Snatch
(Mondays) and Suite (Saturdays). Also see www.miami.citysearch.com.
- For South Beach abs, Crunch Fitness (305 674 8222, www.crunch.com, day pass
£11.50), Miami’s trendiest gym and also most tourist-friendly, offers a
large work-out area and classes.
- Art Basel Miami Beach (www.artbaselmiamibeach.com) is an international art
show with special exhibitions, parties, music, film and design events —
it takes place on December 7-10.
- During Miami Spice month in September many restaurants offer discounted meals
to pep up trade in the off-season. See www.miamirestaurantmonth.com.
Lunches are available from about £11 and dinners from about £16.50 (excl
tax).
- Of course, Miami will never be free of its kitsch side — its love of excess is
what makes it great. Thus a racy new museum devoted to erotic art —
opened by Naomi Wilzig, a 71-year-old granny — in South Beach has been a
big hit. Works range from Ancient Greek pottery to a bed with its four
posts carved as giant phalluses. Under 18s are not admitted. World
Erotic Art Museum (305 532 9336, www. weam.com). Entry £8.
- Greater Miami Convention and Visitors’ Bureau: 01444 443355,
www.miamiandbeaches.com.
