MIAMI, September 24 — The story begins, as so many Miami stories do, with a hotel that refused to stay gone. The Delano Miami Beach is back in the conversation, six years after it closed its doors, following a $100 million restoration that has returned one of South Beach’s most recognisable addresses to the guidebooks.
Condé Nast Traveler made the call on September 17, publishing a guide by Sara Liss titled “29 Best Hotels in Miami, From Lush Key Biscayne to Art-Filled Wynwood.” The piece surveys top-tier accommodations across South Beach, Brickell, Downtown Miami, Key Biscayne and Wynwood, and frames the city’s hotel scene as something that has outgrown its own clichés — pastel Art Deco and late-night bass giving way to what Liss describes as an “eclectic, high-design, sprawling ecosystem.”
A revised map of Miami hospitality
Five properties take the guide’s category honours. 1 Hotel South Beach is named best overall. Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club takes best for beach access, Faena Hotel Miami Beach is judged most romantic, Loews Miami Beach Hotel best for families, and Andaz Miami Beach by Hyatt best for first-timers. Then there is the Delano.
At its heart, the restoration is a story of preservation rather than reinvention. Elastic Architects restored elements including the Rose Bar and added two-story Poolside Bungalows beside the hotel’s iconic pool.
This third incarnation of the property brings in restaurants by Paris Society, Gigi Rigolatto and Mimi Kakushi, alongside Café Delano and an art collection.
The wider ecosystem
The guide ranges well beyond South Beach. The Novotel Miami Brickell is described as a minimalist European import on a quiet, leafy Brickell street — 275 rooms, floor-to-ceiling windows, Lavazza coffee makers, mini-fridges, and views over Biscayne Bay or Simpson Park. On Collins Avenue, the Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel sits among neighbours including The Sagamore, National and SLS.
A two-time Readers’ Choice Awards winner in 2017 and 2018, it holds 186 rooms, Atelier Bloem bath products, a semicircle driveway, and a pool and backyard space with cabana rentals. Liss also points to Damien Hirst gold, rooftop bars and velvet-rope-free beaches as draws for travellers, and notes that Miami Beach offers thousands of square feet of pristine beach at its oceanfront resorts.
The piece positions Downtown Miami and Miami Beach as offering accommodations for every need and budget, and is organised with sections for top picks, additional editor-recommended hotels, frequently asked questions and further Miami travel tips, with booking links to Expedia and Booking.com. What to watch next is whether the Delano’s third act holds the ground it once commanded. Six years is a long absence in a market this restless, and the guide makes plain that the competition has not stood still.
