Last year we had a six (6) night award stay for our 4th anniversary (Mid-March) at this hotel. I certainly can not find anything to comment negatively about at this hotel, but instead offer only praise. The entire staff was very accomodating during our entire stay. I'm only a Gold HHonors member and we were upgraded to a corner studio partial oceanview, which was easy enough to see from our vantage point. The hotel itself is located close enough to the heavily touristed area of South Beach, and we would just walk the few blocks in the evening if we wanted to dine in that area.

No problem making the award reservations whatsoever, of course I made the reservations as early as I could possible once they became available.

The complimentary breakfast for being a Gold HHonors member was excellent if you'd like to compare this breakfast to any other complimentary breakfast you would receive at your normal Hilton property. The two resturants that we ate at onsite (Prime Italian, and the De Rodriguez Cuba on Ocean) for dinner were well worth eating at. I noticed that Prime Italian can get busy in the evenings.

Our room was quite large, and had a large balcony which we had two chairs, two reclining loungers, and a small table. I have to admit, I spent quite a lot of time in the morning on the balcony reading and watching the ships go in and out of the nearby waterway. Being only a studio we didn't have the full kitchen ensemble, but did have a microwave, sink, and mini fridge which we did have to move a few items out in order to move our items in (which didn't cause a problem, as we refilled the fridge with their items at the end of the week, with no malfunctions on the bill).

Valet had our vehicle ready within minutes at all times, which someone had commented earlier on this thread that they were overcharged which must have clearly been a mistake. We were charged $35.00 daily, and that was it. In fact for the entire stay, we only had the two resturant charges, and the valet parking on the bill.

Although I don't recall which evening it was (Friday?), they had a welcome reception which they served Mojitos, and the hotel staff on hand were asking the guests if they were enjoying their stays.

I think the only complaint there is, is from my wife who complained there wasn't carpeting in the room which is quite funny, because I tried to explain to her that a lot of beach hotels don't have carpeting because they don't want to have to clean up all the sand you track all over them. The Hilton Bentley has Italian marbled floors in the guest rooms, so why in the world would you throw a carpet over that anyway.

In respect to jamesteroh's question, I do believe we were given water, and had a nice note laid out welcoming us. No wine though. Could be a Diamond welcome amenity?

This hotel is definately on my short list of hotels to return to sometime in the future.

S/F
-John