In a very recent acquisition, Starwood will be getting a new property in Miami/South Beach which be joining SPG on Monday. The newest hotel joining is the The Royal Palm, which will be part of Starwood’s Luxury Collection as a Category 5 property, meaning free nights start at just 12,000 points per night.
Starwood Acquires New Miami Property: The Royal Palm
The Royal Palm used to be part of The James hotel collection, which was recently sold to Chesapeake Lodging Trust, and will be managed by Starwood. At first it was undetermined which brand it would fall into, but it makes sense that they chose Luxury Collection. The other one that crossed my mind would of been Le Meridien since Starwood is trying to expand that across the United States.
The great thing right now is that is only a Category 5 hotel. 12,000 Starpoints isn’t a bad deal since rooms are starting at $437 per night in March. If you are interested in booking this, I would lock in this rate sooner than later, because I wouldn’t be surprised if that increases to a Category 6 or even a Category 7 in the near future.
Bottom Line
This is a welcome addition to the Starwood family, since the W South Beach is currently a Category 7, meaning free nights are 30,000 points, so it will be nice to have another upscale property in South Beach that isn’t as expensive.
Have you’ve stayed at the Royal Palm before? Feel free to share your thoughts below.
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I stayed here in 2013, when it was The James Royal Palm. It was newly renovated, and very stylish, but not luxurious. My room was very large, almost junior suite sized. It would be much more fitting for Le Meridien brand than Luxury Collection considering the vibe.
Hi Danny – Thanks for the comment and the first hand report. How were the pool and beach facilities and service? Do they have chairs here and do they charge for them?
Interesting, it was a cat 5 when I looked earlier, but it has already moved up to a cat 6!
Love this hotel have been coming here for years with my family and friends! Apartments are spacious and well appointed – not your typical hotel at all… cozy beachy feel and colours, yet upscale and luxurious, windows that open and allow in ocean breeze. Perfect location on the beach – beautiful sand, friendly staff, close to ocean drive, restaurants and shopping. I truly hope that as a new acquisition that it will be spared being converted into the generic as chains tend to be….though have witnessed that already during this stay…glasses and glass water bottles removed from the rooms and replaced with plastic bottled water with the bland purple spg advertising… other small touches disappeared such as board and bike rentals…perhaps small things for large corporations but the reasons that kept us returning each year. Unfortunately feels like a bit of a hostile take over with white tape and stickers covering up the word “James” wherever it appears within the hotel…some slick and cool fellow at the front desk announced he was flown in from Southern California to oversee the “system changes personally” …didn’t seem to interested that this was our coveted annual vacation from the cold up North..and when we mentioned that he just sort of condescendingly shrugged it off…maybe now I can finally use my spg points but not sure right now how I feel about returning.