Delano Hotel — Hotel Review Rating: 4.5 Pearls

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Oyster Hotel Review

Reporter: Hailey E.
Updated: October 6, 2009

 Scene

In early 2009, staff at the Delano and other hotels in the Morgans group wore T-shirts with the word "recession" printed in different colors across the front, so as to read "Recess Is On." Across the back, shirts were emblazoned with the subtle slogan "Fuck the Recession." When I stayed at the Delano in April, the staff had switched back to their plain polo shirts, but recess was still very much on.

There might be recessions and wars and pandemics, but not at the Delano. Despite $500 charges for standard rooms (and small ones, at that) and buzz that the place isn't the hot spot it was a decade ago, it's still, miraculously, full. Around the pool, times are good. Well-off, but not over-the-top fabulous, late-20- and 30-somethings order drink after drink. They pour champagne into glasses, sloshing a bit into the pool -- no worries. Buff girls in bikinis nibble on heaping plates of french fries. The Delano, it seems, is immune from consequences -- caloric, financial, or otherwise.

But it's not as crazy as you might expect from a hotel dreamed up by Ian Schrager, the man who brought Studio 54 to the world. There are live DJs, $17 mojitos, and tight security, but it's not all coked-up models and sugar daddies. In fact, it's mostly just well-off 30-somethings who paid good money for a room with some bragging rights.

By night, things get far less exclusive. The beautiful lobby, designed by Phillipe Starck and decorated with billowing white curtains, chairs, and objects by the likes of Charles and Ray Eames and Salvador Dali, becomes a mob scene. Anyone and everyone wants to get their picture taken in the hotel's famous oversized chair, and they do.

The lobby and the Rose Bar directly off it get so crowded that it's difficult to move through or grab a drink. The crowds continue out the back and around the pool and underground to Lenny Kravitz's Florida Room nightclub. The Delano's website describes the club as a "modern-day piano lounge inspired by a classic period of South Floridian glamour." When I visited late one Saturday night, I didn't see the famed Lucite grand piano played by Lenny Kravitz and Jamie Foxx. I could only make out the thick crowds drinking and dancing, sometimes on tables, to the DJ's unmemorable mix. But it's Tuesday, not Saturday, that's the biggest night at the club. That's when mega Miami club promoter Tommy Pooch hosts a weekly party in the Florida Room. Hotel guests are guaranteed entry into the Florida Room before 11 p.m.; after that, they have to wait with the masses. Guests staying in suites and bungalows get priority on the waiting list.

 Celebrity Sightings

The hotel's nightclub, the Florida Room, was designed by Lenny Kravitz, and its Lucite piano's keys have been tickled by both Kravitz and Jamie Foxx. George Clooney reportedly stayed at the hotel in the spring of 2009 while filming Up in the Air, and Justin Timberlake is also said to have laid his fair head down at the Delano. Players on the Miami Heat have been known to grab a drink at the Rose Bar.

 Service

I rolled up to the Delano prepared for snobby service -- the staff has been known to act a little holier-than-thou, at least to those who can't tip recklessly. But I encountered quite the opposite. A porter eagerly greeted my taxi and took my bags. Later, he showed me around my room and gave some down-home advice about procuring liquor from the store across the street rather than the expensive minibar.

When I had trouble setting up my Internet connection, I called down to the front desk and found immediate, friendly assistance. They even comped the Internet charge ($10.95) for my troubles. The same friendly front desk clerk helped me later in the evening, giving me honest advice about the hotel's restaurants -- "If you want sushi, go to Bond Street, not the Delano's Blue Sea."

Service around the pool is well organized, but poolside real estate fills up fast, and it can be hard to flag down the harried servers. Men in white shorts and women in short tennis skirts busily run about, fetching food and drinks and setting up lounge chairs with fitted terry cloth towels. Attendants keep track of guests with a complicated system involving clipboards and room numbers -- not their names, as is the case at most high-end hotels.

Sometimes the clipboard schematics get a little more attention than the guests. When I requested a drinks menu, for example, I was told it would be quicker to order at the bar because the shift was changing. On another occassion, I had to go up to the bar to pay for food I had ordered from my lounge chair, as I hadn't seen my server for some time. I went up to the bar, and the bartender said I could only pay via my server. Though tolerable, this sort of indifferent service never would have happened at the Tides.

The hotel says it offers turndown service, but I never received it during my stay. For better service in the restaurants, it helps to let the host know you're actually staying at the hotel.

