The Hotel People Never Really Got Over Losing
The Delano Miami Beach initially closed March 2020, and its absence has been one of those things South Beach faithful mention in whispers and over drinks the way you mention your favorite restaurant that closed before you got to go back and show someone else why it’s so amazing. We always think there’s more time, and there wasn't.
And now, there is again.
Built for a Version of Miami That Was Just Beginning
The Delano was designed by architect B. Robert Swartburg, the visionary architect best known for his role in shaping the post-war Miami Modern style, and opened in December 1947. It stood confidently as one of the tallest and earliest postwar Miami Modern hotels on the Beach built in the moment when South Beach was pouring its postwar optimism directly into facades, terrazzo floors, and the particular shade of white that Miami has claimed as its own ever since.
The Moment a Hotel Became an Experience
It stood quietly until Studio 54’s Ian Schrager and the prolific industrial architect and designer Philippe Starck arrived in the nineties and reinvented it, and in doing so, reinvented what a hotel was allowed to be for the rest of the country. Together, they created America's first indoor-outdoor lobby, featuring billowing curtains and fresh air, blurring the line between the hotel’s beauty and South Beach’s. Their Delano introduced Miami to its Rose Bar, known for its rose‑tinted interior: rose‑colored walls and drapery, soft pink lighting, Venetian or crystal chandeliers, and a quartz‑topped bar that created a theatrical ambiance. It quickly became the destination of every celebrity and IT person who wanted to be seen as a socialite. The result ignited Miami, transporting guests into a world of contemporary design, chic sensibility, and whimsical charm. Once the who’s who made it a staple, the template was copied everywhere for thirty years by people who understood the surface but didn’t have the same experience at their root like Schrager and Starck to make it an experience worth remembering.
What It Means to Bring a Hotel Like This Back
With that said, the newly renovated and resurrected Delano, under the stewardship of the Accor Group’s Ennismore lifestyle portfolio, is committed to honoring the legacy of both titans and the Delano they envisioned. Along with Elastic Architects, the Ennismore design team restored the vertical paint bands, terrazzo flooring, hexagonal lobby columns, and the signature Delano logo. The hotel’s mezzanine bridge was reimagined specifically to protect the sightlines down to the pool and preserve the spatial sequence Starck originally designed to give guests a revealing experience as they move through the building toward the water. They were even smart enough to bring back the iconic white curtains, which can seem like a small decision, but for those who know the history of the Delano at its peak, it shows the team behind the renovation know ball. Those curtains were always the building's most deliberate gesture, the threshold between the street and a different world, and their return signals that the team understands what made the original experience work emotionally, not just aesthetically.
The Brand Behind the Revival
To understand what the Delano Miami Beach is today, you need to understand the company that resurrected it. Ennismore, the hospitality group behind The Hoxton, Mondrian, and SLS, operates on a clear mantra: that a hotel lobby is a civic space, that design should embed itself in local culture rather than float above it, and that the best hospitality is the kind locals actually want to be in. Their in-house studio, AIME, has handled design language across properties since 2016, which means the Delano's renovation was handled by people who understand this brand across Dubai, Paris, and London, and who were specifically tasked with reading what this brand 's rich history required. The result in Miami is a restoration that feels like a modern continuity rather than complete reinvention.
The New Delano Comes to Life The Moment You Arrive
For a magical night out on South Beach, Delano's new dining program sets the bar in orbit with the addition of Paris Society’s Gigi Rigolatto, an Alla Grande Italian experience entering the United States for the first time. Designed by the prolific Hugo Toro with mineral plaster walls, carved wood panels, and yellow Siena marble, the experience runs from the ground floor all the way to the Beach Club. It is one of the more significant restaurant openings in Miami this year, both for the space and for what Paris Society's American debut signals about where Miami’s hospitality experience is heading.
Paired with the Gigi Rigolatto is Mimi Kakushi, the 1920s Osaka-inspired Japanese restaurant that holds the title as a top 50 Bar in the world. Calling the fourth floor, in Delano home, it’s accessible to hotel guests and members of the Delano Members Club. Designed by Pirajean Lees, the interior is adorned with Oriental Art Deco pieces while layered with ambient light, diverse textures, contrast, and natural materials.
The crown jewel of it all, The Rose Bar, returns in the ground floor lobby, designed specifically to feel intimate early in the evening and progressively alive as the night develops.
South Beach Works When the Delano Works
And that was always the plan. The Delano was never just a hotel to check into for the sake of having shelter for the night. It was reimagined as a transformative world of delights designed around what happens after you arrived, not just because you did. That’s what Schrager and Starck got right the first time and what the Ennismore team, to their credit, understood came with the brand name. The Delano made arriving feel like the beginning of something special; the curtains parted, the lobby opened, and the afternoon sunlight skated gracefully on terrazzo floors that had been there since 1947.
For years, that magic was missing from South Beach.
That magic is here again.
Photos courtesy of Delano Miami Beach, 1685 Collins Avenue. Reservations open now. Gigi Rigolatto and Rose Bar open to hotel guests and the public. Mimi Kakushi is accessible to hotel guests and Delano Members Club.