History - St. Pete Beach Suites Hotel Florida

St. Pete Beach Suites dates all the way back to 1948, when it was first opened as the Dolphin Motel

Our hotel has witnessed the 1950s vacation boom and the emergence of art & culture in the area. It has hosted thousands of family vacations, parties, newlyweds, and wedding groups. All kinds of celebrations have taken place on our property over the years. It is a piece of nostalgia for longtime St. Pete Beach residents and visitors. It has even been used as a setting in the 2016 major motion picture The Infiltrator, the story of a US customs official (Brian Cranston) who uncovers a money laundering scheme involving drug lord Pablo Escobar.


Just before the hotel was built, during World War ll, St. Pete Beach was a major technical training center for the Army Air Corps. Over 100,000 trainees swamped every hotel in the city, many of them settling in St Pete Beach with their families, causing a wave of development.


In the 1950s, the new invention of air conditioning caused the population of St. Pete Beach to grow to 200,000 residents. Streetcar tracks became roads, and the town began to boom. Music and arts, shopping and eateries popped up in the area. Steady growth continued. Baseball entered the area in a big way in 1998 when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays chose downtown St. Petersburg as their home.


Since 2000, St. Pete has become a city for the arts. The Dali Museum opened in 2011, with the largest collection of Salvador Dali originals outside of Spain. Downtown is home to the Dale Chihuly world-renowned glass collection, six art districts, and seven museums. Artistic and culinary culture are at the core of St. Pete’s culture, calling vacationers back every year.


St. Pete Beach Suites – 6801 Sunset Way, St Pete Beach, FL 33706-2000