The Morgans Hotel Group, which includes the Delano, Mondrian, and Shore Club, has some of the most knowledgeable 24-hour reservation assistance in Miami. From the square footage of the rooms to how to open the windows to the thread count on the linens, they know it all.

 Location

Located on posh, upper Collins Avenue, the Delano is a South Beach navigational icon. Originally built in 1947, the bright white Art Deco building with its crownlike cap is hard to miss.

To its north are some of the most popular, high-end hangouts at the Gansevoort or Fontainebleau hotels, as well as some of Miami's most exclusive clubs, like Mokai.

To the south, things get less exclusive and more populist along the famed Ocean Drive, with its busy boardwalk, outdoor bars and cafes, and more affordable boutique hotels.

 Beach

The hotel sits right on the beach, which is easily accessed by walking out of the pool area and underneath an elegant arch that reads SEA. The beach is part of a huge, busy stretch of public Miami Beach, but the Delano does its best to make its sand feel exclusive.

As at the pool, attendants don't just lay a towel on a lounge chair -- they make it like a bed, with a fitted terry cloth sheet that wraps around the cushion. Surrounded by a string of other hotels and independent beach service stands that cater to guests staying at cheaper hotels, the Delano stakes its claim in white.

Since it's a bit of a free-for-all on the larger beach, guests go up to the service cabana for a lounge chair. Food and drinks service is available, though it's not particularly elegant -- food comes in disposable plastic containers.

The beach is only fairly clean. Sunning myself around noon one day, I noticed a fair amount of limes and cigarette butts, most likely from a previous day's good times. The water is pretty calm and clear, and the sand is soft and fine, as it's trucked in from elsewhere and not native to the beach.

 Rooms

Renovated in 2006 and 2007, the still all-white rooms have just three dramatic touches of color: the green-stone-topped desk; a large, real, potted plant; and a single green apple resting on a metal plinth engraved with the words "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." The abundance of stark white is stunning and sexy but not exactly homey. It feels more trendy than truly luxurious. Take, for example, the huge, faux tarnished mirror opposite the bed.

At 350 square feet, the standard rooms, called city view rooms, are on the small side, especially given the price. To put this in perspective, standard rooms at the Tides are 550 square feet and standard suites at the all-suite Setai are 600 square feet. Only the hotel's one-bedroom suites have balconies, and they cost about three times the price of a standard room. They also feature full bathtubs and Bose surround-sound systems. Even pricier are the poolside duplex bungalows. At 870 square feet, they're the hotel's largest room offering, with a full dining room table and a wet bar. But given that they're situated right on the pool, a bustling party scene at night, noise can be an issue.

Fluffy white (what else?) beds are topped with luxurious 400-thread-count Egyptian cotton linens. They're quite nice, but they're not the featherbeds at the Regent Bal Harbour.

In the bathroom, sinks, floors, and showers are tiled in beautiful gray Carrara marble. But they're tiny. You could shower and brush your teeth in the sink at the same time. The towel rack in the bathroom of my deluxe partial ocean view king room had to be leaned up against the bathroom window. Agua toiletries, from the hotel spa, feel luxurious, but be careful to only use the small bottles -- the big ones cost extra. For a much bigger and better bathroom, check out the Tides or the Setai.

For electronics, all rooms include a Boston alarm clock/radio and a Bose iPod dock. The 32-inch LG flat-screen TV only broadcasts in fuzzy analog. (The nearby Raleigh hotel has high-def.) Rooms also have Zenith DVD/CD players, though the hotel no longer has a DVD lending library. Wi-Fi is available for $15 per day.

The minibar includes the Miami standards: booze, snacks, and an intimacy kit. In addition, you can purchace your own Delano T-shirt or hat, or even your very own "Recess Is On/Fuck the Recession" shirt.

 Features

Agua, the hotel's full-service spa, is on the top floor and offers treatments ranging from a "Mother to Be" massage ($160 for 60 minutes) to a "White Cloud Algae Body Mask" ($150 for 60 minutes). Guests worried about tan lines can also use the spa's beautiful top-floor sundeck. Topless sunbathing is also allowed at the pool and beach. Use of the sundeck comes with any spa service.

The David Barton Gym, once in the hotel's basement, has now moved to the Gansevoort South; in its place is a bright fitness room with newish TechnoGym machines. Too bad getting to the gym, on the sub-lobby level, requires walking through the fishy-smelling underbelly of food services. Guests might lose their appetite to work out.

