WaterLilinyc

Apologies for the delayed update!

We were supposedly upgraded but I can't recall the actual name of the room. It was definitely not a suite. It had views of near by offices with a sliver of the bay.

At check in, I mentioned hoping to have the holiday decorations in the room. Sadly, the check in agent didn't see any of that on the res. I had tweeted it with conradmiami and they gave me an email address to send in my request. Apparently, the email address they provided was incorrect which is why I never received a confirmation. My email bounced back days later. Anyway, shortly after getting into the room, the on-duty manager called and apologized for the mishandling. She asked us to leave the room and offered us a round of drinks and an appetizer at the lobby bar while they put in the holiday decorations. That's good customer service! During our short visit at the bar, there was fake snow falling from the ceiling every half an hour. It was pretty neat at first, until we realized they were actually bubbles!

When we returned to the room, we were impressed and in awe. The room was so cute and festive! There were several pots of poinsettias, a tray of potpourri, a couple snow man and snow flake pillows on the bed and most importantly, the Christmas tree! The tree was about 4 feet tall with ornaments throughout, wrapped with garland and lights. We enjoyed the holiday decorations and took some selfies to share. Our friends and family were surprised and impressed of the decorations in our room.
We were grateful and appreciated their quick turnaround to fulfill my request.

kirkwoodj

Love it! You get a picture?

jerry a. laska

I've had two stays here in the last month. As a diamond was upgraded on one of the stays to an executive one BR residence king with a balcony, full kitchen, and separate living room. On the other stay was not provided an upgrade. The suite was very nice and comfortable and borders the atrium that stretches upward from the 25th floor. The general manager's wine reception is still provided in the evenings with a fine selection of hors d'oeuvres. The gym and spa are located on the 24th floor (one floor below the hotel desk, bar/lounge, and restaurant). The pool and tennis courts are located in the connected building next door (you need to go to first floor and walk across to a separate set of elevators). The free diamond breakfast is provided in the bar/lounge area in the mornings and consists of a large buffet with made to order omelets also available as part of the buffet (in the winter, an actual omelet station is provided at the end of the buffet, during the summer, you inform one of the servers).

During each of my stays for the last couple of years I have been greeted at some point during my stay by the GM who is generally quite active and out and about at the hotel and greeting guests.

Service at the hotel has been consistently excellent during my stays for the last few years and this has become one of my top five HH properties in the US.

diamond club freeloader

Agreed, he is omni-present - at all times of the day and evening - something which I suspect is very good for maintaining the quality of the product offered at this hotel

turnleftbrighteyes

A quick note about a recent stay here-- I found the hotel rather whelming. By which I mean, it was fine. (Well, I was very much underwhelmed with the service, but the rest of it was fine. I cannot muster more enthusiasm for a more descriptive adjective.) Neither I nor my partner has any Hilton status (Mr TurnAround does occasionally stay at some manner of Hilton), and we both found it rather amusing how much we were thanked for our loyal Blue membership. The path for Diamonds much be sprinkled with rose petals and the rooms filled with champagne considering the how our (lack of!) loyalty was acknowledged.

Anyway. The hotel is fine. I wouldn't necessarily return (and I definitely wouldn't bother with the hotel breakfast). We booked a bay view room, and when we arrived, a bit after 5pm, housekeeping had not yet made any bay view rooms for us available. We were offered a city view room, or we could wait. I responded, "with some complimentary drinks?" at which point vouchers for two drinks were offered. The room wasn't available until around 6pm.

Again, the room itself was fine. There were slippers (I enjoy hotel slippers); bath products were Aromatherapy Associates, which were fine, and there was a separate shower and tub, although the tub was fairly shallow and small, so would be best used for bathing a child. There was an Illy espresso maker which was rather persnickety (read: took forever). The bay view was pleasant, if somewhat obstructed.

We had breakfast at the hotel on our first morning: it was (by a very large margin) the worst hotel breakfast I've had in years. Service was bad. I served myself, and my partner, coffee after waiting (and waiting, and waiting.) Eventually someone came over with coffee, after I'd already procured it. Thanks for that. Unfortunately, no one bothered with refills, so I once again got up to go to the lobby for more coffee. A staff person eventually said "We should at least be able to get you coffee." Well, yes, you should, at least, but you didn't. Refills of empty stations at the buffet were not forthcoming, and there were a few other issues (lack of plates; etc.) We ate elsewhere the following morning.

There's a foosball table and ping pong by the pool, which were nice touches. The pool is pleasant, although to get to the pool requires exiting the hotel, going over to where the parking garage is, and an elevator up that way. It's not a big deal, but if you want to quickly pop over there, it's not the most convenient.

