Prev
The Colony Hotel will reopen Thursday after a two-month closure for maintenance and renovations that included a soon-to-be-completed redesign of one of the hotel’s villas with a new partner: the wellness and lifestyle brand of actress-entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow.
The villa, named after Paltrow’s California-based goop brand, features an interior that won’t be revealed until the two-bedroom accommodation is completed in October, but it reflects The Colony’s growing partnerships with lifestyle personalities and brands seen as resonating with the hotel’s guests.
New York-based design firm Ronen Lev joined with The Colony and Paltrow’s company to create the “goop Villa” with “the romance of Parisian pied-à-terres and the vibrant colors of Palm Beach,” according to a news release.
The release describes the villa as, among other things, an “an elegant, feminine sanctuary” offering “goop beauty products for guests to enjoy.”
The goop Villa is one of two villas that were redesigned over the summer. The other five villas were renovated previously.
The villas serve guests who stay for a month or more and originally were created from a 1920s Mediterranean-style manse owned by the founders of the Colony, which debuted in 1947.
The Colony’s reopening will showcase other work completed during its summer closure, which was aimed at tackling projects “critical” to “the hotel’s infrastructure and longevity as a historic landmarked property,” president and CEO Sarah Wetenhall told the Daily News Thursday, referring to the hotel’s designation as a town landmark in 2020.
Palm Beach-based Kemble Interiors refreshed the look of two of the hotel’s event spaces: the Coral Ballroom and the Solarium. Elsewhere, maintenance work included the installation of a new kitchen chiller as well as a new generator.
As with previous temporary summer closures at the hotel, this most recent one affected the staff.
Temporary layoffs or reduced hours involved 155 employees who Colony officials said they assisted in arranging other plans during the closure, including summer travel or temporary work.
In accordance with federal labor law requiring companies to give sufficient advance notice of significant layoffs, the hotel, popularly known as “Pink Paradise” for its blush-hued exterior and vibe, notified Florida’s Department of Economic Development on May 1 of its temporary summer employee reduction.
Wetenhall told the Daily News that The Colony “will reopen fully staffed with over 250 hospitality professionals, inclusive of the 155 team members returning from last season. … The Colony team is well rested, refreshed and ready for another unforgettable season.”