Unique Properties - Renaissance Vinoy Resort
My wife and I enjoy period preserved architecture along with the history behind it and make it a point to visit those places when we travel. When we first visited this local property a number of years ago we were taken with the way they preserved the property to its 1920’s look. The Vinoy is on the national historical property list. When we go to downtown St. Pete we always make it a point to go over to the Vinoy.
Another aspect of the hotel which is intriguing to us is that it's on the “ghost tour” list in St. Petersburg. We have enjoyed the ghost tours in New Orleans and the rumors of the hotel being haunted gives it a certain intrigue. The hotel sports an excellent restaurant and pool-side Tiki grill which are open to the public, or you can just enjoy a great afternoon or early evening drink in a rocking chair on their front porch overlooking the downtown marina and bay. It is a great place to people watch--and being a “high-end” property, you never know who you might see in the lobby or at one of the bars!
More About the Renaissance Vinoy Resort from Wikipedia
Known as “the Pink Lady” in high society circles the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, Fl was built in 1925 by Aymer Vinoy Laughner. Construction began on February 5 and took 10 months to complete. The hotel was a seasonal hotel open from around December to March. Rates were $20.00 a night, the highest in the area at that time. The hotel was a popular destination for celebrities and influential people such as Calvin Coolidge, Babe Ruth, Admiral Byrd, Herbert Hoover, Alf Landon, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Fleischmanns, the Pillsburys, the Biddles of Philadelphia, the Smiths, of Smith Corona, James Stewart, and President John F. Kennedy.
During World War II the hotel was taken over by the U.S. Army and used for a training school. The hotel was sold to Charles Alberding after the war for $700,000.00. The hotel continued to prosper for the next couple decades. In 1974 the Vinoy closed its doors and sold most of its contents. The hotel became a haven for vagrants until the early 1990s when it was bought by a partnership between Renaissance Hotel and Resorts and the Vinoy Development Corporation. A $93,000,000.00 renovation was undertaken and in 2 years the Vinoy reopened as an almost perfect replica of its former self.
In 2005, the Vinoy earned AAA Four-Diamond status. This is a most magnificent water front hotel with over –the top amenities or just a great place to visit on a lazy Saturday afternoon, sit in a rocker on the front veranda sipping your favorite drink, people watching, marveling at the architecture and feeling the energy that has remained over the past 85 years along with the spirits that are part of the Ghost Stories of St. Petersburg.
