Catherine Smiley, director of sales and marketing, said that none of the property’s 142 rooms are physically alike on any floor.

“The rooms’ furniture is custom designed with one-of-a-kind pieces like poster beds, specialty vanities and cabinetry to house the dresser,” Smiley said.

While the renovations began earlier this year and required sectional closing of the hotel, rumors that the resort’s popular Chart Room Bar had become a casualty of progress are not true, Smiley said.

It was true, she said, that the Chart Room did close for a few days during renovations of that area.

“We’ve heard all kinds of rumors about the Chart Room,” Smiley laughed. “Most of them are not true.

“The plumbers were working upstairs and the water was off, so we closed the Chart Room for a couple of days,” she said. “Then the calls began coming in and asking why the bar was closed for good. Even after the bar reopened, we still received calls asking why we were closing it. It is open, we expect it to stay open and look forward to another 40-years of success.”

Smiley noted that the Chart Room doesn’t open until 4 p.m., so some people may have come by earlier in the afternoon and found it closed.

The resort will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Chart Room this year and Smiley expects a big celebration before year’s end.

The bar’s infamous allure is full of Key West history, often sprinkled with rumors and innuendo of checked political shenanigans.

But a fact that most agree on is that author Tom Corcoran was a bartender there the day that country singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker brought an unknown songwriter named Jimmy Buffett to the island for his first visit and they went to the Chart Room for Buffett’s first beer in Key West.

Well, the rest is history and it has been recorded in songs and novels.

“The Chart Room opens at 4 p.m. and closes when the last customer leaves,” she said.

Smiley said the hotel opened in 1967 and has gone through a number of upgrades during the years, but nothing as substantial as the current $10 million project.

“We don’t have a flag,” she said, referring to the hotel not being connected to a major chain, “so we have to make sure our guests leave the resort feeling they’ve had a unique Key West experience and want to return.

“Today’s guests are different from guest just a few years ago,” Smiley said. “They are more tech oriented and want their rooms to be modern, even in Key West.”

Smiley has been with the resort 10 years. The last project to be completed in the renovation, she said, will be a new business center in the atrium building, where guests check in.

“A modern business center is important,” Smiley said, “because about 30-percent of our business is groups and they need and expect an up-to-date business center to work from.”

Smiley said that in the 40-years the Pier House has been in Key West it has seen many changes.

“Especially in prices,” she said. “In 1967, room prices ran between $32 to $48.”

Today, room rates go from $399 to $549.

“It is important for our guests to feel that the resort remains faithful to its reputation for delivering an extraordinary vacation experience,” said Joy Smatt, the resort’s general manager for the past 15 years.

The current economic slowdown concerns the resort’s management.

“We are taking a wait-and-see approach right now,” Smiley said. “Before we take any action, we want to be cautious.”

Smiley pointed out the affects Sept. 11, had on tourism in Key West.

“It was a big challenge, to all of us, to come back after that,” she said. “But we did, locally and as a nation. We have also had more than our share of hurricanes in the last few years, and the two evacuations this year have caused problems for Key West businesses.”

Smiley shook her head and mumbled about gas prices and fewer flights to Key West beings challenges too.

“But,” she smiled, “Americans adjust and we expect Key West will continue to be a destination, especially for South Florida residents.”

The resort closed its One Duval restaurant and used the area to put in luxury waterfront suites with balconies that offer unrestricted views of the harbor.

“We still have beachside dinning at our Harbor View Café,” Smile said. “It’s casual dinning in air-conditioning and we have the beachside bar, located between the pool and beach.”