• Delano is one of the few South Beach hotels that offer direct access to the beach.
• A design classic that offers an amazing range of bars and restaurants. A very HIP place to be.
• Located on Collins Avenue which offers more restaurants, bars and nightclubs in a row than any other area of South Beach.
The Whole Story
When it opened in 1995 the Delano must have set a world record for the number of press inches devoted to a new hotel. Nowhere in New York, Paris or London had ever created this much of a stir. Journalists not normally easily impressed waxed lyrical about the white rooms, the white marble, the white-clad staff, the all-white spa. The best description came from Charles Gandee, who identified the Delano as 'a safe haven for the dangerously hip, its ‘blanket of white...otherworldly, dreamlike’. In short, everyone went crazy for the whiteness.
Almost a decade later, all-white rooms are no longer such a big deal, But Starck's design for the Delano's public spaces is, it has achieved the status that all architects and designers long for: recognition as a 'classic', With its soaring ceiling height and forest of imposing columns, it offers great visual drama. And its theatre is undiminished by the fact that it is no longer new, The Delano is Starck at his purest – pre-gimmickry. There are no gigantic Louis XVI chairs, no molar teeth turned into stools, no garden gnomes parading as tables. Instead you have a handsome Brazilian cherry floor and beautifully crafted Venetian mirrors that are imposing in their sheer size yet beautiful for their delicate detail. Then there's Starck's signature long table in alabaster marble illuminated from beneath to give it a warm glow. Even architects who regard decoration as fanciful nonsense will admit their admiration, There's also a touch of Starck as design curator in a sculptural Guaddí chair, white fibreglass Eames chairs and a series of moor chairs created by Milanese legend Fornasetti.
The Delano is the perfect symbol of the new Miami – hip, young and design-conscious, almost European in its sophistication, definitely Latin in its love of partying and staying out late. When it opened it was one of the South Beach pioneers – not the first to recognize the potential of the neglected Art Deco towers along the beach, but certainly the first to dare not to be on Ocean Drive. At the time, everything from Gloria Estefan's Cuban restaurant to Gianni Versace's house and a whole slew of new-minted groovy hotels were on Ocean Drive, but the Delano – the original name of this 1947 hotel, after Franklin Delano Roosevelt – was standing all by itself in an area that was still more 'early bird' than late night.
Since then, the nonstop renovation of South Beach has attained a certain maturity. The near-hysterical hype has been replaced with a more laid-back resignation. Even the most sceptical observers accept that with all its bars, shops, restaurants and events, Miami’s South Beach is equal to New York's SoHo –except that it also has beaches and warm weather, A funny thing has also happened to the local geography. Ten years ago Ocean Drive was the address. South Beach was Ocean Drive and vice versa. The only exceptions were the Astor, a few blocks back, and the Delano, over on Collins. Despite its distinctive architecture and its direct access to the beach (unlike hotels on Ocean Drive, where you have to cross the road) the Delano was by itself, All around were boarded-up buildings, retired people in shorts, and burger joints advertising special deals for early birds. The Delano itself may have been happening, but the area decidedly was not.
Now Collins Avenue is finally poised to take the mantle from Ocean Drive, with the Sagamore and the Ritz-Carlton on one side, the Raleigh, the Townhouse and the Shore Club on the other, it offers more restaurants, bars and nightclubs in a row than any other area of South Beach, While Ocean Drive has become a bit of a cliché, Collins still has the Latin energy that makes the city such a hot destination. And clearly, competition on every front is good for South Beach. Once upon a time, people would comment about service at the Delano: ‘all the staff might look like models,’ they would say, ‘but they seem offended when you ask them to do something.’ Now all that is history. The staff are still acceptably photogenic, but the hotel operates with all the polish and efficiency you would expect of a place that has transcended trends to establish itself as an institution, It's a powerful combination: the design, the location, the weather and the scene. For lunch, breakfast and late at night, the Delano is still a hotspot. It's fascinating to sit at reception and watch people's reaction when they first come in. Ten years on, this place has still got what it takes to make you stop and look. Messieurs Starck and Schrager: take a bow.
The Rooms
Delano’s guestrooms are a vision in calming white, modern simplicity originally inspired by the simple seaside cottages and "barefoot chic" ethos found throughout the Greek Isles. Rooms with brilliant white wood floors, white cotton slipcovered wing chairs, crisp white bed linens, and accents of pale grey and peach, they are suffused with a feeling of quiet restfulness and true comfort. Choose from City View rooms, Partial Ocean View or Ocean Front Rooms.