Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, is right on schedule to open in Puerto Rico in mid-December as the hotel company's second Reserve, joining Phulay Bay on the Thai island of Krabi, which opened in December 2009.
The Reserve brand is Ritz-Carlton's highest tier of luxury properties.
Dorado already has name recognition. In 1958, hotelier Laurance S. Rockefeller introduced the beachfront Dorado Beach Hotel and Golf Club on the grounds of a former 1,400-acre grapefruit and coconut plantation.
Dorado Beach Hotel was one of three Caribbean properties that early on made up the RockResorts brand, Rockefeller's resort management company, which was sold years later to the railroad company CSX and acquired by Vail Resorts in 2001.
The original hotel later became a Hyatt and remained so until it closed more than six years ago.
Ritz-Carlton is reconstructing Rockefeller's original resort, tapping into historical influences and Rockefeller's concern for the protection of nature.
The Reserve will open as a low-rise, low-density hotel of three-story buildings on the footprint of the original hotel.
Reservations books will open on Aug. 1.
Dorado Beach will include 100 guestrooms, 14 one-bedroom suites and the restored Su Casa five-bedroom plantation hacienda that dates from the 1920s.
"All rooms will be oceanfront, literally seconds from the beach, and 70% of them will have plunge pools," said General Manager Alejandro Helbling.
Check-in will be handled in the rooms, and guests will be assigned a personal concierge to handle requests, arrangements and reservations.
"Guests will not be dealing with three to four different staff members during their stay," Helbling said. "They will have one person who will deliver room service and whatever else they need. We want to personalize their stay with us as much as possible."
The resort will include the five-acre Spa Botanico with 12 treatment rooms plus two built in treehouse style; three miles of beach; walking trails; a fitness center; three restaurants, including one headed by Spanish chef Jose Andres; and Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ambassadors of the Environment program for families.
Three 18-hole golf courses currently are open, including the recently renovated East Course.
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