The Tides – Miami’s Real Diva

Years ago I had the privilege to work with the iconic lifestyle hotel in South Beach, Miami – The Tides.  At the time the hotel was owned by Poju Zabludowicz, the owner of Tamares Hotels Israel, who asked his team in Israel, which included me, to set up a management team for the hotel. 

The Tides has been an Icon in Miami way back before the independent boutique trend, which includes brands such as Kimpton, Morgans and Thomson, and the new trend of small boutique brands that belong to large hotel chains, such as Aloft, Indigo and Andaz (about which I wrote in previous posts). The Tides was one of the first hotels built in South Beach when the Art-Deco re-invention happened in Miami. Today the hotel continues to be “The diva” of South Beach, offering personalized service, extraordinary large guest rooms and famous spa treatments. It also hosts VIP private events of the entertainment business and attracts a lot of celebrities. The Resort is truly what I call “informal luxury”, which fits perfectly its beach location.  

The beautiful lobby (Photos: The Tides)

I spent a wonderful period of 2 years in The Tides, where I was able to visit the property many times and contribute both to marketing and to design ideas, which in turn improved business in terms of revenues and cost savings. Eventually Zabludowicz sold the property (with a healthy profit). Now it’s managed and owned by one of the most successful lifestyle brand hotel management companies called KOR Group Hotels, which fell in love with the property and ended up buying it.

KOR Group is a hotel company with an incredible sense of design, and a unique understanding of the importance of intimate individual service, reflected in the design and branding of their hotels. KOR today has grown tremendously with their brand Viceroy Hotels, to which I will dedicate a separate post in the future. As part of their work with The Tides, KOR Group has also expanded The Tides brand and opened two luxury resort in Mexico under that name –  The Tides Zihuatanejo and The Tides Riviera Maya. 

Luxurious bedrooms

It was great spending time getting to know the south beach market in Miami and the exciting lifestyle / boutique luxury segment, which gave me a great opportunity to acquire valuable experience. Today – as I am building my own company and setting up a marketing platform for luxury hotels for the boutique & lifestyle segment (both for existing hotels and for those in development process in Israel) – I can appreciate once again the valuable memories of the Tides Hotel.

The Tides beach

Interview with KOR Hotelier Brad Korzen

http://www.departures.com/articles/the-kor-club

Interview with hotel designer Kelly Wearstler

http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/kelly-wearstler-bedroom-photos-0710