Axel Beach Hotel on South Beach is closing its doors for good on March 31.
The LGBTQ hotel had become some sort of competition for the other gay hotel “down the block” (Hotel Gaythering) with its monthly pool parties and weekly karaoke with drag entertainer CC Glitzer.
The closure of another LGBTQ business on South Beach is quite a devastating blow for the community. SoBe was once hustling and bustling with a variety of gay bars and clubs — its heyday from the 1990s to the mid 2000s. With Axel’s closing, gay SoBe nightlife only has Twist, Nathan’s Beach Club, Gaythering and Palace (which though still gay has become mostly a tourist attraction).
“It is unfortunate to lose another gay venue,” said LGBTQ nightlife promoter Edison Farrow. “It seemed that they were always struggling. I have been to their other locations, which are very successful.”
Touted as the first brand hotel focused on the LGBTQ community, Axel Beach Miami — South Beach showed a lot of promise when it opened in 2020 at the site of the former Haddon Hall. The 159-room hotel included a restaurant, bar, fitness center, spa and a sky bar terrace with a swimming pool.
“We are more than a brand, we’re a cause,” Axel Hotels founder and president Juan Julià told South Florida Business Journal in 2019 when the South Beach location was still in development. “Now, more than ever, we’re excited to introduce Axel Beach Miami in naturally luxurious destinations worldwide and continue our mission of building a new place of preference for the LGBTQI community with a hetero-friendly philosophy.”
In 2022, Axel Hotels launched a marketing campaign specifically for its first and only U.S. property to date. The campaign — Unleash All of You — was created to engage and to create a deeper connection with the local South Florida community, while positioning the hotel as a fun local adult playground, beyond just a place for tourists to spend the night.
“We opened our Miami Beach location right before the pandemic started, so we haven’t had a chance to really connect with our community,” Silvia Pérez Viñolas, Axel Hotel’s Marketing & Communications Director, told Vacationer Magazine in 2022. “Our brand is very well known in Europe, but we’ve just recently entered the American market. That’s why we decided to create this brand awareness campaign so that our locals know they have a safe space to socialize, relax, have fun, be who they want to be, and unleash it all. This is what our hotels have become for our community in the rest of the world and what we want for our first American location while staying true to the local culture.”
In 2003, the first Axel Hotel was created. Julià founded Axel Hotel Barcelona, an open and cosmopolitan hotel, which appeared in an environment of dark rooms and closed closets. This was the first step of a project that arrived unreservedly, with a desire to change things.
“We did not design a hotel to then add inclusive values,” said Julià (on the hotel’s website). “We were born that way, as a meeting place designed by and for LGBTQIA people, where there are rooms and one can sleep. Or do whatever one fancies.”
With the opening of Axel Hotel Buenos Aires in 2007, and just afterwards in Berlin, Germany in 2009, the company made the international leap and began an expansion process that would introduce its way of being an outlook to other parts of the world.
“The response was amazing. So much so that to meet demand, we then had to open new hotels in Barcelona and Berlin, because the community asked us for more,” Julià said. “We realized that we were not building hotels. We were building places without prejudice. Spaces where things happened. And above all, a family that grew year after year.”
In 2013, Axel Beach Maspalomas was created in Gran Canaria, the first sun and sea hotel. After the success of the first hotel, Axel Two Barcelona was created in 2015. To respond to demand, Axel Two Berlin opened in 2017. Axel Beach Ibiza and Axel Beach Madrid were also created. In 2019, Axel Hotel San Sebastián opened its doors in the Basque Country, and Axel Hotel Venezia was created in Italy.
In 2020, Axel Hotels crossed the pond again and opened its first and only United States location to date, Axel Beach Miami – South Beach. Shortly afterwards, in 2022, Axel Hotels arrived in Cuba and opened Telégrafo Axel Hotel La Habana. In 2024, Axel Hotel Bilbao opened on the banks of the estuary. In 2025, future openings are planned in Valencia and Porto.
“There are still many cities on our wish list. And we will continue growing for all people who feel different. Because in reality we form part of something much bigger,” Julià said.
Touted as their “Last Dance,” Axel Beach Miami – South Beach has been hosting weekly pool parties every Sunday in March. DJs Cesar Romero, David Nazar, Mike Trotter and Aural Fixationz deejayed on March 2, March 9, March 16 and March 23, respectively. The last pool party on March 30 will be deejayed by Dj Maykel Moreira.
A Facebook post on the hotel’s page states: “Glow, slay, repeat! This is our last dance Miami…Closing soon, but let’s make it wild!”
Free tickets for the event has sold out.
Published with permission from miamilgbtnews.wordpress.com.
