MIKESILV

Next time stay at the Hampton Inn - South just a stones throw from the Hilton. Newer property almost everytime I get a suite and the first early shuttle at 530 am and quite reliable.
Free internet, secure parking and access to HH Floors by keycard.
Rates often half the Hilton plus if you drive you have to pay parking at the Hilton.

Since I am usually out of there pretty early, while lounge at Hilton may not yet open you can always get danish, muffins and coffee at the Hampton no matter what time you are up.
mike

JDiver

Thanks for the recommendation, Mike! ^

craz

Theres a new GM I believe his name is Dave, he use to be at Cancun, theres a thread that he started somewhere recently. Im 1000% sure that he would Love it if you would let him what happened. From those who have posted seems he took care of Diamonds very well at Cancun.

If I did it correctly heres the thread Dave is the OP on this other thread, Id email him and /or PM , and copy/paste your post from over here. Check out posts # 1 & 19

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthrea...highlight=cabo

JDiver

Thanks for your helpful suggestion, craz! I've certainly heard / read of Dave, and will do some follow-up. I am not cruising for compo, but if Dave is there, it might be good grist for his mill. ^

KENNECTED

Not to hijack this thread, but I second that, see my trip report. I think there have been some additonal positive comments about that property since I posted as they were upgrading the building at the time of my last stay.

Volvic

Just to add a comment, you can rent a car (Hertz) in the 'virtual' Hertz office of this hotel if you are a guest. The delivery will be managed by the Hertz office located at the MIA and you do not have to pay the airport car rental surcharge. I remember a normal nice Hilton, not bad not exceptional, I had to sleep there one night after an TATL flight before driving all the way to Key West to a wonderful Hilton that since then disappeared from the Hilton portfolio.

Fly_from_BNA

I've stayed at the Hilton MIA numerous times during Aug-Oct 2006 and was not impressed. The suites seemed to be much nicer than standard rooms. I never received an upgraded room as a HH Diamond, had to book the suites. Always did get access to the Exec Loungs but it had a severe ant problem and definately needed renovation.

I am now on my last few days in Miami now and have been flying here working for six months. I primarily stayed at:
Hampton Inn & Suites Miami-West At Doral Blvd.
11600 Northwest 41st Street
Miami, FL United States 33178

This property is set up like a Homewood Suites and has a Tiki Bar by the pool. I have been very impressed with the staff and property and it is my first choice in the MIA - Doral area.

This property:
Hampton Inn Miami-Airport West
3620 North West 79th Avenue
Doral, FL United States 33166

I have considered my last resort Hampton Inn in the MIA area until this week. Now I will book a Mariott (but not a Mariott at MIA-real bad) instead of staying here. Seem to have a high turn over of front desk staff which is hit and miss on service quality. Older property, MIA shuttle is fair to poor in service.

This property:
Hampton Inn & Suites Miami-Airport South-Blue Lagoon
777 N. W. 57th Avenue
Miami, FL United States 33126

was mentioned earlier in the post. Dave was not the manager when I stayed here. Stayed here once or twice. Seemed pretty decent but did not do much but sleep here.

This Property:
Homewood Suites by Hilton Miami-Airport/Blue Lagoon
5500 Blue Lagoon Drive
Miami, FL United States 33126

Just down the street from the Hilton. Was very impressed with and would definately stay at again.

rwill11

I agree w Mike, For a 1 niter HI works fine. It also has the advantage of having a grocery store and restaurants within 500 ft.

Kulkulcan 17

Thanks craz for the cross-reference and thanks JDiver for additional info on the PM. JDiver's very comprehensive review was excellent "grist" and I assure everyone that we're starting to turn the wheels of the mill. Need some time, though. The hotel really is 100% every night, and the average number of Diamonds in house each night is over 100! With 80 suites (which is a lot compared to size of hotel) it makes it virtually impossible to upgrade all the diamonds much less golds. 200 guestrooms scheduled for renovation this year and another 200 next year. The suites were just redone although there are still some missing parts. Need to work on shuttle services, towers lounge improvements, and general service orientation. Hotel has great bones and quite beautiful surroundings for an airport property. We'll work hard in the coming months and I hope to read good feedback in the future. Stay tuned...

