With a new flag and focus on luxury, St. Pete's historic Vinoy enters a new era
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Apr 6, 2023

Downtown St. Petersburg's luxury waterfront resort has entered a new era — and it boasts a new flag to mark the occasion.

The Vinoy Resort and Golf Club was rebranded with the Autograph Collection flag on Wednesday, one day ahead of a media event to highlight the renovation of the 354-key historic property. The initial renovations began shortly after an investment group led by Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-owner Bryan Glazer purchased the hotel in 2018. Rockwell Group and Hart Howerton led the design of the renovation.

Revealing the renovations and the rebrand mark a shift in the resort's business mindset. Luxury events and leisure travel are the focus, and general manager Vanessa Williams said her team is being more selective about the events it will host and ensuring that they “really do fit the environment.”

“I think we’ve reached the crossroads of stepping into elevating service,” Williams told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “We now have the physical aspect, the bricks and mortar are incredible, but it really now is going to be the soft side of what we do and the service delivery. The team has worked incredibly hard over the last year, so we’ve been transitioning to this point.”

The Vinoy property includes a tennis center, a 72-slip marina, more than 60,000 square feet of event space and — once the last few renovations are complete — it will offer six different dining and bar amenities. On Snell Isle, the Vinoy runs an 18-hole golf course.

The renovations bring the Vinoy “back to its original elegance," said Jeff Silva, senior sales executive. The hotel was originally built for luxury leisure travelers. The renovations — including activating the veranda, refining the grand lobby, creating multiple restaurant and bar options, adding a new spa and wellness area and renovating the rooms and ballrooms — brings the resort back to that target audience.

Williams said she thinks St. Pete is ready for the resort's next chapter. Her goal is to make the Vinoy and St. Pete a global destination for luxury travel.

Williams said the hotel will open the veranda patio in the next few weeks and will soon finish Parasol, a Latin American-inspired outdoor restaurant. In August, the renovation of the hotel’s fine dining restaurant will begin with the goal of it being complete by the end of the year.

Approximately 200 boutique hotels worldwide are part of the Autograph Collection — including the food-and-wine-themed Epicurean in South Tampa.

“There is an audible ‘wow’ when people walk in,” Williams said. “I think the sensitivity of the restoration to make it still feel like the Vinoy, but just at a whole different level.”