$24M Zota Beach Resort to open Dec. 1 on Longboat Key

Luxury operates under new name on Longboat Key

Zota Beach Resort, the newest luxury beach resort on Longboat Key, will open for business Dec. 1.

Operating under the new name at the site of the former Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort, Zota Beach Resort is now taking reservations.

The hotel was developed under the Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties' Opal Collection.

Ocean Properties Vice President Mark Walsh said the great location on Longboat Key sets the estimated $24 million project up for success.

“It already has a longstanding reputation as a great place to vacation on a great beach,” Walsh said. “What we’ve done is you’ve got a new hotel being built on a location that has been there for a long time in the hotel business. It’s well established. With the history of this location, there’s already a built-up clientele that has been going there years and years.

“Now with it being completely new and refreshed. I think it will work great as an independent resort.”

Zota room rates will range from a minimum of $269 a night to a maximum of $539, according to the company website at zotabeachresort.com.

Walsh said demand for rooms is tougher to gauge these days as people don’t book as far in advance as previously done.

“(Booking times are) getting shorter and shorter,” he said.

The new resort is still expected to be a customer magnet. The draw of a refreshed operation will be indisputable, he said.

“We’re very confident this location will be a big improvement to what was there,” Walsh said. “I think it’s probably a combination of things. The location is really nice and everything on the Key is beautiful.

“The fact is this will be the first new hotel on the Key in many years. Whenever you build something new in a great location, it not only energizes that property, but it provides a spark for people to come visit the Key and provides new exposure to Longboat Key businesses.”

In June 2014, the Hilton flag was removed from the property before construction began on the new resort, which will feature a new 84-room hotel tower in addition to a renovated 103-room hotel on-site.

The project also calls for a new lobby, pool and pool area, restaurant and wine bar and 2,758 feet of meeting space.

“Ocean Properties will run the restaurant as well as the wine bar,” Roy Padgett, general manager of the Zota Beach Resort, wrote in an email.

Walsh said details on restaurant and wine bar offerings are not yet available.

He pointed to Opal Sands Resort on Clearwater Beach as an example of what customers can expect when Zota opens its new wine bar and restaurant operations.

“It will be a neighborhood restaurant where they can feel comfortable and support it,” Walsh said. “The Opal Sands Restaurant in the new hotel draws 50% locals who love the menu and the new product.”

He said the wine bar would be an upbeat, stylized place.

“People will enjoy going to a new place where it’s convenient to pull in and park and eat right there,” Walsh said.

Ocean Properties submitted plans to Longboat Key in September 2014 and received approval for 85 additional tourism units.

The company owns more than 100 hotels, including the Resort at Longboat Key Club, which it purchased in 2012. Other area hotels it owns include Lido Beach Holiday Inn, Lido Beach Resort and Sandcastle Resort at Lido Beach.

Walsh said the newest addition promises to enliven the Longboat Key luxury resort scene.

“I can’t wait for it to open,” Walsh said.