The Marseilles Hotel, a five-story oceanfront property, sits directly on Collins Avenue and offers spacious studios as well as comfortable deluxe suites. Famous European architect Robert Swartburg designed both the Marseilles and the Delano hotels in 1948 and the hotel possesses almost all of the qualities of the typical Art Deco-style boutique hotel: vertical accents, a combination of flat and curved walls, the use of glass blocks, neon, cove and porthole ceiling lights and railings made of cast iron.
Even though the property was renovated in 1996, the Marseille exudes the 1930’s deco ambiance and many of the original details have been preserved.
The guest rooms are decorated in lush gold tones with yellow accent walls, gold-hued fabrics, boast high ceilings and mahogany furniture. Guests will even enjoy bedside refrigerators (oh-so-convenient for midnight snacking), remote control cable television (you will be tempted to sleep in late every day!), Jacuzzis and a choice of a city or ocean view.
If you are able to drag yourself from the room you will enjoy a 90-foot swimming pool surrounded by a huge sundeck and lush tropical gardens. Just beyond the pool, is a lower sundeck and seaside palm-tree shaded hammocks.
As for dining, there are a couple of on-site choices: the tropical street front-veranda L’Omelette Café offers umbrella dining, the poolside bar is perfect afternoon cocktails and the Metropolis Lounge with its Art-Deco paintings and stained-glass panels is a popular destination for the nightclub crowd.
If you are a fitness enthusiast there is no need to fear, you can alternate between morning runs on the beach and The Marseilles’s fitness center (guests can also receive discounts to the swanky David Barton fitness center in the nearby Delano Hotel). The Marseilles Hotel is the perfect destination no matter what your vacation holds in store.
• Oceanfront hotel