Secret hotels DJs, Cocktails, and Velvet Ropes All Have Their Place–in a Nightclub

South Beach has seen it all. The 1.7-square-mile strip in Miami Beach has more than 125 hotels, most of which are art deco gems from the 1920s and ’30s. In the 1940s, when it was a virtual military base, many hotels were converted into barracks and training facilities. By the 1980s, there was enough questionable activity to form the backdrop for Miami Vice. Today, things have come full circle, and then some—the neighborhood is a full-fledged hotspot. South Beach still has the country’s largest collection of art deco buildings, and the owners of these five hotels intend to keep it that way.

Thirteen years ago, Lisa and Pascal Nicolle bought the Villa apartment complex at Collins Avenue and 14th Street. The couple, who had previously made a living flipping residential properties in Miami, gave the place a dressy new name, Villa ...