Meeting News - January 5, 2009 - (Page 38)

Florida Incentives New Properties in South Beach by Morgans and Starwood Seek Out Winners Incentive planners have a pair of new property options that can anchor South Beach programs. The Mondrian South Beach opened in midNovember, offering 335 guest rooms and suites and a 2,400-sf conference facility, while the 408room W South Beach, with 10,000 sf of event space, is due to open on March 1. The Mondrian is a luxury condo-hotel that offers traditional hotel rooms along with apartment-like suites. Condo units are available to small meeting groups. The Mondrian overlooks the western shore of Miami Beach, with views of Biscayne Bay. For VIPs, at the top of the hotel are four penthouse-level suites, each offering 3,000 sf of living space and a 2,000-sf terrace. Butler service is included for tower suite guests. Run by Morgans Hotel Group—which also operates the Delano and Shore Club hotels in Miami Beach—the Mondrian has a health and beauty spa called Agua, which offers massages and exotic treatments like milk and honey skin therapy. Meanwhile, the W South Beach overlooks the Atlantic with balcony-equipped rooms and will have Florida’s first Bliss spa, which will have a “triple oxygen facial,” a ginger rub, and a “hot Forthcoming W South Beach will have the first Serafina restaurant outside New York City. milk and almond pedicure” among other services. The food and beverage lineup, meanwhile, will be led by the first Serafina restaurant outside New York City, as well as a Mr. Chow eatery. While the W will have an outdoor lawn, a terrace space, and two “great rooms”for large groups, the hotel will cater incentives with three 532-sf “studio” meeting rooms, which hold between 18 and 59 participants. The W will organize beach athletics, fishing trips, and sports tournaments, as well as scavenger hunts on Miami Beach and Lincoln Road. F&B-theme activities will include cooking competitions and martini classes. Asian-inspired option Also on the beach is the Asian-theme Setai, with 85 rooms, 45 suites, and such efficiently named meeting spaces as the Grill (which has floor-to-ceiling glass wine cabinets, seats 50, but doubles as a boardroom) and the Library (which holds 40). The Setai also has a number of “specialty suites” with terraces for incentive meetings. The Setai typically serves incentives from 20 to 35 attendees, who are entertained by activities like day cruises, “spa days,” blind wine-tastings, and cocktail-making competitions. The property also does ice-breakers, and it gives planners access to the former Versace Mansion for events. It also partners with a local recording studio, where groups can let it all hang out. —William Ng MN Visits Hyatt’s Unexpected Boutique on the Beach In the heart of SoBe, and managed by Hyatt, Hotel Victor is an 88-room refuge that is modern yet harks back to its glam history O n Ocean Drive, next to the former Versace Mansion is one of the most unconventional Hyatt properties, the chic Hotel Victor, which caters incentive groups in an intimate, ultra-exclusive atmosphere. “We are very independent but have Hyatt’s core values and service,” said sales and marketing director Lupe Castillo, during a recent media familiarization attended by MeetingNews. The modern-retro and ornate Hotel Victor honors its Art Deco roots. Providing an 1,100-sf meeting room, an outdoor terrace that can hold 200, and a private rooftop lounge among its group facilities, the Victor was resurrected in 2005— after 40 years of dormancy—with an edgy, modern-retro design. Thanks to a 10-year, $48 million retooling, the circa-1937 Art Deco property now features velvet upholstery and terrazzo floors in the public spaces, while its two-story main lobby has a mezzanine lined with Asian-motif iron railings. Typical incentive group size at the Victor is 40 winners, but planners can buy out the entire hotel. Attendees have participated in martini classes, beach volleyball tournaments, masquerade balls, and Moroccantheme celebrations. The Victor’s rooms and suites are bathed in burnt-orange and black hues and outfitted with ebony-lacquered furniture and all-white marble bathrooms. Among other flourishes in the hotel is a vertical tank with illuminated jellyfish near the signature Vix restaurant. Castillo said the property’s 6,000-sf Spa V has South Beach’s only Turkish hammam, which complements the spa’s Parisian and Greek treatments. Attendees also can spend their downtime on a sunbathing deck with an infinity pool overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. —WN 38 MeetingNews January 5, 2009 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - January 5, 2009

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