Last Friday the InterContinental Hotels Group relaunched Miami Beach's Hotel De Soliel under the new moniker Z Ocean Hotel South Beach. To celebrate the new venture, the property hosted a special party for the 25th anniversary of Footloose with a performance by Kevin Bacon's band, the Bacon Brothers.
The Miami Herald reported on April 13 that Hotel de Soliel owner Louis Taic, who purchased the property back in September, quietly turned over its management to InterContinental's Crowne Plaza Hotel division in January following an 18 percent drop in room revenues throughout Miami-Dade county.
“I would never have contemplated the Crowne Plaza if the economy were not what it is,” Taic told The Herald. Though the property is technically a Crowne Plaza, the paper reported Taic’s preference to identify with its parent company InterContinental. In fact, the hotel’s most recent press releases about the name change don't mention Crowne Plaza at all.
In addition to Table 8, the property has added a new restaurant, Zushi Flirt. The 2,500-square-foot sushi lounge can seat as many as 100 patrons and has a private room for 35.
Plans to add a nightclub and piano bar are currently under way, though details have yet to be released.
