Fort Lauderdale's Meeting Attractions Keep Growing

Fort Lauderdale is known for its large beachfront hotels. When it opened in 2004, therefore, The Atlantic Hotel & Spa immediately stood out for its boutique offering. Now, over a decade later, the all-suite hotel is ensuring its continued appeal by embarking on a large renovation, it announced this week.

Scheduled for completion this fall, the renovation will encompass each of The Atlantic's 104 suites, all of which will receive a facelift. Refreshed suites will retain their present coastal vibe — as well as the large bathrooms and kitchenettes for which The Atlantic is known — but will be updated with a new color palette of yellows, blues and natural woods, chosen to complement the resort's tropical landscape.

Its accommodations aren't the only thing that The Atlantic is updating, however. It also has unveiled new services and amenities. For example, the pet-friendly hotel recently launched a new partnership with Florida-based barkBISTRO, which provides handmade dog food for The Atlantic's Very Important Dog (VID) program. Other additions include a new partnership with Lavazza as its in-room and restaurant coffee supplier, a new rooftop SKY Bar in collaboration with Campari, and a new beach menu serving guests and visitors on the shore.

"The Atlantic Hotel & Spa was born out of a dream to fuse classic, customer-oriented values and modern, individualistic amenities," said Blanka Dewapura, The Atlantic's senior director of sales and marketing. "As our traveler shifts and grows, we want to grow and adapt our property beyond hospitality and into an ideal lifestyle destination."

The Atlantic isn't evolving in a vacuum. As a destination, all of Fort Lauderdale is growing and adapting to new opportunities in the travel market, as evidenced by a spate of new and renovated hotels. Here are four of them:

• The Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach:The Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach opened in late 2017. Overlooking both the beach and the Intracoastal Waterways, the all-suite property offers 290 accommodations, four restaurants and bars, a 4,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, a 20,000-square-foot ocean-facing pool deck with a heated pool and cabanas, and 10,000 square feet of meeting and event space.

• The Dalmar: Fort Lauderdale's newest luxury hotel is The Dalmar, which is scheduled to open in September as part of Marriott International's Tribute Portfolio. At 25 stories tall, it will sport 209 guest rooms, including 44 suites, as well as five bars and restaurants -- including Fort Lauderdale's first skyline rooftop bar. There also will be an infinity pool, a fitness center, a Yoga Joint yoga studio and 14,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space. A new Element by Westin hotel -- Element Fort Lauderdale Downtown -- also is opening in the same building; it will have 114 guest rooms, giving the dual-branded property a total of 323 guest rooms.

• W Fort Lauderdale: One of the biggest transformations of the past year in Fort Lauderdale was the W Fort Lauderdale, which last fall completed a $55 million makeover encompassing all 517 guest rooms, its grand porte cochère, its rooftop pool deck, its "Living Room" lounge and its meeting spaces. The top-to-bottom renovation added a new 4,000-square-foot ballroom, a new sushi bar and El Vez, a new oceanfront Mexican restaurant from Philadelphia and New York restaurateur Stephen Starr.

• Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Fort Lauderdale: Looking ahead, one of the most anticipated additions coming to Fort Lauderdale is the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Fort Lauderdale, which began construction in April and is scheduled to open in 2020. Upon opening, the 22-story property will have 90 private residences and 130 guest rooms, as well as an oceanfront terrace with two pools and luxury cabanas, a Four Seasons spa, a fitness center, a signature all-day restaurant, an ocean-view outdoor café and meeting space, the square footage of which has not yet been announced.