 Great Pool

Classical music plays underwater, and an ornate silver table and chairs sit right in the pool for whoever snags them first. In front of the pool, there's a beautiful orchard of manicured ficus trees. A giant chessboard and huge mirror within the orchard, like the giant chair in the lobby, try to create an Alice in Wonderland feel. Of course, after over a dozen years, many of the highly publicized Delano design elements seem to simply reference themselves rather than Lewis Carroll novels.

Live DJs, tasty but pricey food and drinks, cabanas with flat-screen televisions, and whimsical, hedge-lined bungalows make the pool sceney but still relaxing -- at least by day, when only hotel guests are allowed in. When the sun goes down, it changes from pool to lively bar scene as pretty young and older things from all over crowd around the water's edge.

 Family

Children receive free welcome treats, like a "D is for Delano" bucket and shovel, at check-in. The beach has a large kids' play area with lots more colorful shovels and pails, umbrellas, and a small boat hull. Of course, one could also imagine rambunctious, drunken big kids playing in the area.

Given that the party goes on pretty late into the night, families intent on staying at the Delano should request a quieter room on a higher floor. Both restuarants and room service have children's menus.

I didn't see many kiddies during my stay, but hotel management says European guests often bring the whole family. Around midnight on a Saturday in the crowded pool bar area, I did see a young mommy with a baby carriage -- two little toddler legs poking out. Party on, mom.

 Cleanliness

Since their redo in 2006 and 2007, the blinding white guest rooms show every stain. Mine had a few very minor imperfections. The white vinyl floor had some scuffs, and the white chair had a spot. Some TripAdvisor reviewers have complained about similar issues.

There was a bit of confetti and debris outside my door when I checked in, and still there when I checked out. But, hey, what can you expect -- it's a party.

 Food

The hotel's main restaurant, Blue Door, serves French cuisine with a Brazilian emphasis (entrees range from $38 to $52). Madonna is rumored to have once co-owned the restaurant, and it's operated by Jeffrey Chodorow, a brash New York restaurateur. The setting, including outdoor seating that overlooks the orchard, is lovely and lively, but reviews of the food itself are mixed. It doesn't have a hot New York chef like the Fontainebleau's Scarpetta or garner under-the-radar raves like Ola, a block away in the Sanctuary hotel.

Next to the Blue Door is a more casual version of the restaurant called Plat Bleu. I tried a cobb salad there for dinner. It was nice enough but not thrilling, and it ran about $30. I chatted up a guy next to me eating a foie gras platter, also nothing to write home about.

Blue Sea serves high-priced sushi in a stylish indoor environment, but when I asked one of the front desk attendants about it, he started talking about his favorite sushi places elsewhere, like Bond Street at the Sanctuary hotel.

Tastier and more affordable options are all around. For breakfast, lunch, or drunken munchies, Jerry's Famous Deli is just three blocks away and open 24 hours. Coffee, bagels, and gelato can be grabbed one block away at Dolce Vita Gelato. For a nice dinner just a block away, Ola is a well-received and romantic Latin-fusion restaurant at the Sanctuary hotel.

 Drinks

Cocktails at the Pool Bar and Rose Bar are delicious, but they don't come cheap -- or quick. On a Saturday night, it took me a good 20 minutes and $17 to procure a mojito amid the mob scene that is the Delano pool on a weekend night. The crowds continue out into the lobby, where throngs of young things crowd up to Rose Bar. The people watching is great, but moving through all those people is difficult. Most sitting areas around the pool are reserved for guests ordering bottle service.

There's even more action, and more bottle service, at the hotel's underground nightclub, the Florida Room. But it's Tuesday, not Saturday, that's the biggest night at the club. That's when mega Miami club promoter Tommy Pooch hosts a weekly party. Hotel guests are guaranteed entry into the Florida Room before 11 p.m.; after that, they have to wait with the (drunken) masses. Guests staying in suites and bungalows get priority on the waiting list.

There's a liquor store across the street for procuring pre-party booze, lest guests not have to drink too many $17 mojitos at the Pool Bar to get a buzz.

 Bottom Line

The Delano's 195 all-white rooms don't come cheap, but you're paying for surreal, Philippe Starck style and all-night parties at the "water salon." To some, its hip factor has been bested by the Gansevoort or Shore Club, but their style doesn't compare, and good times are still to be had.