Drury Plaza Hotel Destin

Drury Hotels has won approval for the Drury Plaza Hotel Destin, a six-storey, 320-room hotel on a 10.27-acre site at 1001 US Highway 98 East, beside the Big Kahuna's water park. Destin City Council granted the development order after a divided hearing on trees, traffic and parking, attaching conditions on native planting and a pet relief area, and the group has said it will break ground in 2026. It would be the largest hotel in the town, with a resort-style pool, on-site dining and around 4,000 square feet of meeting space.

The place

The site is 1001 US Highway 98 East, a 10.27-acre parcel in the middle of Destin's main commercial corridor, immediately beside the Big Kahuna's water park. It is an inland location on the bay side of the highway rather than a beachfront one, within reach of the town's restaurants, retail and the harbour, but without direct access to the Gulf sand. At 320 keys it would be by a wide margin the largest hotel in Destin.

The concept

Drury Hotels, the family-owned Missouri group, secured a development order for the project from Destin City Council after a long and openly divided hearing on the scheme's tree removal, traffic generation and parking provision. Approval came with two conditions attached: at least 80 per cent of the required replacement trees must be native species, and the hotel must include a designated pet relief area. The debate went well beyond this one building — local coverage framed the vote as a test of an ageing land development code that councillors themselves described as out of step with the scale of projects now reaching the town. The hotel is planned as six storeys with 320 rooms, a resort-style swimming pool, on-site dining and roughly 4,000 square feet of flexible meeting space. Drury has said it will break ground in 2026. It would be the group's second property in the area, after the 116-suite Drury Inn & Suites that opened in nearby Miramar Beach in May 2026, and part of a wider Florida expansion. No opening date has been published; a six-storey, 320-key build started in 2026 would realistically not receive guests before 2028, and this guide will not put a year on it until Drury does.

Dining & wellness

On-site dining is part of the announced programme, alongside a resort-style pool and roughly 4,000 square feet of meeting space, but no restaurant or bar concept has been named and no spa has been announced.