If you’ve ever heard the old saying, “You can’t judge a book by its cover,” nothing could be more true than with the Miami Beach Resort and Spa. This hotel has one of the most incredible websites I have very seen. It is also by far the one of the lowest quality hotels I have stayed in during my years of travel.
So what has gone wrong with this hotel? Looking at the website you can see it is part of the LXR Resort group – don’t let this fool you, this hotel may have once been a fine resort but is certainly not anymore.
When we checked-in the person standing next to me was complaining to the front desk. He indicated that his key became demagnetized 4 times in the previous day, none of the phones in his room worked, the TV had no remote, and the bathroom door was broken. The reservation agent responded by handing him a TV remote and explaining that the cards become demagnetized often. They also apologized for the non-working bathroom door and phone but did nothing to indicate that the problem would be solved.
For the record, when checking-into a hotel this is usually a bad sign. Our agent was friendly and I asked for three keys just to be safe. She issued us a room on the 16th floor and we headed-up to our room. While the lobby of the hotel is reasonably nice and does resemble the pictures – once the elevator doors open you know this hotel is going to have quality issues.
The hallways had old faded carpets with doors featuring large brass knockers. Many of the doors had paint missing from different areas and the hallway had a strange mildew odor to it. Entering our room we were immediately struck by a strong cigarette smell. Having booked a non-smoking room I called downstairs. The reservation agent was surprised and indicated that it was a non-smoking hotel. I let her know there was an ashtray on our desk so it’s pretty unlikely this was a non-smoking room. How many hotels are non-smoking but offer ashtray’s in a room? Luckily she let us change rooms and I went downstairs to pick-up the new key.
Our next room, while not smelling of cigarette smoke was also in great need of repair. Almost none of the electrical outlets worked and some were not properly installed causing the plug to pop-out of the wall about a minute or two after being plugged-in. Our bathroom door was also broken making it impossible to close. The toilet seat also would not stay up meaning that you had to hold it up while going to the bathroom. The television was ancient with very poor picture quality and a remote that had much of the text faded off of it.
Now for some good news. The view from our room was absolutely beautiful overlooking the canal across the street and giving excellent sunset views at night.
Sorry, but that is the only positive I have about the hotel. So now for the pool and beach. You need to use a “Towel Card” in order to get a towel at the pool area. What they give you is a far cry from a towel and is instead a blue rag. This may sound like I am being overly critical, but I’m not. These were very rough thin almost shop rags that become completely soaked the second they touch water. They are also much shorter than a typical pool or beach towel meaning that the one you get will not cover you entire pool chair. You can only have one at a time so if you want two you’ll have to steal a “Towel Card” from someone else.
The “Beach Access” that the hotel prides itself on is simply a public beach located behind the hotel. It clearly states you are leaving hotel property and there is no way to get food or drink service once you are at the beach. Instead if you want a beach chair or umbrella you have to buy it from a third-party company that will charge you $20 (cash only) to use their equipment for the day. The chair I used was broken and missing the pieces in the back to adjust the height. They had replaced this with a bunch of bolts making it difficult to adjust the chair.
As for the location of the hotel you’ll need to take a $15 cab ride to get to South Beach where all the action is. This hotel is surrounded by other hotels that are being remodeled and the staff will insist that there are no restaurants or stores within walking distance. When I asked the staff about taking a cab back to Fort Lauderdale all they could tell me was that it would be expensive.
On our cab ride back to Fort Lauderdale the driver told me this hotel was monopolizing on the fact that all the hotels next to it had closed down to remodel. This was the only hotel that had decided not to remodel because they knew they could still get business as the only hotel left on the strip.
Miami Beach and South Beach are great destinations with some of the best hotels in Florida – I’d suggest taking a look at the Palms or Loews if you want to have a more enjoyable stay. To our credit we had a great trip despite all the downfalls of this hotel. It just goes to show that you really can’t judge a book by its cover.
UPDATE: I was contacted by the manager of the Miami Beach Resort and Spa who apologized for the experience that I had and gave some explination. He indicated that the hotel is going to be undergoing massive renovations so I was not catching the hotel at the best time. My best advice for travelers would be to call ahead of time and make sure you get a renovated room – you can’t beat the location, and with nice hotel rooms and a bit of sprucing-up the hotel could be very nice.
