Phase II of Ft. Lauderdale Beach's 'face lift' is still moving forward. It seems like a few of the 'new' luxury hotels are taking forever to open, but that might not be all that bad. The economy is a bit slow and tourism is predicted to take a hit this year. The highly anticipated 'W Hotel' on Ft. Lauderdale Beach is now expected to open on January 4th, 2009. I'm not sure what the delay is, since it was expected to open in October of this year. This property is one of the nicest on the beach and I actually can't wait to see it open.

W Hotels have a reputation of being very 'hip' and a decor unique to the area. I'm glad to see they didn't follow the cookie cutter look that the other new hotels seem to be following...they have the popular 'step' look at the front of the property, but there is a cool 'wave' element.


(the W Hotel Ft. Lauderdale Beach, August 2008)

 Of course I probably won't be able to afford an overnight stay, but hope they will let me check out one of the rooms sometime. The property was supposed to be half condo and half hotel. With the housing market in the dumps, we'll have to see if this holds true.