Travelers staying at The Breakers Palm Beach later this year will find a revamped concierge floor level and redesigned spa, courtesy of a $13 million property enhancement project begun this summer.
The resort’s Flagler Club concierge level will reopen in October after a $5 million transformation into a private boutique hotel experience. The exclusive floor will offer 25 rooms and suites and a range of benefits for guests.
“Flagler Club is a little hotel within the hotel,” said Bernard Nicole, an assistant hotel manager for Flagler Club. “We welcome each guest personally and prepare each room according to our guests’ specific preferences. They are like our family, and we are the proprietors of their experience.”
Flagler Club will include suites and rooms with partial ocean views and others with island views of Palm Beach. Rooms will feature 55-inch HD smart curved televisions, king beds with PranaSleep adjustable bedding and Frette Italian linens, and marble bathrooms with rainforest-style shower heads. The room décor is a blend of Palm Beach glamour and contemporary design, according to hotel officials.
Guests on the Flagler Club floor also will have access to four dining offerings served daily in its club lounge, free valet pressing service and chauffeured airport transfers to and from Palm Beach International Airport.
That’s in addition to free high-speed Internet, daily newspaper upon request and entrance to Ocean Fitness, the resort’s $3.5 million, 6,000-square-foot, 24-hour fitness center and studio, which opened in December 2014.
Ocean Fitness offers hotel and club customers cycling, yoga, cardio and strength-training equipment along with group classes and personal training sessions.
Nightly rates for Flagler Club guest rooms haven’t been released, but a three-night minimum stay will be required.
Summer room rates at The Breakers overall start at $349 per night for stays Sunday through Thursday, with weekend rates beginning at $449 per night through Sept. 30.
In November, The Spa at The Breakers — a 20,000-square-foot redesigned oceanfront wellness retreat — will open after an $8 million makeover of its 17 treatment rooms and public spaces. The new spa will feature a contemporary Italian design and a new salon for hair, nail and children’s services.
During its five-month renovation, spa services are being provided at a temporary oceanfront location within the hotel.
Each year, the ownership of the 540-room resort at 1 S. County Road invests about $25 million into revitalization and renovations. The resort strives to balance preservation with modernization to satisfy customers’ changing preferences and hospitality trends.
“Guests are keenly aware that The Breakers could not be replicated today,” said David Burke, vice president of sales & marketing. “Yet we never rest on our laurels, so we ensure it keeps getting better, year after year.”
The South Florida icon was built in 1896 as The Palm Beach Inn by real estate developer and railroad magnate Henry Morrison Flagler.
In 1903, a fire destroyed the inn and it was rebuilt a year later as The Breakers.
A second blaze — likely sparked by a “newfangled curling iron” left plugged in — claimed the second Breakers in 1925, according to the hotel’s historical records.
Flagler’s heirs rebuilt the current Breakers for $7 million and opened it in December 1926.
The Italian Renaissance-style hotel turned 119 years old on Jan. 16.
