The location of the hotel is great, it's not beachfront but it's a short walk to the beach. But so convenient to most of the fun areas of South Beach.
The hotel room I got was newly renovated and smelled like it was all new (not a bad thing) and clean. The air conditioner in the room was not a central air system but using a window unit that was super loud when it turned on. The bed was stylish but since it was very low profile, sometimes your bedding would droop onto the ground and you never know how clean floors in hotel rooms are.
I never got a chance to check out the roof top pool (which I read the cabanas are off limits unless you have a certain bar tab amount) or check out the happy hour, but the bamboo pool on ground level was really relaxing and nice to just hang out on the comfy loungers. Luckily it is a shaded area so it's especially nice when it's really humid and hot outside.
I also made use of the free airport shuttle bus which unfortunately they will cease operation by end of this year.
The only negatives I would call out are:
- I paid on booking.com using "booking.basic" which is a non-refundable booking that is stated to include ALL fees and taxes. Compared to the regular booking.com options, it does not mention on the confirmation page that there is an additional resort fee that is collected at check in. I paid in advance with "booking.basic" and couldn't cancel even though I found cheaper rates, and I knew that going in the game. But when I checked in, the concierge/front desk person made me pay the resort fees even though I showed him and told him that per my booking confirmation, the fees were all included. In fact, had there been expected additional fees, the total cost of the booking would've been cheaper with the non-booking.basic option and had free cancellation plus would've gone towards my "genius discount". He just adamantly said "yes I understand it includes fees but this is the resort fee and not included". Uhhhh, it's nonetheless a fee. I called booking.com that night and asked them about who was in the right, and they agreed that when you use booking.basic and it says includes all taxes and fees, it means ALL fees so the hotel shouldn't have charged me additional fees at check in. So they refunded me on the amount (and with my credit card fees, I ended up losing out $3 thanks to this ordeal). But the amount of time I had to waste while on my vacation to sort this out with numerous calls to my booking provider when their front desk should know what kind of bookings require additional payment and which doesn't, it is very disappointing.
- Another moment that made me drop my enthusiasm about this hotel was on my day of check out. I checked out on Friday Oct 25 and check out time is 11 am. I woke up early to pack my things and make the most of my day, and as I am in the washroom getting ready around 9ish am, I hear the click of the door opening. I peak my head out and it's a housecleaning staff putting her head in, and I said "hello?" and she said "checking out today?" and I said "yes" as she pulls her head out and closes the door. Weird, I thought, considering the other days I stayed, I didn't have any housekeeping until well past 3 pm. Then at around 9:30-10ish am, I am still in the washroom and I hear the click of the door opening again. I think I might be going crazy so I stick my head out again and see someone from housekeeping sticking her head in. Then after seeing me, she sticks her head back out and closes the door. At this point, I am disturbed because while the exhaust fan is on in the bathroom, I didn't hear ANY discernible knocking sounds so if that's the case, housekeeping are just coming into the guest room for no reason that I can think of. I assume the staff have the list of who is checking out that day and when they've checked out or at least expectation day of for check outs to still be in their room at 9 am. It was so unsettling. And upon opening the door and hearing the bathroom exhaust fan and water running, why still stick one's head in to look inside? I'd just quickly close the door. And no apology for coming in unannounced? I could've been dressing in the main area when they stuck their heads in. Yet weirdly, when I left my room around 10:30, I didn't see any housekeeping working on nearby rooms.
- Last thing that rubbed me the wrong way is that your voucher from the front desk gets you two towels and two beach chairs at the beach. However, if you want an umbrella, it's extra. The signs right behind the area where the beach chairs are, it says "Chair-Umbrella: $15 weekdays / $20 weekends". But the attendant said an umbrella rental cost $20 even though it was a weekday. When I said "the signs say $15", he said "the signs are out of date" which is rather sketch.
