hfly

The fact that any Kardashian regularly stays in any place generally turns me off of a place.

buckeye91

I’m currently completing a one night stay here. I was upgraded to an oceanfront 1 BR suite. Received early check-in. Great room, clean, quiet and comfortable.

Santorini, the Greek restaurant in the hotel, remains excellent both for dinner and breakfast.

u22222

Can anyone explain why price of Hilton Bentley is double of the Marriott next door? Looks like same level hotel.

dcht

Any recent reports? Specifically interested in the breakfast situation.

smmrfld

Why not just contact the hotel directly? Things change constantly.

dcht

Why have FT at all then if I can just contact the hotel with my questions? FWIW I tried emailing them a few months ago and never heard back. I don't call hotels.

Eujeanie

You're dealing with a constantly changing Covid situation. Our state goes in and out of dine in/no dine in/outdoor dining only/take out only, blah blah. I guarantee they will no longer have the buffet (which was pretty basic, everything was there but it just wasn't "special"...if you have status and want to know what you'll get for your trip, I don't see why you don't call. If it's far in the future...wait...guarantee it will change.

smmrfld

Umm...because things change quickly and they would be the best source for an accurate answer? As they say, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Not sure why you would ask months in advance.

u22222

Breakfast from the Greek resturant downstairs, you can find the menu online. With diamond membership $20 per person for up 2 each day. I will say the food is decent but not amazing.
The hotel is not worth its price but it's not a bad choice for points redeem.
BTW they just give me late check out to 12pm, that's very insulting!

dcht

Months in advance? Where did I say I wasn't going for a few more months? I'm thinking of going in like 2-3 weeks. The hotel isn't always the best source for accurate information. I've called hotels in the past and gotten different answers from different people on literally the same day. Usually FTers know more than the front desk people. Why would I trust an employee's thoughts on how good the breakfast is?

Sorry if I was too vague in my original question, but I'm looking for more than just "does breakfast exist yes or no". Ideally I'd be interested in the diamond benefit, where the breakfast is, and how the food and service is.

ffdom

Didn't see any recent threads on this hotel. Just did an award stay 4 nights two on certificates the rest on points.
The location is good at the quiet end of south beach but easy walk to stores and restaurants.
Rooms are fine, nice to have kitchen amenities in the suites but bathrooms are small.
There's no real full service room service. You can get delivery with plastic containers and utensils from the restaurant on site. On the plus the food is great and no crazy markups. The downside is they often didn't pick up at all. A couple of times I gave up, another the front desk walked over an order for me.
Spa was awesome, friendly service and terrific quality.
Beach club was ok. Drink service great. Setup service surly. On the plus side two chairs and an umbrella would cost $55 so this is one of the very very few cases where the resort charge actually gets you something. The charge is waived on reward stays.
Big gripe was a complete lack of recognition for Diamond status. No late checkout even though I only asked for one hour. There's a $20/person breakfast credit but it's hit or miss if they credit it. The worst experience was check in....there were a ton of better rooms available for sale but nothing was offered for an upgrade. Not even a status acknowledgement. I eventually said I would pay and of course miraculously something was found....such a pain and a toxic way to start a trip when you just know they don't really care.

tangey

Wonder when this changed ? When I was there in 2018 you got the full breakfast as a diamond.

Eujeanie

Makes sense to me...the "full breakfast" used to be the buffet in the Greek restaurant...however, most if not all buffets vanished with Covid. The two mornings we were there there was just one or two other parties, except for the morning when I think half the Miami/South Beach police were there. So I think there might have been a lot of waste from that buffet every day, so this is better for them. Also, we didn't think the buffet was anything special - while everything you could want was there, it was really quite ordinary.

We did have the Greek restaurant deliver food to us on the beach and that was actually quite good. I don't think breakfast is their specialty.

pauleeepaul

As a Diamond I have come to accept that if an upgrade is a must have vs a nice to have one must hope for the freebie but be prepared to ante up if needed.

Eujeanie

I hate having to rehash our experience, but we got off a cruise ship, taxied to the hotel, arrived maybe 9? 10? Was told as Diamonds we had been upgraded from our basic lowest points room to an OV suite. But we would have to wait since it was not ready. We said we're really tired, just want to offload and go to the beach, we'll take whatever...she then says...and now, you have to realize, we are 70 years old and decidedly not cool or hip, so any broom closet would have been fine...but she says "well, I do have a garden view suite available now, but there is no view" - we said Sold! We really didn't care about a view after getting off the ship, and we LOVED this suite...a full 1 BR suite, huge living room, dining room, kitchen, huge bathroom with bidet, wrap around patio on 2 sides, no view but lots of greenery and a privacy wall...we LOVED it.

Maybe we reminded her of her parents/grandparents, lol I have no idea. But we never ask for upgrades, if we do and are turned down we're fine with it, but this was totally unsolicited. And a wonderful end to our vacation. Little did we know it would be one of the last trips we took for a year (stayed in January, 2020, just before Covid.

Oh, we were also treated handsomely at the beach. I recently had had skin cancer surgery so told the guys that I NEEDED shade (and why) and they set us up with two clamshells, AND two umbrellas in front of them.

I have zero complaints about our stay there.