W South Beach

The W South Beach is a trendy, luxury hotel with a sophisticated look and relaxed atmosphere popular with young professionals and families. The 401 rooms and suites are massive and stylish, featuring minibars, furnished balconies, and Bliss products, although the wear and tear can take away from the overall high-end feeling.

Fun, fresh, and funky, the W South Beach represents the brand's evolution towards young sophistication, which means less club music in the lobby, more lighting, and more attention to the multimillion-dollar art collection lining the lobby's expansive walls. The rooms are arguably the nicest in South Beach; even the lowest category provides a wow factor with the meticulous design and high-end furnishings.

Miami's first W property is a major departure for the brand: all ... spacious residences have a French bohemian aesthetic, and are done in various shades of white and gray. The W South Beach immediately shows its aspirations to chic in a gleaming lobby equipped with a 120-foot-long marble wall, and with an edgy art collection (pieces by Damien Hirst, Christopher Wool, and the like) counterpointed by campy brass screens that recall the glamour of Miami's 1950's heyday.

Miami's first W hotel is one of the chain's most ambitious properties in recent years. The 20-story glass tower sits at the northern end of South Beach with a generous stretch of beachfront to itself, and is in perpetual party mode.

Although it's hardly the first in the chain of hip, trendy hotels, the W South Beach is considered the brand's signature showpiece and for good reason. ... The hotel's bar and restaurant scene are among the city's hottest thanks to a celebrity clientele who flock to Mr. Chow and Wall nightclub.