We had booked a room rate with a late checkout, which my partner confirmed by phone the day before checkout. Upon checkout, however, the person made a comment that "checkout was at 12." Well, no, not when the late checkout was confirmed previously. It was settled, but as our final interaction with the staff-- none of whom were more than fine-- it didn't leave the best of impressions.

Service was by far the biggest letdown at this hotel. Otherwise, it's fine.

sallyerd

I had three rooms in Mid-January (busy season) for three nights. No service concerns at breakfast whatsoever. At every turn, all six of us thought the service and staff were terrific. There were special requests from us, all needs met and overall I almost felt "cocooned." It was a hectic stay with a wedding involved, so stress levels were a bit high. Overall the staff made me feel like if there had been a problem (which there wasn't) all could be smoothed. We threw a last-minute brunch for thirty people on Sunday. The food service exceeded our expectations in quality and service. In conclusion, great energy and vibes from all staff encounters from check-in to check-out.

Single_Flyer

Anyone know what time the Diamond breakfast starts on a Sunday?

kirkwoodj

Whenever the restaurant opens.

TravelinSperry

Two questions:

1- Do the standard rooms have empty mini-fridges?
2- Do Golds get the free breakfast as well in the restaurant?

jerry a. laska

Had a recent stay here. As a diamond was upgraded to a 1 BR suite/apartment.

The most significant thing to report is that the former GM Stephane Mercier moved on to the Conrad Cartagena last October. His replacement has also left and they are currently recruiting for a new GM.

While this is still a fine hotel things seem to be just a little off without Mr. Mercier's investment of time and involvement. I had a problem with my room that was initially brushed off as something that was a temporary problem that the hotel was working on. That evening the issue was still not resolved and after numerous maintenance visits the hotel finally recognized and owned up to the issue and I was moved to another room. Service recovery from that point was fine; the slowness of the response was the problem.

The evening wine reception is still available although it no longer seems to be labeled as the general manager's wine reception and no member of management appeared or greeted diamond guests during the time I was there (unlike in the past).

Breakfast and service in the restaurant in the morning was still excellent. Service in the bar in the evening was also excellent. The pool and tennis area was unchanged, the pool bar did not seem to be staffed during my stay. The gym was also fine and unchanged.

Edited to add:
I forgot to add that the hotel has been sold and a "massive renovation for the property, 1395 Brickell Ave., transforming the hotel’s lobby, pool area, restaurant and guest rooms" is planned. Read more here:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/busi...161212208.html

TravelinSperry

Do you happen to know if the rooms have small empty mini-fridges in them?

kirkwoodj

They have mini-bar fridges that have room for other stuff--they're not the automatic ones.

TravelinSperry

Whoever the new GM is needs to be retrained.

I had quite an underwhelming stay. Rooms are ok, but much smaller and older than anticipated based on overall reviews.

Further at breakfast they have 7 tables. When I arrived 3 were full and the other 4 were not bused (dirty). So I was forced to sit at the counter. Fine. But the counter was not set up. No silverware and no staff to be found (except the hostess). I waited and waited and it took over 5 minutes to get a fork! Many of the breakfast dishes were empty as well (no hard boiled eggs, no pineapple, etc.). I finally asked the hostess to have the manager come see me. She came back 10 minutes later to say he was busy but he would call my room. He never did. So I went to front desk and asked them to have the GM call me. They said sure. After 5 days I NEVER heard from anyone re my problem. Unacceptable.

At checkout the fellow asked me "How was your stay other than your problem at breakfast". I said "fine" but not including breakfast I feel it was a subpar stay. He said sorry about that. No good will gesture offered. They clearly don't know how to make people leave happy here.

Anyway, assuming breakfast was an isolated incident, the rooms don't beat other hotels in the area... so I see no need to return.

kirkwoodj

There are far more, as the dining area behind the bar (by Wine Room) is also used for breakfast, unless occupied for some other function or undergoing renovation. That makes it a couple dozen tables at least.
Here's a pic: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Co...=en&authuser=0

The area continues far off to the right as well, waterfall/fountain on left is back side of bar.

TravelinSperry

I saw that area - however not one person sat there the whole week I was there (perhaps it was not open?) Further, the hostess after checking your room # just says, "enjoy breakfast" and doesn't walk you in or point out other options for people. Just leaves you to figure it out on your own. With the staff being so unresponsive (or non-existent) I'd hate to sit alone in a separate area and try to get coffee or anything else.