Accommodations Tips
When you make your hotel reservations for the off-season, be sure to inquire about a free seventh night, one of the more popular summer promotions. It’s available at many of the hotels discussed in this chapter. Generally speaking, room rates drop considerably after April and remain relatively low throughout the summer and early fall. Some hotels adjust rates once around November 1, and others raise them again after New Year’s Day.
If you stay at the Radisson Bridge Resort, Room 301 has several advantages for a family: a suite with individual balconies overlooking Lake Boca Raton with views of the ocean; full baths, vanities, televisions, tables and chairs, large closets in each room; and chairs on each balcony. One bedroom has a king-size bed, and the other has a sleeper-sofa. Room 501 is similar but much larger. Downstairs at Watercolors Cafe, look over the balcony into the Intracoastal and note the black and yellow fish swimming around. The sergeant majors are waiting for you to toss them some crumbs from your plate — a local tradition.
The Boca mystique hardly seems to do justice to the Presidential Suite at Boca Raton Resort and Club. A two-story double suite on the 24th and 25th floors of the Tower, the Presidential is somewhat like a 6,000-square-foot luxury residence. Access is by private elevator, with an interior staircase. After a half-million dollars of refurbishments in recent years, the suite is professionally decorated to accommodate visiting heads of state, American presidents and reigning showbiz personalities. The suite has four bedrooms, each with a full-bath and private entrance. The master also has a workout room. A formal dining room seats 16 to 20, with reception space for up to 250. The living room has a baby grand piano, wet bar and bumper pool table. The rate is $5,000 a night — no extra charge for meeting rooms, an office and a library.
Make it a point to get up early, stroll to the beach and watch the sun rise. Even people who take along their props — coffee and a newspaper — find themselves gradually preoccupied as the slate-seeming tide lightens to pewter, then resembles champagne as sunlight filters under the foam tugging at the sand. The sky pinks up a bit, giving definition to wisps of clouds — and voilà! Sun’s up, and you’re glad you are too.
This might be a good time to experience the elegance and romance at the fabled Brazilian Court in Palm Beach (see this chapter’s entry). Over the next year or two, this historic landmark hotel will be converted to suite and studio residences for lease — fulfilling new owner Abraham Gosman’s vision of “the finest senior residential hotel in the country.” Long-term guests will have the pampered ease of a full-service luxury hotel — 24-hour room service, housekeeping and limousine transportation — plus dining, entertainment, a health and fitness center, library and computer room, and social salons. (Kinda makes you want to hurry up and get older, eh?) One-year leases will start at $2,900 per month, with the average about $3,600. Until the conversion is complete, however, hotel rooms remain available. For the latest information on what’s available for visiting or moving in, contact manager Michael Brown, 655-7740.