As a new year approaches and Miami’s high season gets into full swing, top hotels on the beach are stepping up their game the best way they know how. Renovations and upgrades can make or break a hotel, and Loews Miami Beach has put $35 million into ensuring the New Year will be a profitable one.
Loews Miami Beach has been one of the top contenders on the strip of luxurious hotels along South Beach, and 11 years after it’s opening, the hotel has unveiled some very impressive renovations, including upgrades to all of its 790 rooms, an aquarium in the lobby, and a new collection of retails stores. Loews spent $35 million on the renovations, proving that reinventing yourself in Miami Beach certainly doesn’t come cheap.
Jonathan M. Tisch, Loews Hotel Chief Executive, was straight forward when asked about the renovations, admitting that his company invested that large sum of money to “stay current in a very competitive market,” despite the sharp decreases in revenues seen across Miami Beach’s resorts and hotels over the past year.
Tisch is hopeful that the renovations and the New Year will serve him and his company well. He is forecasting that business at Loews Miami Beach will rise “probably 10 percent” in 2010, however he is quick to admit that the spending habits of consumers may take a while to truly return to what they used to be.
In 1998, Loews spent $135 million to open its Miami Beach property and since then the legendary hotel has seen an incredible upsurge in the amount of other high-end hotel properties in its proximity, adding fuel to the already competitive fire.
Loews is a New York-based operation with 18 hotels in the U.S. and Canada. Along with the recent renovation of its Miami Beach property, Loews has plans to launch its 19th hotel in midtown Atlanta in April 2010.
