Acqualina Resort & Residences on the Beach

Acqualina Resort & Residences on the Beach sits at 17875 Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, roughly midway up the city’s stretch of oceanfront towers. Unlike most of its towering neighbors, Acqualina is not flying the flag of a national hotel company. It is an independently owned and operated property, developed and still overseen by members of the ownership family, Stephanie, Jules and Eddie Trump, who are not related to the former United States president, a point the resort itself addresses given the name overlap. The resort belongs to Leading Hotels of the World, a marketing consortium for independent luxury properties, rather than any franchise system, which is part of why it reads differently from the branded high rises lining the rest of Collins Avenue.

The property is intentionally scaled down compared to its high rise neighbors, with roughly 100 guestrooms and suites rather than the 300 plus room counts common along this stretch. Guestrooms come with king beds and private terraces, while one bedroom and multi bedroom suites add full gourmet kitchens with sub zero refrigeration, separate living rooms, and in some cases jacuzzi whirlpool tubs. Interiors were designed by Miami based designer Isabel Tragash around a Mediterranean palette of zebra wood, walnut, champagne bronze and smoked glass, and every room includes an espresso machine and a marble bathroom with a glass enclosed shower.

The spa is one of the property’s defining features, a 20,000 square foot, Forbes Five Star facility with eleven oceanfront treatment rooms, a crystal steam room, a Finnish sauna, a cold plunge pool, Himalayan salt lounges, and a heated Roman waterfall pool. It is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and accepts outside guests in addition to hotel guests, which is not universal among the resorts nearby. A small retail boutique inside the spa carries resort wear from brands including Vilebrequin and Miguelina.

Acqualina has collected a long run of accolades for a property its size, including fourteen consecutive Forbes Five Star Awards and AAA Five Diamond recognition, and it was named Best Hotel and Best Resort in the Continental United States by U.S. News and World Report for 2026. Those ratings track with the general feel of the place, a smaller, more personal operation than the condo hotel towers around it, with a level of finish that leans toward hospitality rather than real estate.

Check in is at 4 p.m. and check out is at noon, with a minimum check in age of 21, and early check in is handled case by case depending on occupancy, with changing facilities available for guests arriving early or departing late. Dogs up to 25 pounds are welcome in pet friendly rooms, an amenity not every luxury property in the area offers. For travelers who want a genuinely independent oceanfront stay in Sunny Isles Beach, rather than a room inside a branded tower, Acqualina remains one of the few properties on this stretch of Collins Avenue that fits the description, and its consistency in the annual awards circuit suggests the ownership group has kept a close hand on day to day standards rather than handing the operation to an outside management company.