Miami
Florida


The Experience

The Setai South Beach's East-meets-West, future-meets-past designs are perfect for the glitzy, deep-pocketed crowd that stays here -- so hip, in fact, that the hotel is soon to debut a recording studio from rocker Lenny Kravitz. The structure itself is actually a pair of nearly individual resort towers -- one hotel rooms, the other spacious apartments -- linked by the Belgian architect Jean-Michel Gathy's designs and positioned between the hubbub of Collins Avenue and the deep azure Atlantic. Partially set in the former Dempsey Vanderbilt Hotel -- a 1930s Art Deco gem -- the Setai has strayed far from its Yankee roots; today it's filled with antique Asian artworks, rich teak flooring and a lobby walled in bricks originally made in Shanghai some 75 years ago.

The Rooms

First, the downside: Regular rooms are sorely lacking in oceanfront views. Having said that, though, the 75 rooms in the Setai hotel are essentially all sized the same -- that is, big, at roughly 600 square feet -- with a pan-Asian design scheme based on dark teak floors, silk wall and bed coverings, raised platform beds and soothing "rain" showers in the baths. They also include very useful touches such as Lavazza espresso machines and free -- and refreshingly functional – Wi-Fi access. The 11 Club rooms on the eighth floor offer added space -- from 650 to 1,200 square feet -- as well as extra amenities such as airport transfer, private plane and boat service. But you'll have to reserve one of the 50 suites for the full-on ocean view and, with it, proper one- to three-bedroom privately owned apartments ranging from 900 to 3,500 square feet.

The Service

Although uniformly at a high level -- especially in notoriously service-sloppy South Beach -- the rooms and suites come with a very clear hierarchy of attention and service. Smaller, more intimate and Asian in feel, the suite tower comes with its own staff and luxury car fleet. There's even a private butler trained at Buckingham Palace on call in the penthouse suite. Within the hotel itself, service is also Asian-inspired, with equal doses of accuracy and Zen, only on a busier, buzzier scale.

The Highlights

Despite being squeezed -- like the rest of South Beach -- between its hotel neighbors, the Setai is unexpectedly lush and grand. Need proof? How about three -- yes, three -- 80-feet outdoor swimming pools, each ringed in towering palms and ascending in temperature from 75 to 95 degrees. Overlooking them is the two-year-old Setai Spa, whose four treatment rooms offer everything from Tibetan hot-stone to customized couples massages. Best of all is the hotel's restaurant low-lit, street-front restaurant, where Australian chef Shaun Danyel Herggat's high-wattage open kitchen turns out Asian and Pacific Rim dishes -- with a touch of India and his homeland -- that are considered some of Miami's best.

-- David Kaufman

Find Hotel Deals on Yahoo Travel»