The W South Beach, one of Miami Beach’s most well known hotels, will soon be closing for an extensive renovation. When it reopens, it won’t be affiliated with Marriott anymore, so this should get interesting…
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W Hotel South Beach closing as of August 2026
The W Hotel South Beach, located at 2201 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, is going to be closing as of mid-August 2026. If you look on Marriott’s website, you’ll see the hotel no longer shows as bookable after August 17, 2026.
The expectation is that the hotel will be undergoing a major renovation. However, when completed, it won’t reopen as a W Hotel. Instead, it will end its affiliation with Marriott, and it remains to be seen what the future holds, in terms of when it reopens, and what brand it will belong to. As part of this transition, we’re unfortunately going to see the permanent termination of nearly 340 employees.
The W Hotel South Beach has nearly 350 rooms, and for the W brand, it punches above its weight, and at least for years was a “cool” party hotel that many people enjoyed staying at. The hotel has easily had among the highest average daily rates of any property in the W system.
What does the future hold for the W Hotel South Beach?
What does the future hold for this property? Keep in mind that the W Hotel South Beach underwent a roughly $30 million renovation in 2020, so it’s not like the hotel was in dire need of updates, or anything. Furthermore, with employees being terminated and the future of the property unclear, it sounds like this hotel is undergoing some major work, and might not reopen for a couple of years.
Interestingly, the property was purchased by Reuben Brothers under two years ago, in October 2024, in a roughly $400 million deal. So I imagine that they have new plans for the property. I suspect that this will continue to operate as a hotel (rather than exclusively being converted into residences), though who knows.
If we had to make some guesses, it’s worth looking at the Reuben Brothers’ current hotel investments, since that always gives some hints of how a hotel may be rebranded. Their only current affiliation with Marriott is this property. They otherwise have properties affiliated with Auberge Collection, Corinthia, Oetker Hotels, and Waldorf Astoria, so they’re focused on the very high end in general, it seems.
This property is way too big to become an Auberge or Oetker, and I can’t imagine Corinthia is really what will maximize their ROI in Miami, since the brand doesn’t exactly have great brand recognition. So one wonders… could this become a Waldorf Astoria? A few thoughts:
- The W brand in general has kind of been losing steam, and while it’s trying to reinvent itself, I think the brand’s best days are behind them
- Marriott in general has a disproportionate luxury portfolio in the Miami area, between St. Regis, EDITION, and numerous Ritz-Carlton properties
- Hilton, meanwhile, has a lacking luxury portfolio in Miami, and one could certainly see this becoming a Waldorf Astoria; keep in mind there’s also a Waldorf Astoria under development in Miami, which will be the city’s tallest building, but there are plenty of brands with properties in Miami and Miami Beach, since they’re largely separate markets
- Presumably the goal with renovating and investing would be to move the property upmarket, and if we’re going to look at other potential brands with points properties, I just don’t see this becoming a Park Hyatt
- I suppose looking at non-points brands, we can’t exclude the possibility of it becoming a Four Seasons (though Four Seasons already has two properties in the area, though in distinct markets) or a Rosewood (though the hotel seems a bit too big for that)
So anyway, we’ll see how this plays out. It’s purely speculation on my part, but it just seems like Waldorf Astoria is the most likely brand, especially since that’s what Reuben Brothers are current developing, in the form of the Waldorf Astoria London Admiralty Arch.
Bottom line
The W Hotel South Beach will be closing in a matter of weeks. The hotel will cease to be affiliated with Marriott, and the expectation is that the hotel will undergo a major renovation. It remains to be seen what it reopens as, though based on the new ownership as of late 2024, it seems likely that this hotel will be moving upmarket. If I had to guess, I’d say a Waldorf Astoria rebranding is most likely, but that’s purely speculation, and I could be totally off.
What do you make of the W Hotel South Beach closing, and how do you think it’ll be rebranded?
Rosewood already has its own property on the works in the same area as W
If it is the same hotel , at the same location , with the same coconuts and fish , with a different name , how can it "move upmarket" ?