LATEST ISSUE OF PRIDE LIFE MAGAZINE
Go travelling with Pride Life
Vienna waits for you
Curaçao, the gem of the Caribbean
24 hours in Chicago
A perfect escape in Tasmania
Come to the cabaret in Berlin, old chum
Gay travel in Thailand outside Bangkok
The boutique hotel which opened up Paris
Simply the best in Zûrich
Gay cruising on the Mediterranean
San Francisco opens its golden gates
GAY TRAVEL
There's really never been a better time to take advantage of some of the great gay travel and gay holiday deals on offer from Pride Life's gay-friendly partners. And don’t forget – we give a percentage of all our profits to selected gay charities.
THE TIDES SOUTH BEACH, MIAMI
I've stayed in a lot of hotels, and it's taken me a long time to recognise what makes the difference between a great hotel and a really magnificent hotel.
Having just returned from a truly indulgent weekend at The Tides South Beach Miami I now know the difference!
A great hotel has beautiful rooms – with all the sexy little extras (Molton Brown, Nespresso coffee machine, Sonos digital music technology) that your heart may desire.
A great hotel is housed in a wonderful building, in a good location (The Tides is housed in an art deco masterpiece next to The Palace, the most outlandish gay bar in Florida overlooking the 12th Street gay beach on Ocean Drive).
A great hotel has an understated but fantastic restaurant and a place to sip cocktails while watching the world pass by (and boy, does the world pass by on Ocean Drive!)
So, what makes The Tides a truly magnificent hotel?
The most wonderful service from the most gorgeous staff that I have ever encountered. All customer-facing staff at The Tides have a CSI Miami-like earpiece and mike which means that they communicate invisibly to each other in order to meet your needs.
We arrived in a taxi – a young guy, looking fabulous, greeted me with what came across as genuine pleasure, took my luggage and asked my name.
As we approached the lobby, Heidi, our dedicated personal assistant welcomed me with a “Mr James, I wondered where you had got to!”
Heidi then showed us to our room, sorted out our complimentary cocktails and was on hand seemingly night and day to pamper to our whims. Equally perfect service gushed from the restaurant and the bar.
Don't get me wrong, this is not the tacky 'have a nice day' superficiality that the American service sector is (in)famous for. This is service from a team of people who seem genuinely interested in each guest as an individual: staff who are happy to strike up an interesting conversation or leave you alone, if that's what you prefer.
The Tides is a magnificent hotel. It's the biggest cliché in the world but we didn't want to leave and boy, are we going back!
THE TIDES SOUTH BEACH 1220 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, Florida 33139 Reservations 800 439 4095 Telephone +1 305 604 5070 http://www.tidessouthbeach.com/
Average room rates for The Tides South Beach range from USD300 to USD7,000 per night, exclusive of tax and services charges
All of our Pride Life partners have been carefully selected by the Travel Team at Pride Life for their gay policies. However, if you are dissatisfied with the service you receive, in the first instance please contact travel@pridelife.co.uk with details of your concerns.