Florida - 5
Mali Carow, above, is a vivacious Chicago girl who's travelled the world. Girlahead first met her in Amman when she was general manager of Four Seasons there. They've been in touch ever since, but now they met up again at Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale, which she is running. It was lovely to see her again.
And what a fascinating hotel, because it doesn't really look like a Four Seasons – it’s more like a residential block. First of all, Fort Lauderdale is popped in on the eastern shores of Florida, with the Palm Beaches to the north and carry on down south and you get to Miami. Fort Lauderdale has a population of 190,000, and it's called after the forts that were overseen by Major William Lauderdale. His Birch descendants, including Hugh Taylor Birch, are still prominent local people.
The idea of Fort Capital Management, when establishing this hotel on 17 floors of a big block right on the coastal road, was to emphasize the youthfulness not only of the building, but also the whole product. It's not that it's dumbing down, far from it. It's taking Four Seasons forward. Some of the former designers of old-style Four Seasons might frankly turn over in their diamond-studded graves. It's noticeable that there were lots of millennials there, and that's always a delight to have business guys coming in with backpacks. This is indeed a business-friendly base. Florida’s Inland Waterway appears to be a world capital of private yachts.
The hotel opened in March 2022. It's got 130 keys and 300 really keen team members, but whatever they call them. The rooms are funny angles because of the shape of the building. Girlahead was in #1015, a suite which wrapped around various zigzags and had three terraces looking out either to Florida’s famous Inland Waterway or out to sea. It worked. Stone-look floor, linen-look walls in yellow-green. In memorable but satisfactory art, the design's been done by Tara Bernhard, who's used to doing odd shapes. She did a terrific job at the Hari in London. In very well-lit bathroom. Naturally, a visit to the fitness center was required, and although it was life fitness, the equipment was the latest. There were various hoists and hydro guns and everything worked.
Now, although the hotel’s in the block on the beach, just with the North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard, which is part of Florida’s famous A1A coastal highway in between hotel and sand, you do have to cross that road to get to the beach. But the hotel has cleverly put in a beach concierge right on its territory. All the checking in for the beach is done in the gardens of the hotel, and then you simply cross the road. And guess what? Nobody complains and everybody's happy. That's part of what's meant by this new look, young, young gen, thoughtful, Four Seasons.
