I stayed there for a weekend... The walls are thin, you can hear the maids thru the door, valet takes forever to get your car, they reset your key card every night, it's impossible to get a manager to speak to. They check you into another person's room.. The lunch was ok. The pool is pretty.

But would not waste the money to stay here...

I stayed there with my new bride on January 28. First room they put us in was tiny, had twin beds even though i booked a king and I couldn't turn off the shower. They moved me to a new room that had big holes in the carpet and a couch with huge tears and the stuffing coming out. All this for $250 plus! One elevator was broken and the other was just barely working (at one point it stopped and a cleaning women came in and jumped up and down to get it going). I asked other clients about the conditions of their rooms and all said the same thing--very very shabby--more like a room you would rent for the hour.

Here is my overview:

- Looks can be deceiving. The hotel exterior/lobby/pool area is gorgeous, but most of the rooms are horrendous. The basic rooms look like a bad motel room used on the set of an 80's murder movie. My room had spider webs everywhere, the door didn't lock and holes in the furniture.

(Note - After I voiced my concerns multiple times, I was upgraded to a "nicer" room (let's use that term loosely) without getting charged. (They wanted to charge me for complaining)

- The elevators were disgusting, trash and food crumbs everywhere. Don't expect them to work most of the time and when they do, the staff is usually using them to transport things so guests have to wait.

- The Continental breakfast is a joke. The person who thought of this should be fired. You basically get a basket with 1 croissant, 1 muffin, 1 bagel and a glass of water (Even if there's 6 people in your group). Everything else (including orange juice, coffee, etc. is extra cost)

- Valet is horrible. If you go down and want your car, you'll be waiting about a half hour, because they park ALL the cars (just the ones that aren't pretty enough to park infront of the hotel) over by and past lincoln road. So you end up waiting 20-30 minutes.

- Service was good, the people that shined were Ari (Concierge) and Conrad (Server at the restaurant by the pool) Both provided excellent service and were the nicest staff on the entire property.

Summary: Everything that I described in the mentions above were always met with "We're renovating" or "Hotel is modernizing".. my advice, start with the rooms. It's the rooms people will remember most, then service, then all the other minor details.

My husband and i stayed here last December whilst we were on our honeymoon. It was the 5th stop of our month long journey and the only stay that wasn't enjoyable. We checked in for our first night at about 8pm. Staight away the staff were not friendly or professional. We were told in order to check in we had to pay an extra $70+. This did not happen at any of our other stops. When we queried that said "it is compulsory so you either check in or you don't". Being from Australia we had no other option then to pay and were told it would include use of towels and breakfast every morning for our stay. The bell boy then confirmed that it included a hot breakfast such as eggs, bacon, pancakes etc. When we got to our room we found that it looked nothing like the images shown on the website. The room (although renovated) had stains on the carpet, paint all over everything and the bed was as hard as a rock. It felt dirty. There was also insufficient bedding for the climate so we called reception to ask for another blanket. When they finally bought it up, it had a big hole right in the middle and was very tatty. The next morning we awoke and had breakfast and again were amazed when the breakfast (which was compulsotry to pay for) only included a basket of mini muffins. We again spoke with a staff member because we were told by the bell boy it included everything. She was rude and completely un-interested. My husband at this stage was starting to go crazy. We hadn't even been able to enjoy the sights of South Beach yet. We went up to our room to shower for the day (it was about 9am) and mid way through my husbands shower we could hear renovation work start in the room next to us. Halfway through my husband shaving, the water was shut off without warning. I called reception and again they were rude so my husband went down to complain (with shaving cream still on his face). They were completely un-interested and said the water would be off for atleast 30 minutes. We then received a call from the 'manager' asking us rudely to pack our bags and leave because "clearly we can not be pleased". Being that there was a large time difference we were unable to contact our travel agent and it was quite over whelming to the point i started crying in the lobby. You do not kick someone out because they ask for running water and clean sheets! Not only did we have to pay extra for a new hotel two doors down out of our spending money but it ruined our whole time in Miami. Our new hotel at the Richmond were very accomodating and no hidden fees. Still waiting to get re-funded which could take up to ten weeks!!!!