Cardozo Hotel
1300 Ocean Drive
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Tel: 305.535.6500
Toll Free: 1.800.782.6500

CELEBS SPOTTED: Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Cindy Crawford, Kate Hudson

Gloria Estefan owns the Cardozo

Art Deco comes to life in the Cardozo Hotel in southern Florida, otherwise known as the “Jewel of South Beach.” Owned by the Conga Queen herself, Gloria Estefan and husband Emilio, the famous building has been in lots of flicks, including “Something About Mary” and Frank Sinatra’s “A Hole in the Head.” Casual, yet elegant is the flavor at the Cardozo, which is why everyone from Kate Hudson to Cindy Crawford have been spotted there.

The Cardozo Bar and Grill offers Cuban flare

With 43 rooms ranging from doubles to deluxe suites, you’re going to love the calm atmosphere with Atlantic views. Dine in at the Cardozo Bar & Grill, another spot the celebs like to hang in South Beach. Plus, you’re within walking distance of tons of shops and restaurants along Ocean Drive, and Lincoln Road is blocks away. Walk with your family, take the dog, see live music and art galleries.

Beauty and elegance abound at the Cardozo

Look at that view!

Rooms start at $250 a night (until the off season starts in April, when they drop to $215 a night). All rooms have cable TV, minibars, bathrobes, and computerized door locks. WiFi, too, and room service. But you can really relax in the spacious suites, which include pullout sofa beds, dining areas, and Jacuzzi tubs. And every room is ADA-equipped.

Luxury in double at the Cardozo

You want to drink in South Beach and all the Miami goodness it has to offer? Hard to find better than the Cardozo…luxurious yet (relatively) affordable. The ocean views await. So do all those tanned botoxed beings.

Nearby restaurants/bars: The Grill at the Setai, scrumptious Italian eatery Escopazzo, or just chill with a beer at Zeke’s Roadhouse.

Photo Credits

First exterior shot of hotel: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pkeigan/ / CC BY 2.0

Gloria Estefan: Daylife

All other photos: Cardozo Hotel web site

If you’re a mini-bar connoisseur, you’re probably aware of the lack of premium wine found in most hotels. Heck, you’re lucky if you can find a cork screw and wine glasses in most places!

This is a huge tragedy for wine folk, and I just discovered that online Wine Super Hero Gary Vaynerchuk has started to do reviews of the wine found in hotels. What a fun concept!

He did the first one in LA at Hotel Sofitel, in Episode 625, Chardonnay from a Hotel in Los Angeles. There he found a Clos du Bois 2006 North Coast Chardonnay — half bottle with a screw top. Which was lucky because the room didn’t have a cork screw, and he wound up drinking it out of a tumbler. A nice tumbler, but still, for wine folk that’s a thing.

Nice, but unexciting rooms at Sofitel LA

It’s kind of surprising that the Sofitel doesn’t have fancier wine, because it’s a luxury hotel. Rooms start in the $250/night range and then so sky high. But maybe all of the rich, famous people who stay there go down to Rande Gerber’s Stone Rose Lounge to get liquored up. You know Rande is Cindy Crawford’s husband, right?

Where's Cindy Crawford?

In Episode 664, Hotel Wine Search in San Diego, Gary has better luck at the W Hotel in San Diego, finding two bottles in his room, a Coppola Merlot and a Root Cabernet Sauvingnon from Chile.

The seriously bright W San Diego room

The W is way more wine friendly, providing stemmed glasses, a cork screw, and smart marketing — there is a tag on the bottle of Cab recommending that you order a cheese plate to go with it!

Mmmm blueberry mojitos!

You can usually count on the W to be beautiful and well appointed, and the property in San Diego lives up to this. Rooms are bright and sunny, and when you finish all of the wine in your room, you can head down to the Magnet bar for a blueberry mojito.

Maybe that’s not what Gary would order, but some of us cannot live by wine alone! I will, however, be watching for Gary’s next hotel wine review. It’s good to know when you need to BYOB!