By Tom Stieghorst,
Sun-Sentinel, South Florida
May 31--A stay at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort may never cost less than it will during a three month stretch
this summer.
But guests will have to put up with a bit more noise and dust than they are normally accustomed to at a four-star
hotel. The reason is that the 602-room Harbor Beach is completing its biggest renovation since it opened in 1984.
Starting July 6, construction crews will begin tearing apart the hotel's first floor common areas.
When the dust settles, the hotel will have gained a new 22,000 square foot spa and lost two of its five restaurants.
It will also have a completely remodeled arrival area, main lobby and swimming pool.
The $36 million project is needed to keep the Harbor Beach ahead of the curve, said General Manager Marc Hoffman.
"The marketplace has changed what a resort looks like. Having just a beach today isn't enough," Hoffman
said. So the hotel is moving further upscale, giving its affluent customers a reason to remain loyal as new competition
arrives in Hollywood and Miami Beach.
Even before the improvements, staying at the Harbor Beach wasn't cheap. The hotel, a favorite winter haunt of Marriott
International Inc. Chairman J.W. Marriott Jr., charges between $275 and $375 a night for rooms during the season.
Its 35 suites can go for as high as $2,000 a night.
But starting July 9, prices have been slashed to $109 for some rooms, a bonanza for local residents who want to
spend some time at the beach, or for guests from elsewhere in Florida who make up the bulk of summer business.
The prices are 9 to 22 percent lower than last summer when rooms started at between $119 and $139. While the cost
of the $2,000 Presidential suite doesn't change, an $849 corner luxury suite is 30 percent off this summer.
"If you're looking for a getaway, that's a value, but you have to be willing to live with some inconvenience,"
Hoffman said.
Leading the list of construction projects is the $8 million health spa that will be added on the hotel's south
end. When it is completed a year from now it will be the only oceanfront spa in Broward County, Hoffman said.
It will offer 18 treatment rooms, including four for couples, a fitness center, exercise studio, a lounge and a
separate café and pool for spa users only. The resort plans to sell a limited number of memberships to the
local community, probably no more than 75, Hoffman said.
July will also mark the closing of several of the five restaurants at the Marriott Harbor Beach. Gone will be Kinoko,
a Japanese restaurant, Sheffields, a Continental restaurant, and the Seabreeze Grill, which serves fish.
The Oceanview Terrace is under renovation and will reopen soon as Riva, a family-style Italian restaurant. And
a new seafood concept, 3030 Ocean, will debut in December. Hoffman said the resort needs fewer restaurants than
it did in 1984 because the local dining scene is better.
Change is also coming to the hotel's lobby, which will be redesigned to feature a better view of the Atlantic Ocean,
and to the arrival area, which will get a pair of eight-foot, hand-laid, laser-cut mosaics set into the pavement.
Rounding out the upgrades will be a redesigned swimming pool and deck area. The pool will close from Aug. 2 through
20 while the bulk of the work takes place.
Hoffman said the resort has been seeking group business for the past eight months to help minimize the financial
impact during the construction period and is actually close to being sold out for the last two weeks of July.
One selling point: the rooms have just finished the first phase of the renovation and have $17 million of brand
new furniture, carpeting, curtains, wall coverings and marble and granite bathroom improvements in them.
Hoffman hopes the temporary pain resulting from this summer's renovations will lead to a long-term gain in market
share for the Harbor Beach, or at least allow it to stay competitive in the South Florida luxury resort market.
Both the new 1,000-room Diplomat Hotel set to open in Hollywood in January and the 300-room Ritz-Carlton scheduled
to debut late next year on Key Biscayne include large health spas like the one being built at the Harbor Beach.
"We are dream deliverers," said Hoffman. "And the dream has changed," he said.
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