- The $24 cocktail comes complete with a rolled ‘banknote’ and a stylized ‘glitter’ crystal wrapper at the Miami Standard hotel.
- The boutique hotel where rooms cost up to $826 a night bills itself less as a hotel and more as an adults-only spa with rooms
- But he has been accused of glamorizing drug use in a state where more than 2,000 people die from cocaine overdoses a year.
A boutique hotel founded by famed hotelier Andre Balasz is cynically marketing a cocaine-style cocktail to its high-end clientele in a state where the drug kills more than 2,400 people a year from overdoses alone.
The Standard Hotel Miami Beach launched its Belle Isle Bump with an Instagram post this afternoon, complete with a rolled “banknote” and a stylized wrapper of “sparkling” crystals.
Rooms at the city’s only adults-only hotel cost up to $826 a night and is billed as “less of a hotel and more of a spa with adults-only rooms.”
Some of her 184,000 Instagram followers called the post “crazy,” while others described it as “cheesy as hell.”
“This is almost embarrassing,” one wrote, “actually, it’s just embarrassing.”
The Belle Isle Bump complete with a rolled “banknote” and a stylized wrapper of “sparkling” crystals
The Standard Hotel in Miami Beach bills itself as “less of a hotel and more of an adults-only spa with rooms”
Chairman Amar Lalvani has aggressively expanded the brand with plans for stores in Thailand, Portugal, Ireland and Belgium.
The hotel is part of the chain founded in 1998 by the Massachusetts business magnate, whose dates include actress Uma Thurman, comedian Chelsey Handler and Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue.
But since 2019 it has been led by president Amar Lalvani, who has aggressively expanded the brand with plans to open outlets in Thailand, Portugal, Ireland and Belgium.
The hotel describes the drink as “blended with nocheluna sotol, blackberry liqueur, rosemary and lemon… plus a little edible glitter.”
The $24 drink is on the menu along with $140 tequila glasses and $800 champagne flutes at the venue’s Monterrey bar, which opened in 2021 after the hotel closed during the pandemic.
“Light, indulgent dishes are designed to pair with the select beverage menu, reflecting the cool, dark style of speakeasy Monterrey Bar,” it states.
An Instagram video of the drink shows a bartender making it with the caption “Do you need a pick me up?”
The United States recorded more than 110,000 drug overdose deaths in 2022 after increasing 45 percent between 2019 and 2021, according to the CDC.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged to use deadly force against drug cartel members smuggling drugs across the southern border during his presidential campaign.
And Mexican drug gangs now operate as far north as Montana, which is now the second most “addicted” state in the union, according to a report last week.
Drug overdoses are the third leading cause of death among children, behind gun violence and car accidents, and fentanyl alone kills the equivalent of a class of middle school children each week.
Meanwhile, cities across the United States have been emptied by residents and businesses fleeing open-air drug markets.
Office vacancy rates hit a record 34 percent last year as shops were pushed out of the city center by rising crime and economists warn the city is entering a spiral of urban doom.
The hotel’s exclusive Monterrey Bar where the $24 cocktail is served
The hotel is part of the chain founded in 1998 by business magnate Andre Balasz, whose dates include actress Uma Thurman, comedian Chelsey Handler and Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue.
Balasz left the company in 2017 and now has outlets in New York and Los Angeles.
The iconic Miami Beach building is one of the oldest in the city and previously housed the Lido Spa.
San Francisco’s massive Westfield shopping center is now 75 percent empty after more than 100 stores closed, reducing the center’s value by more than $1 billion since 2016.
The city recorded a 25 percent increase in overdose deaths last year to 813, the worst on record, and another 66 died in the first month of 2024.
Earlier this month, the city’s Democratic mayor, London Breed, announced plans for “aggressive” public safety proposals that would require thousands of single adults on welfare to be tested for addiction to illegal drugs or lose their assistance in cash.
It’s just the latest attempt to address the wave of addiction that has caused a spike in crime in the Golden Gate City and has seen its Tenderloin district dubbed the “Million Dollar Mile” by Honduran drug traffickers.
Every state has seen an increase in drug overdose deaths over the past year.