IsleOfMan

I booked a stay at the Hilton Miami Airport using a corporate rate code. The rate code pulled up the following options, all for the same rate ($140/night, around half price of a standard room):

"1 KING BED DELUXE ALCOVE ROOM"
"1 KING BED 1 BEDROOM SUITE"
"1 KING BED TOWERS FLOOR TOWNHOUSE"

The Deluxe Alcove and Suite both had detailed descriptions including sq ft and amenities. The Towers Townhouse had a very short and somewhat cryptic description that read:

"BI-LEVEL RM-2 BATHS-FLOOR TO CEILING WINDOW HI SPEED 9.95/ DAY-SERENITY BED-LUX LINENS"

I chose the Towers Townhouse as it sounds much larger (Bi-Level and 2 Baths) and is not even an option to book without the corporate rate code. That said, has anyone ever stayed in one of these Towers Townhouse rooms? Can someone offer a more detailed description and/or somewhere I can find some pictures? I'm very interested as I assumed the corporate rate code I was given would put me in a standard king room, but all three options sound like noticeable upgrades, w/ the Towers Townhouse sounding the most interesting.

Thanks!

VA Maddog

I have stayed in the alcove room and the one bedroom suite and both are very nice. I heard about the two level suite but never saw it. There was a year a few years back where I stayed more nights at the Miami Airport Hilton than I did in my own home. I was thier most frequent guest that year. That is a very good rate for any of those rooms. I have not been there for a few years now, but the Towers Lounge used to be pretty nice, a bit crowded some days, but nice with a great view and a wall of windows. They also have some decent buffets in thier main restaurant.

IsleOfMan

I've stayed in a standard King at this property and it was quite nice so I'm confident it'll be a great room... more than anything I'm curious about the layout and the bi-level aspect. Anyone out there know where I could find pictures of the room/layout? I've tried the stock and candid photos on most of the travel review sites with no luck. Thanks!

IsleOfMan

Anyone?

Zip

No, don't know about the bilevel room.

Really enjoyed a stay there recently. The lounge floor, 13th floor, doesn't have many rooms; we were given an "upgraded" room to a standard room on the HHonors 11th floor, with lounge access. We were actually quite happy with the room; very quite, with a nice lagoon view. Nice walkways outside too.

Breakfest was in the lounge, and quite nice for a U.S. hotel. Open most of the day, with an array of normal snacks (nuts, pretzels, etc). Evening selection was a nice variety of fried foods, veggies, snacks, etc. Wine was very good at $5/glass. The 13th floor seemed to be full of families with children, which made the 11th floor more acceptable. And the lounge was surprisingly not crowded and relatively quiet. Lucky that the kids seemed to be worn out.

IsleOfMan

When were you there? I was there last week. I was upgraded to one of the two Towers Suites. You can tell that it's two rooms, one directly above the other, converted into a two-floow suite. The bottom has a large L-shaped couch, minibar, hutch, and 32" LCD tv. After going up the spiral staircase, the room is much like a normal room with king bed, hutch, standard tube tv (yuck) and desk. There was a standard bathroom and hallway doors on both floors (technically the upstairs was room 1438 and the downstairs was 1338). While it's a very nice room and the 2-floor window with view of the lagoon and downtown were nice, it wasn't much if any better than a single-floor 2-room suite... definitely not a flagship room like a President's or Governor's Suite.

All that said, this is still one of my favorite properties and it has the best domestic lounge of any Hilton I've been in. I'll continue to return here whenever in the Miami area as long as the prices are competitive (i.e. in the $150/night range).