March 06–SANDESTIN — The Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort and Spa celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, but it certainly doesn’t look its age thanks to recent renovations.
The Hilton Sandestin recently completed a four-month, $12.5 million construction project that included a complete renovation of its lobby and public space, Sandcastles Restaurant and Lounge, Hadashi Sushi Bar, Spa Tower guest rooms and Serenity by the Sea Spa. And that was just the interior.
The project also included replacing the resort’s original porte-cochere with a contemporary design and building a new 160-space valet parking deck.
“We’re very pleased with the renovations,” said Robert Kamm, CEO of the Hilton Sandestin. “It was time for a new look and we definitely have it now.
“It was much needed,” he added.
The Hilton Sandestin has had more than 3.5 million rooms occupied and almost 14 million guests in its 30 years, Kamm said.
Sandcastles Restaurant, the Sandcastles Lounge and Hadashi Sushi Bar now have additional seating. To make room, contractors knocked down walls to an exterior patio and expanded the back portion of the lobby to provide an extra 3,600 square feet.
The complete renovation of the Spa Tower included taking all of the hallways down to their bare walls and then repainting, installing new lighting, putting down new carpet and putting in new decorations. The Spa Tower’s design now mirrors that of the Emerald Tower to the east.
Each room in the Spa Tower also was renovated with new carpeting, lighting, furniture, beds, bathrooms and paint.
Some of the rooms’ floor plans also were updated. The presidential suites were renovated and turned into regular guest rooms and the suites were updated and turned into presidential suites.
The changes resulted in the hotel’s room count increasing from 598 to 602.
The Hilton Sandestin opened the renovated areas to guests March 1. The Spa Towers will be completely booked this weekend.
“People are walking through, noticing colors and textures and openness, a sense of style that is approachable,” said Richard Ross, Hilton Sandestin’s vice president of sales and marketing. “(It’s) something that is sophisticated yet casual, like you would find at a beach location.”
More work planned at Sandestin Hilton
SANDESTIN — Two major expansions to the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa are in the planning stages, and the owners will decide soon which project will be constructed first.
Robert Kamm, CEO of the Hilton Sandestin, said the hotel is planning to expand the Spa Tower and building a new ballroom to provide additional meeting space.
The hotel is hosting its annual owners’ meeting this weekend, when more than 270 owners are expected to decide which project to begin first.
“We don’t want to have the east and west sides of the hotel tore up at the same time,” Kamm said. “Right now, the meeting space is more of a priority than the guest rooms.”
The seven-floor Spa Tower expansion will be connected to the existing building, but built out to the north. The expansion would add 48 suites to the hotel.
The new ballroom is expected to be between 8,000 and 10,000 square feet. It will be built off of an existing foyer on the east side of the building.
Construction on one of the projects could begin as early as August, Kamm said. Cost estimates have not been released yet.
Contact Daily News Business Editor Dusty Ricketts at 850-315-4448 or dricketts@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustyRnwfdn.
