It looks, at a glance, like all the white and glass tropical towers from Rio de Janeiro to South Florida, but a second look reveals something startling about the new Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale, designed by Kobi Karp. It weaves its way out of the waterfront horizon here, its shape leaving no doubt as to its inspiration from the ships that dot the horizon. The feeling of being on a ship, or indeed, of being somewhere other than Fort Lauderdale as you imagined, is central to the experience of this truly fabulous new hotel which is the latest selection in our series on exciting new hotels, Room Key.
When the hotel invited Beast Travel to visit, we asked for recommendations on social media as we had never ventured here except to fly to Miami. The responses were telling: “Don’t go” or “Get in an Uber in Miami” were the bulk of the responses. But then messages poured in from locals or frequent visitors who swore the town was actually a gem whose reputation is part of what keeps it charming. Miami may be awash in cash with a crazy party scene, elite restaurants and glamour, they said, but Fort Lauderdale has the same beach without the crime or pressure to keep up with the Joneses. Miami is no longer relaxing, they claimed, but Fort Lauderdale still is.
The hotel’s aesthetic is where mid-century modern meets Caribbean yacht, a combination that hits you hard when you first enter. A two-story tropical Neutra-esque atrium takes up most of the lobby and will have you whipping out your phone for a social media-friendly snap. Tucked away behind a sharp-edged staircase and a gray-brown marble curtain wall are the elevators that take you to the rooms, restaurant, gym, and spa. One detail we’ve come to appreciate recently at Beast Travel is the way a hotel does its hallways – are they dull and dull? A place just to rush on your way to your room? A chance for the designer to demonstrate creativity and flair? Here at the Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale, the first thing you notice is that the nautical blue and white striped carpeting is so plush you’ll almost sink into it, largely because of its novelty but a godsend for those who love them. quieter hotels. Tara Bernerd, the designer who oversaw the interior design, enlivened the spaces with a simple yet charming touch: walls broken up by large wooden frames of taupe canvas.
There are 189 rooms and suites (and 41 residences) in the tower that either have views of the ocean in the front or the lush islands of the Intracoastal Waterway in the back. The rooms are simple, clean and airy, with nods to the aesthetics of the yacht with the lacquered woods and the lines of the integrated side table and desk. The tropical comes with both the view and the rattan-covered closets.
The third floor is where most people will hang out, whether you are staying at the hotel or not. The spa with its signature massages and facials is located here (try the Ebb & Flow) as well as its large gym. This is also where you can find Evelyn’s, the property’s signature restaurant run by the irrepressibly charming chef Brandon Salomon. The restaurant, designed by Martin Brudnizki, looks like a fairy godmother who passed a casual beachfront restaurant through a filter titled “Upscale.” Salomon took the kind of cuisine that many of us want to eat on a warm day by the sea – the Eastern Mediterranean – and made it a little more decadent. See, for example, the truffles in hummus. In front of the restaurant are the hotel’s main pools, one for all ages and one for adults only. As you lounge on the ledge here, the street and beach below are no longer visible, giving you the illusion of being on one of those cruise ships.
The hotel is located on North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard, on a stretch dotted with major chain properties. Most visitors will likely spend their time by the pool or across the street on the beach. (To feel like you’re really not having the “typical” Fort Lauderdale experience, ask the hotel to arrange one of their picnic baskets for the beach – it’ll be filled with cold cuts, cheeses, breakfasts, desserts and champagne.)
Around the corner from the hotel is Bonnet House & Gardens, a house museum that belonged to one of the families that were among the first to settle here from the north (to an existing Seminole community) in the late 19th century in search of warmth and calm. Today, it’s an oasis frozen in time, a time when Florida was about to become the Florida we know today overnight. The house was built by wealthy Midwesterners Helen and her husband, Frederic Clay Bartlett, True Value heir and amateur architect. As the Mediterranean Revival would become Florida’s dominant style, Bartlett designed this area in a mix of styles, but the most tangible is the Caribbean. The sunny yellow house is tangled in a lush garden of palm trees and leafy brush. Bartlett was a painter who had studied at the Royal Academy in Munich, and so the house is decorated from the lintel to the floor by his brush. If Vizcaya in Miami encapsulates all the glitz that East Florida would come to symbolize, Bonnet encapsulates the eccentricity of those who came to settle in Florida. Take, for example, the dining room, which is Old Florida meets Bavarian hunting lodge, or one of the exterior passageways (there is no interior staircase) decorated with mosaics of seashells found on the nearby shore. . Bartlett’s second wife and widow, Eli Lilly’s ex-wife Evelyn Fortune Lilly, lived to be 106 and left the property as a museum. The Four Seasons restaurant bears his name.
The House Museum is one of the city’s two main attractions – the other being the water taxis from which you can admire all the McMansions that line the dozens of islands – but the charm of Fort Lauderdale does not not on a list of things to do when you visit. It’s that outside of spring break, there are perhaps few places left this laid back, carefree, detached from it all. Flip-flops and cargo shorts in fancy waterfront restaurants, a boardwalk full of leisurely runners every morning, a city that to the first visitor seems wonderfully jaded.
With rapidly changing tastes and staffing issues, many hotel groups have struggled lately to deliver the experience that visitors associate with their brand. The Four Seasons Fort Lauderdalehowever, is exactly what you imagine a Four Seasons to be, and it might help your jaded self see this city in a whole new light.
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