FS and RC are both out of the way, just stay at The Breakers.

Interestingly, the hotel has rates as low as $299 over the Christmas holidays.

I just booked a Partial Ocean-View, inclusive of FHR amenities, for $349 a night. Extremely, extremely reasonable. The one strange thing, the 50-day cancellation policy. I appreciate that its a busy time and that they'll almost definitely sell out. However, why are they selling rooms at what are only mildly above summer rates?

Either way, it works out, as I need to be in Palm Beach just before Christmas and the Four Seasons is all of 500 yards from the friends I'm visiting.

Something to read carefully if you intend to book over the holidays, though.

i have never understood the rates at this property, which seems to operate a very dramatic dynamic pricing policy. If you do a search for a room, literally one day difference either way can make a big difference in price for the entire stay.

Just as an example, take a 14 night stay in a partial ocean-view room:

arrival on 15 Feb gives a rate of $779,
16 Feb = $699,
18 Feb is back to $779,
19 Feb drops to $599
24 Feb is even lower at $499
28 Feb back to $599.

These prices apply to every night of the stay, so arriving on 19 Feb rather than 18 Feb would save $2520 for essentially the same stay in the same room. When it comes to suites, the price differential is even larger (as much as $1500 savings per night for some dates).

Anyone have any idea what is going on here? The prices are not blended rates, and I doubt it can be supply and demand as the price on the arrival date applies to every night of the whole stay.

I have never noticed this at any other hotel, most of which have clear peak, off-peak and shoulder seasons, (and specials of course). Maybe it exists but the differences are more subtle?

I can only presume that the daily variations do in fact make a large difference in terms of occupancy. Let's assume that 18 Feb is part of a school holiday in which every school in the New York Area is off (for those of you unfamiliar with the dynamic, a large number of New York families tend to vacation in Palm Beach). Thus, the hotel runs close to capacity on the Thus-Sat of that long weekend, but begins to clear out on Sunday.

I can't understand why it would affect the whole stay, and not just fluctuate on a daily basis. Nevertheless, I'm not going to complain too much about $350 a night the week before Christmas.

FWIW - the third weekend in February is Presidents' Day Weekend. There are several big events that weekend - including the Miami Beach Boat Show (huge big deal) - the Coconut Grove Arts Festival - perhaps some others. It's a good weekend to avoid south Florida unless you're planning on attending one of these special events. Robyn

Have an upcoming stay here soon. I've only stayed in the South building before--does anyone have any advice regarding rooms to request or positions within the hotel? The main building premier rooms seem nice but I worry about noise from the pool below as well as adjacent families in rooms nearby.

I am currently booked in a partial-ocean view, and the hotel is selling both oceanview and premier a day before my stay. Hopefully they're reasonable with upgrades.


Thanks!

The Premier rooms get no more pool or neighbor noise than the rooms in the wings which also face the pool.

Regarding upgrades, did you book via FHR or a fspp agent? Pm me if you didn't but would like some thoughts.

We just completed an 8 night stay at the FS Palm Beach. This was our fourth trip and it just keeps getting better. This trip we had an oceanfront suite and connecting pov for the kids (rooms 2651/2652 in North building, I prefer the North building as you can go directly down to spa with steam and amazing showers). The views from the ocean front suite are fantastic! Although, I wish they would replace the patio flooring and furniture on the balconies. They could use an upgrade.

For us with kids 8, 6 and 2.5 this hotel is ideal at the end of March. Perfect weather, great beach, nice pool and wonderful kids club. My kids love the kids club at this FS and they even let us leave our 2.5 year old since she was potty trained.

The pool service was really improved on this trip. After our first day, we had the same 4 chairs waiting for us every morning (tip well!). They circulated oranges, grapes, smoothies, snow cones, chilled towels, Evian sprays, sunglass cleaning. Excellent pool service and much improved over our last trip in 2011.

All restaurants were great and service was outstanding.

The only problem with the hotel is that the rates are going up. For this trip we had the oceanfront suite for $1,500 per night and the pov connector for $499. Looking for next year already, the suite is $2,500 and pov connector $749.

We may consider the premier ocean with ocean connector, but I really love the views from the suites!

Looks like it's been a while since anyone visited (and posted), thought I would share a few thoughts from our visit in June.

Why did we choose the Four Seasons Palm Beach?

Primarily, we were lured in by a few promos - 4th night free, $150 off $800 Amex statement credit, and booking via FHR which yielded $100 spa credit, early check-in, room upgrade, and late check out. Also, the kids for all seasons program was something that attracted us [as opposed to Ritz or Breakers] due to its liberal hours (9 to 5) and cost (free!).

Check-in: unfortunately they weren't able to accommodate us with the 1pm early check-in benefit, but by 3pm the room was available.

Room: we booked a garden (lowest category) and were upgraded to partial ocean - which was more of a pool view. The room itself was quite spacious, with plenty of room for a pack-n-play for our infant. Bathroom was large and overall the room itself was in excellent condition as you would expect.

Pool: you'll read it over and over again in other review, the pool is just too small. The deck area has plenty of chairs that are fairly tightly packed in, though we never encountered enough people to fill all the chair. The pool attendants are great though - waters, sunglasses cleaning, small cups of smoothie or fruit are constant through the day. The pool bar is great, but the prices are absurd. $16-20 for a mixed cocktail or frozen drink is just silly. We're from Miami so we expect expensive cocktails, but we paid less for drinks in the Maldives than in Palm Beach. Something not quite right about that. Poolside food service was great though - everything we had was hot, fresh and in good quantity.

Breakfast at the hotel restaurant was excellent. They have a great buffet spread which we were able to use for our "free breakfast" under the FHR deal, or a la carte.

Kids for all seasons: This was great, our daughter (5), loved it. It's 9 to 5 and free. We didn't end up leaving her there all day long though, as there were actually no other kids around. They have a variety of activities planned, as well as arts/crafts. They will also feed them if you want, otherwise you can get them for lunch and then take them back.

Overall we had a really good stay at the FS Palm Beach and would certainly recommend it for families. Any questions, feel free.

Thanks for the review! It is indeed a great hotel, and I'm happy to hear it's still holding up.

Stayed there last year. Definitely not five star quality. Poor rooms. Crowded. Mediocre service. Food ordinary.

This property remains my favorite in Palm Beach.

Here is a review from last year. http://sitinfirst.com/2015/06/four-s...efined-choice/

Any updates on this location? Choosing between this and Breakers. Traveling with a 2yo.

They finished a large renovation since these last 2016 posts.....more connecting rooms and the pool terrace rooms which are great for families.
If the Breakers is close in cost, I might still give it the edge.

Yeah, Breakers is more expensive. Also those Terrace rooms at the 4 seasons was what I was looking to book, so we can hop back and forth to the pool. Thanks for the reno info.