GETAWAYS • Palm Beach
The entrance to the new Palm Beach hotel Palm House isn’t well marked, and there isn’t really a lobby. The first room you’ll encounter is more like a lounge for the bar, a stone sculpture that lights up the right side of the room, partitioning it off from the restaurant just behind it. It’s gorgeous, but we’re not there quite yet.
First, we need to check in at the discrete podium in the corner, where a lone worker usually stands greeting guests. We arrived at this scene on New Year’s Day, barely a month after the hotel opened on the site of what was once the Heart of Palm Beach hotel (which had been closed for 17 eventful years). It’s the first U.S. location in the Iconic Luxury Hotels portfolio, which numbers a half dozen luxe UK properties and one in Venice.
The anti-fast casual vibe they’ve cultivated here is what we want from our getaway hotels, and it’s tricky to get right. Arriving as we did, after a flight delay in our travel wear with carry-ons on our shoulders, into this elegant, pasteled room, is a jarring transition. And as we waited to sort out a minor issue with our rooms, we felt it.
But once we were settled, Palm House’s ample charms warmed in the Florida sunshine. The lighting is exquisite, the hallways are lined with art, and the rooms are sumptuous, with plush bedding, two-sink bathrooms, and excellent showers. The staff — valets, bartenders, pool servers — is accommodating and gracious.
It’s a half-block walk to the guarded public beach and also to town. La Goulue is on the corner, the famed Worth Ave. five blocks south (though we favored Surfside Diner, Buccan Sandwich Shop, and West Palm’s The Blue Door on this trip). It’s not the kind of resort where the guests are held captive onsite.
The renovation included an upgrade of the moderately sized pool with expertly tiered pink loungers and daybeds. There’s an event space behind the outdoor bar, which wasn’t open on this early visit (but will be for friend-of-FOUND Brad Inman’s Livelong Experience in March). The Dining Room at Palm House serves Japanese-Peruvian cuisine (“Nobu-style”), the sushi and Japanese A5 Wagyu set against patterned-tile walls.
But that bar. It’s a work of art and a prime perch for taking in the local scene in all of its over-the-top glory. Over pre-dinner cocktails, we watched newly arrived hotel guests check in, recalling fondly that time when we hadn’t yet crossed over into the sunshine. –Josh Albertson
→ Palm House (Palm Beach, FL) • 160 Royal Palm Way • 79 rooms • Rates from $1260/weekend night.