The Party Is Over

Fort Lauderdale completes transformation from spring break mecca to upscale resort destination.

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 8/1/2007

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA A generation ago, this

oceanfront city an hour north of Miami saw its springs overrun with

drunken, deliriously partying college students drawn to its gorgeous

scenery, its warm beaches, and—perhaps most importantly—its abundance

of cheap lodging. For much of the 1980s, Fort Lauderdale was the

spring break hot spot, with about 350,000 young revelers descending

on the city each March. Thankfully, in the eyes of the city’s 150,000

residents, that is all in the past.

With the openings earlier this year of a pair of prominent upscale

condo-hotel properties—the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort and

the St. Regis Resort & Residences—the city takes another significant step toward becoming a luxury destination. Two decades ago,

at the peak of its hard-partying image, the average daily rate among

the city’s 22,000 guestrooms averaged about US$60. Today, with about

30,000 guestrooms, the average rate is double that, according to

John Zamora, who follows the Fort Lauderdale market for Deloitte.

RevPAR is likewise doubled, from US$40 in the ’80s to about US$83

today, Zamora says. “The Fort Lauderdale market has really transformed

itself from the mid-’80s, when the peak of the spring-breakers were

visiting the market. That has really changed. Students are not traveling

there as much, although they still get a significant number of them.”

Besides the deteriorating quality of life that the past party atmosphere

wreaked on the city, Fort Lauderdale leaders recognized there are

economic benefits to having more upscale hotels and resorts, and

they passed a series of ordinances discouraging the drunken free-for-alls.

Things improved during the 1990s, as private equity firms began

focusing on the market, particularly The Blackstone Group, but the

real up-market trend has occurred within the past five years, Zamora

says. Trump Group is building a 24-story, 298-key condo-hotel on

the beach, just south of the luxury, 15-story Atlantic condo-hotel

that opened in 2004. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which

operates the Atlantic and the St. Regis, also is planning a W Hotel

and Residences, slated to open this fall.

Michael Hatzfield, general manager of the 166-room St. Regis, which

opened in May, credits the city with providing the infrastructure—newly

paved roads, attractive landscaping and clean beaches—that allows

upper-upscale hotels to thrive. “There is a lot more to come. There

is a lot of interest here for making the beach even better,” Hazfield

says. The Fort Lauderdale beaches are among Florida’s first to receive

the eco-friendly Blue Wave designation from the Clean Beaches Council.

Also helping the tourism tide is the recent legalization of casino

gambling in Broward County, for which Fort Lauderdale serves as

county seat. The spring break vibe is heavily faded if not completely

gone, Hatzfield says, replaced by a social climate that is more

welcoming to couples and families. International travelers, too,

increasingly are finding Fort Lauderdale among the numerous Florida

vacation offerings, particularly visitors from Germany, the UK and

Argentina.

Developers are buying smaller select-service properties to expand

and upgrade, and prime beachfront locations once occupied by 2-

or 3-star hotels are being replaced by luxury condominiums and condo-hotels.

A decade from now, visitors will likely have a difficult time finding

much cheap lodging. “Today, the Fort Lauderdale market has a product,

basically, for everybody, from the student traveler to the high-end

traveler,” Zamora says. “However, new developments into the market

are going to be in the luxury, high-end area. There are not going

to be a lot of budget resorts being built here.”