So what'll it be? The place with the six infinity-edge swimming pools or the one with the bathroom chandelier that doubles as a shower head? The resort where beach butlers roam the premises with champagne carts or the hotel where no guest even on the most scorching of days is far from a chilled facial towel?

You've gotta hand it to Miami. What other city would double down on conspicuous consumption in these perilous times?

To be fair, Miami's glittering new (and newly renovated) properties have been in the works for some time; all were planned long before the economic crunch. But even as the city's hotels deal with unprecedented low occupancy, all hail to the newcomers: either anachronistic monuments to excess or perversely reassuring, depending on your point of view.

MIAMI BEACH

FONTAINEBLEAU: When it opened in 1954, this Morris Lapidus-designed behemoth was something of an oddity, its gently curving main building branded ''avant-garde,'' and not in a nice way. But it didn't take Miami long to embrace the Fontainebleau. For a time, everyone from Rat Pack sun seekers to James Bond (he played gin rummy poolside in 1964's Goldfinger) flocked to the place. But in the `90s, when the action shifted to South Beach, the Fontainebleau became something of a rundown relic.

''If you create a stage and it is grand, everyone who enters will play their part,'' Lapidus once wrote, never imagining that ''everyone'' would include Victoria's Secret models, who rechristened the resort with a fashion show the day after the Fontainebleau officially reopenedlast month.

Details: 4441 Collins Ave. Ave. Ave., www.fontainebleau.com, 800-573-6351. Rooms start at $309 a night.

• What's Old Miami: Two new towers (1,504 rooms total), 11 restaurants and lounges, a free-form pool and a redesign of the lobby's signature ``stairway to nowhere.''

• What's New Miami: Oversize tubs with jets; a 40,000-square-foot spa where guests can get rained on, misted or steamed; a restaurant by Alfred Portale (of New York's Gotham Bar and Grill).

• SPF rating (Spectacle, Poshness, Fabulosity): 20

EDEN ROC: Just next door to the Fontainebleau stands another Lapidus-designed property, this one from 1956. It, too, became an icon of '50s elegance (credit its multiple appearances on TV's I Love Lucy), and it, too, was allowed to fade for a time. But the Eden Roc is back with a vengeance, thanks to a $180 million renovation of its original building and the construction of an adjacent 21-story tower of rooms. (The tower opens in early 2009; the main building reopened in October.)

Details: 4525 Collins Ave. Ave. Ave., www.boldnewedenroc.com, 800-319-5354. Rooms start at $199 a night.

• What's Old Miami: 632 rooms (349 renovated, 283 in the new tower), 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space, a restaurant just 12 feet from the ocean.

• What's New Miami: 5,000-square-foot rooftop terrace, six infinity-edge swimming pools, a high-tech spa boasting a cool-then-warm lagoon waterfall.

• SPF rating: 18

THE BETSY: Small in size and modest in intent, this hotel nevertheless occupies a prominent spot on Ocean Drive in South Beach, still the epicenter of Miami night life. Currently in the midst of a renovation, the Betsy is scheduled to reopen soon. in December. The designers have kept the hotel's signature plantation shutters. and added environmentally friendly updates. The 63 rooms offer a tip of the hat to both the past (poster beds) and the future (bath mirrors embedded with small TVs).

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