Seems like the W in the new hotel, W South Beach, doesn't exactly stand for 'welcome'. Turns out, one of our readers ventured to the property last week for a little lunch and a look see and was approached by a security guard and asked to leave. According to the reader, non guests of the hotel do not have access to the restaurants, bars and clubs. An email the reader forwarded to us from the hotel's general manager, Eduardo Fernandez confirms that, saying, "I apologize if you feel that our staff was not courteous to you during while you visited our establishment. Due to the large volume of people coming and going to the beach and attempting to use our hotel and our restrooms, we have implemented a policy limiting the use of the lobby, living room, and pool areas for guests and residents only." The pool we get, but the lobby and living room areas? Please! We understand if the owner of Mr. Chow arch nemesis Philippe wants to come hang out in the lobby giving threatening looks to customers, but as for the rest of us, the nerve! Wait! That's circa 1996-era Delano calling and asking for their policy back.
In all fairness, we went to the W South Beach last night expecting to be booted, but, shockingly we weren't met with any resistance despite the fact that a fashion show was pending at the pool and despite the fact that the new club Wall was previewing. Perhaps it's just during daytime hours that the W is off limits. We are still waiting on the official word from the hotel's pr reps so stay tuned. In the meantime, the W, for those who have yet to go, is a hot looking place, if not a mini-Setai.
MR. Chow is open, and it's nice: http://tinyurl.com/l4cfpx
Posted by: Coco | August 04, 2009 at 04:58 PM