How 1 Hotel South Beach Has Remained the Standard for Luxury in Miami Beach

Eleven years into its run on Collins Avenue, 1 Hotel South Beach hasn’t lost its edge — it’s sharpened it. When the property opened in March 2015 as the first hotel in what would become a global brand, it introduced something Miami’s hospitality scene hadn’t quite seen before: a luxury hotel that took sustainability seriously without asking guests to compromise on a single thing. Over a decade later, that original conviction still shapes every corner of the property, and it shows.

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The building itself makes the case before you even check in. Reclaimed driftwood, salvaged coral stone, preserved moss walls, and living green walls that spill across the façade and into the lobby — the 18-story landmark on Collins Avenue wears its ethos visibly and without apology. The 425 rooms average 700 square feet, the largest in all of South Beach, and the details are considered down to the recycled paper hangers and in-room water filtration taps. It is, as founder Barry Sternlicht envisioned, a hotel designed to let guests reconnect with nature — without ever leaving behind the things that make a stay genuinely luxurious.

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What has kept 1 Hotel South Beach relevant isn’t just the design. It’s the food. Over the years, the property has built one of the most ambitious dining rosters of any hotel in the Magic City. WATR at the Rooftop sits 18 stories above the beach, with a full retractable roof and unobstructed Atlantic views, and its Japanese-inspired menu is built around locally sourced ingredients. Tala Beach — the sprawling 50,000-square-foot beachfront venue that debuted in 2023 — brings a Mediterranean-inflected day-to-night energy to the sand, its menu of shared plates and precisely crafted cocktails drawing guests well past sunset. Plnthouse, the property’s health-driven restaurant on the second floor, set the standard for conscious dining in Miami long before the concept was fashionable.

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The newest chapter is AVIV, the restaurant from James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Solomonov and restaurateur Steve Cook of CookNSolo — their first Florida outpost and one of the most anticipated openings the hotel has seen. Located on the ground floor at 2341 Collins Avenue, AVIV brings the soulful, multi-cultural flavors of Israel to South Beach: hand-rolled Yemenite-style bread, Solomonov’s world-famous hummus, mezze plates rich with spice, and kebabs grilled over charcoal in an open kitchen. The 186-seat restaurant, with its dedicated bar and lounge, has given the property a fresh pulse of culinary energy — and given Miami a dining destination it didn’t know it was missing.

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The wellness program has always been one of the property’s strengths. The Bamford Wellness Spa — a 4,500-square-foot retreat and the first Bamford spa in the United States — opened in 2017 under the direction of British organic pioneer Carole Bamford. Its 12 treatment rooms, Woodland Room relaxation space, and organic skincare treatments rooted in natural and botanical ingredients have made it one of the most respected spa addresses in Miami. Directly adjacent, Anatomy delivers 14,000 square feet of performance fitness across four dedicated areas — athleticism, strength, endurance, and mind — rounding out a wellness ecosystem that goes well beyond the average hotel gym.

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For those who want the full measure of what the property can offer, the Retreat Collection is the answer. The Sky Penthouse — a two-story, four-bedroom suite with a 5,300-square-foot rooftop terrace overlooking the ocean and Miami skyline — is the crown jewel, designed by Brazilian architect Deborah Aguiar and complete with a personal guru, a private chef, complimentary airport transfers, and priority access to every outlet on the property. The Meyer Davis-designed Presidential Suite, known as the Beach House, offers 3,500 square feet of oceanfront living across seven rooms. These are not just rooms — they are the kind of spaces that make a stay feel like it belongs to you.

The sustainability credentials run just as deep as the hospitality. LEED Silver certified under the New Construction rating system, the property diverted over 75% of construction waste from landfills, reduced potable water consumption by over 55% through drought-tolerant landscaping and efficient fixtures, and cut energy use by more than 16% compared to comparable South Florida buildings. The lobby ceilings are made from salvaged wood from Alaskan water towers. The headboards are beetle-killed pine, rescued from forests in Colorado. The 11,000-plant living wall on the building’s exterior manages rainwater runoff, reduces the heat island effect, and provides refuge for local fauna. None of it is incidental.

It’s no secret that Miami’s hotel landscape has grown considerably more competitive since 2015. New properties arrive every season, each with its own claim on the city’s attention. What 1 Hotel South Beach has — and what is genuinely difficult to replicate — is a point of view that was clear from day one and has only become more relevant with time. The idea that luxury and purpose belong together wasn’t a trend when this hotel opened. It was a conviction. A decade in, it still is.