W Fort Lauderdale and W South Beach have weathered the storm that hit the tourism sector during their first year in business.   Though they opened at a brutal time for the market – April 2009 for the 517-room W Fort Lauderdale and July for the 408-room W South Beach – their owners say the luxury properties are doing just fine.

“Business is doing very well, considering the economics we’ve had,” said John Yanopoulos, CEO of Miami-based DYL Group, the properties’ developer. “We’ve exceeded in our first year what we thought we’d have in average daily rates and occupancy rates. We were looking around, thinking that if we got 30 percent to 40 percent, we’d be lucky.”    Read more: W luxury hotels ‘doing very well’ in Fort Lauderdale, South Beach – South Florida Business Journal…  ED/DD – that is view from stair looking through pool.  cool..