by Mary GostelowMary Gostelow's Hotel of the Week: The Betsy South Beach
The Betsy South Beach with 1942 exterior.
A weekly series featuring luxury hotel expert Mary Gostelow’s hotel pick of the week.
The Betsy South Beach, on Miami Beach’s beach-side Ocean Drive between 14th and 15th Streets, could well become a brand of luxury’s future. Let us start at the beginning…
A zen corner of the rooftop outdoor spa.
A pair of financiers-cum-philanthropists, Jonathan Plutzik and Lesley Goldwasser, purchased the historic Betsy Ross hotel, designed by L. Murray Dixon in 1942. While retaining the gorgeous exterior, they gutted the inside of the C-shaped building, ending up with 62 rooms and a rooftop with sun terrace and outdoor spa. The main ground floor, which curves around the outdoor courtyard pool, is made up of a restaurant, lobby, and bar, all of which flow to the hotel’s terrace, four steps up from the Ocean Drive sidewalk.
A monochrome room of white and orchid. Photo Credit: The Betsy Hotel.
Designed by Diamante Pedersoli, the bedrooms are off-white with mere hints of monochrome. I love corner suite 223, with shades of persimmon and facing across Ocean Drive to the grass and beach. All rooms have libraries with titles chosen from local designer supplier, Books & Books (223 includes a copy of Apples from Shisnar, poems by the late Pulitzer nominee Hyam Plutzik, Jonathan’s father).
A Classic Suite. Photo Credit: The Betsy Hotel.
This is one talented family; Jonathan’s sister Debbie oversees hotel marketing and all cultural events, which include poetry sessions during the annual O, Miami festival and art shows coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach. There are a myriad of charitable partnerships at The Betsy South Beach, contributing to a variety of charities through the PG Family Foundation: fabric book bags and old Rolling Stones photos hanging on corridor walls are for sale, and the hotel sponsors the John Lennon bus, which brings arts to schools. Laurent Torondel, owner of the BLT brand, supervises all food and beverage. The effervescent Jeff Lehman is hands-on hotel GM.
Decor in suite 223: A library of books, complete with book bag.
Mary with hotel owners Jonathan Putzik and Lesley Goldwasser and Jonathan’s sister and poet Deborah Plutzik-Briggs.
