W Fort Lauderdale: The 517-room hotel—home to the buzzed-about rooftop pool, WET East and world-class dining—reopened in late June with enhanced safety and cleanliness protocols. Award-winning Steak 954 is open to guests, as is the hotel’s heart and soul, Living Room (pictured above), which resumed evening operations (AWAY Spa is scheduled to open in July).
Read MoreWhen Grammy Award-winning singer Gloria Estefan and husband Emilio decided to expand their burgeoning hospitality brand to Indian River County in the late 2000s, it wasn’t with the same South Beach splash the couple made by purchasing the Cardozo Hotel in the early 1990s. Their second hotel, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on Vero Beach, re-imagined
Read MoreIt’s been more than 60 years since the founder of a supermarket chain opened the first incarnation of The Diplomat on South Ocean Drive in Hollywood. Back in those early days, entertainment was part of the allure—A-listers Judy Garland, Sammy Davis Jr. and Liza Minnelli all played the hotel, and Arthur Godfrey taped his radio
Read MoreIt’s been more than a decade since a sprawling new resort west of Walt Disney World became the biggest symbol of the Great Recession in Central Florida, a $150 million foreclosure that left the shell of the multi-building complex standing—and the commercial construction industry shaking. For the better part of seven years, the 106-acre site
Read MoreThe word “dushi” is emblazoned on keychains and shirts in Curaçao; there’s even an oversized sign with the word that’s a photo attraction on the island. Not to be confused with a similar sounding bit of American slang, it’s actually a term of endearment, along the lines of “sweetie” or “sweetheart,” in the local Creole
Read MoreNo longer just a wildly popular ski town, Breckenridge has emerged as one of Colorado’s more inviting summer destinations Like so many other Rocky Mountain towns, Breckenridge owes its early notoriety to the discovery of gold in them there hills. Prospectors first found nuggets along the Blue River in 1859, putting this high-altitude (9,600 feet)
Read MoreMorada Way Artwalk 151 Morada Way Islamorada, FL 33036 305.916.5521 moradaway.org Established in 2011, the Morada Way Arts and Cultural District is a six-block district marked by the Green Turtle Inn and the Hurricane Monument. The Artwalk was conceptualized as a time where residents and visitors alike can explore local artwork and restaurants and discover
Read MoreIf you had to go old school, and seek directions from someone in the nearest mildly populated town (say, Fort Meade, some 15 miles away), you might never find Streamsong Resort amid the back roads of Central Florida. But, thankfully, GPS plots a course that delivers guests to one of the state’s hidden gems when
Read MoreSome hotels go out of their way to replicate a residential experience for guests. Then there’s Encore Resort, the 963-acre, master-planned vacation community just west of Orlando for which the saying “home away from home” is both spot on and an understatement. On the one hand, Encore (855.828.7767; encorereunion.com) puts those presidential hotel suites to
Read MoreJust when you think Walt Disney World Resort can’t possibly cram more family fun into its 40-something square miles, the world’s most visited theme park destination finds fresh and innovative ways to lure the 50 million-plus visitors who descend on Orlando each year. This summer is no exception, as Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs and Disney’s
Read MoreA HIGH-ALTITUDE Summer in Park City, Utah—sweet relief for South florida residents—reveals a different side of this renowned winter playground Long before the “Greatest Snow on Earth” regularly drew winter guests to the roughly 10,000 skiable acres in its backyard—and more than a century before Sundance, the country’s largest independent film festival, set an
Read MoreNeil Eisner, managing director of Encore Resort at Reunion, calls his property the “best secret” in and around Orlando. But it might not stay that way for long. Though the hassle of booking multiple hotel rooms is driving more families and groups toward house rentals—vacation rentals have more than tripled since 2010, according to the
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