How this new resort in South Florida is giving guests a different vibe. Take a look
A just-opened luxury resort on the ocean is in many ways a typical South Florida story. An immigrant reaches the shores of the United States, builds a new life, starts a family business, goes into real estate.
But this story has a key difference: The family hails from the East.
Behind Amrit Ocean Resort, which opened on May 15, is Dilip Barot, originally from Gujarat, India, and his family. They say they’re looking to set a new standard in wellness and mindfulness. And while they are in a competitive hotel market, they expect to lure the locals from Broward County and Miami-Dade as well as out-of-towners.
“At least around 50% to 60% of our guests will be from South Florida,” estimated Shama Barot, co-founder of Amrit and one of Dilip’s daughters. “Especially during summer.”
The 19-story resort, just north of West Palm Beach in the city of Riviera Beach, spans over seven oceanfront acres, or more than seven NFL football fields, and has 155 guest rooms including 25 suites. It also offers 40 luxury two-bedroom villas, each which has views of the Atlantic and Intracoastal.
MORE: Peloton in your hotel room? Lobby co-working? Free booze? See new places to stay in Miami
Amrit, which in Sanskrit means the nectar of immortality and was conceived by the family two decades ago, features a four-story indoor and outdoor spa and wellness center. Amrit incorporates European, Indian and Chinese wellness traditions, and plans to include an indoor-outdoor hydrothermal water therapy circuit.
The resort will initially stand on five pillars: nutrition, mindfulness, sleep, fitness and relaxation.
Amrit, which has faced delays, has three restaurants open, run by executive chef Simon Apollonio. One of them, TULĀ, combines South Florida coastal cuisine with influences from the Mediterranean and Japan, and focuses on vegetable-based dishes. Later this summer, AYRE will open as an entirely vegan restaurant, drawing inspiration from Ayurveda, an ancient form of medicine in India.
When the Barots left the old country, it was never certain that things would work out in America for her father and mother, recalls Shama Barot. First, in New Jersey, they worked excruciating hours at a small motel for little pay.
“They did everything and anything necessary to manage a small motel property for someone else,” said Shama Barot, 35, describing her parents’ hardscrabble lives then.
They then moved to Palm Beach County about 40 years ago. Dilip Barot borrowed to buy an 18-room motel over the bridge from Singer Island. He then bought other motels.
Later, he also faced lawsuits from former colleagues and questions over a possible role in a dilapidated low-income housing complex in Opa-locka called Glorieta Gardens Apartments. That building and its conditions were uncovered by a Miami Herald investigation in 2018.
Immigrants from Gujarat, India, the home of Dilip Barot, are known for running or owning motels across the United States — at least 20% by some estimates — and often in the most remote towns. Recall the 1991 film “Mississippi Masala” starring Denzel Washington. Some even joke of a “Patel Motel Cartel,” referring to the more common last name held by them.
Dilip Barot’s ambitions are bigger. His family also influenced their plans. Shama Barot wanted to go into hospitality and took a job at the front desk of the Fontainebleau Hotel on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, and worked through the ranks there. She later got an MBA at the Wharton School of Business.
“My mother, my father, my sister and myself — we all got [to this project] in different ways,” she said.
Ultimately though, “as a family, we were truly inspired — especially my sister and I — by the notion of being able to bring together our modern American upbringing with our ancient inner practices from the East.”
That’s the motivation behind Amrit.
“We really wanted to blend the two cultures,” she said.
The resort is managed by Highgate. S&E Architects and Bilkey Llinas Design did the architecture and interior design, respectively.
Here’s what else to know about the new resort:
Meetings
▪ 10,000 square feet of indoor meeting space
▪ On site catering
▪ Restaurant spaces available for event use
Rooms
▪ Floor-to-ceiling windows
▪ Luxury bath salts, soaps and scrubs
▪ Custom spa robes and slippers
▪ In-room dining
▪ Wellness mini bars
Wellness & Spa Facility
▪ 25 treatment rooms, 12 of which include in-room showers
▪ 2 deluxe couples suites with private steam showers
▪ Thai massage room
▪ Lemi professional massage tables
▪ Health assessments in personal wellness, Bio-Well energy flow, metabolic fitness
▪ 3500-square-foot fitness center with nearly 30 classes
▪ Aayush hydrotherapy circuit (indoor-outdoor hydrothermal water therapy) starting this summer
▪ Infusion therapy in an IV Lounge led by Dr. Ara Suppiah, an emergency room physician and chief wellness officer for the Florida Emergency Physicians
Behind the scenes at the resort
Shama Barot spoke to the Miami Herald last week about their new resort. Here is a Q & A:
Q: You are in a competitive market. What makes the resort unique?
A: Amrit is truly unlike any other experience we’ve seen on the entire eastern seaboard, and especially in South Florida. We are the next-generation, premier, luxury, wellness destination.
Q: What do you mean by next-generation destination?
A: We combine ancient and modern practices, enhanced by modern technology. Today it’s all about personalization. One of the most unique offerings at Amrit is our personalized wellness support system (PWSS). It is a patented virtual application that provides guests with a three-step process. It takes guests on a journey through Amrit’s five pillars with three key touch points: a personalized wellness coach, a personalized wellness road map, and a personalized wellness assistant. (PWSS is a mobile app available on iPhone and Android. Guests are given access to a virtual assistant via text, chat, email, and video. The PWSS is compatible with other wellness platforms or apps like Viome, Vessel, Bio-Well and Oura Ring.)
Q: How does it work?
A: Our personalized wellness support system actually starts before you arrive. You have a detailed 50 question form you work through ahead of time. Then you connect with your personalized wellness coach before you even come in. Let’s say you wanted to do a biotest. We would ship a kit over to you so you could take the test and have the results here before you come, so two weeks prior. Then when you come in, we may decide you do really well with your mindfulness but here’s where we think you might want to hone in based on the data we got back. Now we set you up with our on-site experts for nutrition, energy flow, or metabolic fitness.
Q. Can someone come to the resort just to relax?
A: At the end of the day, we are just as much a beautiful oceanfront destination where sometimes, somebody’s wellness is just being at such a place or sitting by the pool over the weekend. It’s very much wellness your way. We’re not here to tell you that you need to do a lifestyle overhaul and you must change these habits. It’s about supporting you and personalized wellness. However, that will be the majority of those coming to the resort. We do find that when you’re surrounded by certain people, sometimes you’re inspired to take a different step or make an adjustment or look at things from a different lens.
Q: Miami or South Florida is not known for having a populous Asian or Indian community. What’s that been like personally or from a business perspective?
A: I think it highlights the essence of what we’re trying to create at Amrit. We can all get behind this notion of wanting to live happier, healthier, longer lives. That transcends, regardless of community. Despite our differences, we have similarities, and that’s what brings us together.
Reservations
▪ To make reservations, visit Amrit Ocean Resort’s website or call 844-692-6748
▪ For more information on room types and wellness club membership, go to the resort website at amritocnean.com.
