We used points for a four night family stay, in hindsight if I'd known how much we'd enjoy this stay we should have probably rejigged our trip to be the full five nights including the "free" (not quite) one. Stayed as an ambassador and used NUAs to upgrade to an imperial suite, which was confirmed a few days in advance. This really made the stay, so of course I was in a fairly good mood. The post below answers a few of the more recent questions as well, so yes the NUAs cleared into a proper suite, and breakfast for little kids wasn't charged.

Room: the suite had two rooms (bedroom & living room) and attached balconies. What was really appreciated as well was that we had a "family tradition" setup in the living room with a tent, kids beach toys, two little plush toys and then some more adult welcome gift. That was a lovely touch and really helped set things up nicely. The balconies had a view out to sea and the other StR residences, as the hotel is only one of three blocks. We enjoyed the time spent in the room, that also had a kitchen, dining table and really was set up for having friends over. It also had the best mini bar I've ever seen, more like a liquor store level of booze with a full sized fridge with multiple variants of beer. Oh, and a kiddy sized bath robe too.

Welcome tent - family traditions

One of the welcome gifts

Breakfast: for a welcome gift we were given a full buffet for two adults, and they didn't charge for a very young kid either (baby under one year & toddler of three years old), value was about $104 plus tips, all included. The buffet was Mediterranean style served in the main hotel restaurant Atlantikkos, with egg chefs, outdoor seating by the pool and an indoor space. It was a good selection with a focus on hummus, cold cuts and other items that I don't see often at a US hotel breakfast. We enjoyed this each day, and compared to most hotels in the USA I feel you'd be happy, it felt like a StR difference.


A typical spread from the breakfast buffet

Resort fee: $70++. Not good value for money, I think the more usable parts were bike rentals (though they were signing you up for an app...), a free coffee and juice (quite time limited). I don't think we used a single thing except for the beach chairs & parasol, that apparently were also included in the fee.

Restaurants: Outside of the breakfast we only ate at the hotel once, in a popup Italian restaurant. It was good quality family style food and fairly priced. The reason then for not trying the rest of the options was that with the family we were looking for a more casual setup, that we got outside the resort. There were lots of places within walking distance at a variety of price points. Worth mentioning the room service included $100-300 caviar options, so was certainly premium.

Pool & Beach: We mainly stayed near the family pool, or on the white sands of the beach. Free water was plentiful along with sun cream. There were also occasional free sorbets. But if you were willing to pay cash the food delivery rates all seemed reasonable and lower than I'd expect in a hotel of this standard, so all the beers were under $10 for example.

Location: Our limo driver from the airport described Bal Harbour as the poshest and safest part of Miami, and it felt it as we walked around. Plenty of families and a very high end mall literally across the road. A bit further away (two blocks south) were a variety of smaller casual dining places. Just be aware that the area had a large Jewish population, so that meant quite a number of the better rated restaurants were closed on the sabbath, though for those wanting kosher food you'd be happy, and there was also a kosher supermarket. Publix, a high end supermarket, was about 4 blocks walk south too and had a good selection of food and drinks, as we had a picnic lunch one day that went down well. We also found a local park for the kids, but that was about half an hour's walk away. Final point, there is a beach side walking path that you crossed to get to the hotel beach, but also provided a great place to walk, run, cycle and explore the area easily. Very family friendly and flat.

Overall, a great stay. We were happy with the entire experience and felt the perks of the better hotel and the good elite treatment outweighed us being far away from the south beach. If we wanted a beach holiday in the area this would be a good choice. But if you want the main drag, it's a 30 minute taxi away, which we did on one day only as a result.


View of the hotel pool from the room balcony


A view from the room at sunset