BOCA RESORT
The Boca Raton Resort & Club in FL, offers a luxurious environment for business travelers and association meetings and has been awarded the highest ratings by travel clubs such as AAA and Mobil.
The property covers 356 acres, and the architecture is a combination of Gothic, Moorish and Spanish-Mediterranean. The Cloister is the center of the resort's activity, with shops, restaurants and an aviary. The securities industry spends one week at the resort every year.
Nestled among the majestic palms, the Boca Raton Resort & Club's pink-hued edifices are visible for miles.
They don't exaxtly fit in with the tropical greens and azure blues, yet this grand old property has somehow become part of the South Florida landscape.
For years, the resort has provided rest and relaxation for pros (professional associations love to book the place for their meetings) and cons (it was reputedly a favorite haunt of gangsters in the Capone era).
It has been recognised as a five-star Mobil resort for 11 consecutive years and a AAA five-diamond property for seven straight years, but what attracts many travelers to the posh spread for the first time is business.
The resort, which hosts thousands of conventioneers every year, is renowned for providing a comfortable, casual base for executives who are looking to finish some work in a low-pressure environment.
Some groups swear by the place; the trade association for the securities industry has been moving Wall Street to Boca Raton for one week every year since the early 1970s.
Naturally, when captains of industry gather, they insist on fine dining, and at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, they get it with a variety of eateries.
The best of them is probably Nick's Fishmarket, a top-shelf, hoity-toity restaurant that specializes in fresh seafood indigenous to Florida.
The resort itself is gaudy yet elegant, old yet stately, and is to Boca Raton what the Capitol is to Washington -- a monument to the city's character.
Located in Palm Beach County, Boca Raton is a refuge for the wealthy who don't care for Miami's mix of salsa and nouveau riche, yet who can't quite afford Palm Beach.
Residents are mostly well-to-do retirees who enjoy shopping around Mizner's Park, a ritzy stretch of real estate reserved for the trendiest merchants and their high-tax-bracket patrons.
But for those escaping from frostier climes, the Boca Raton Resort & Club is an aesthetic paradise -- a "10" on the creature-comfort scale and an ideal place for conducting business.
Magnificently spread out over 356 acres, the property's architecture is a blend of Spanish-Mediterranean, Moorish and Gothic influences.
The hub of the resort contains 338 of the property's total 963 rooms. The Cloister rooms feature breathtaking views of elegant gardens that provide a stylish backdrop for the many antiques and fountains, which sparkle at night like a year-round holiday showcase.
As the nerve center of the Boca Raton Resort & Club, the Cloister is usually brimming with activity. Shops and an aviary, which has a collection of colorful birds that will make your kids' mouths drop, keep people moving at a purposeful pace.
The concierge staff, while helpful, is often busy and backed up, so patience is necessary if you require assistance.
Off to the side of the Cloister is one of the resort's five swimming pools, which boasts a splendid view of the adjacent Intracoastal Waterway and features a bar that specialty alcoholi beverages. It is as dreamy as it sounds. |
