BAGoldBoy

Thats the one - exit the hotel and cross Indian River on Arthur Godfrey road. You will come to traffic lights with an HSBC building on your right. Turn right and the parking structure is on the left.

BTW our stay at the Confidante last week wasn't great - I don't think we'll be returning there again after a couple of less than stellar stays this year

59Impala

Really? what went wrong? I still want to write up a summary of my November stay.
We'll be back in April and October. loved our stay apart from a few mishaps...

BAGoldBoy

Guest services had contacted me before our stay and promised us the best room available. What we got was what I think was the smallest room on the 6th floor and it wasn't very clean. I think only parts of the carpet had ever been cleaned as there dirt everywhere. My wife wanted curling irons so I went onto the Hyatt app and requested them. They never arrived although the app said Request Completed.

On our second day I was contacted to see if our stay was OK. I mentioned the dirty, small room, non delivery of curling irons and no daily water. They basically ignored everything I had said.

On our first morning we ordered off the menu. 25 minutes for our order to be taken, 10 minutes later the OJ arrived, another 10 minutes and the coffee arrived (cold) and eventually our food arrived. Decided to stick to the buffet. The OJ dispenser was empty every morning, the pastry shelves bare apart from the labels. Looked at the hot food - 1 piece of bacon and 3 sausages left and nothing seemed to get refilled. We stuck to the continental buffet but every time they tried to charge us for the full buffet. It's only $10 extra each plus tax and the 20% service charge but along with the $39 resort fee to sit by the pool and potentially $44 a day to park your car this can turn into a very expensive place to stay.

The guest services experience was poor and the breakfast just sucked. There are plenty of choices in the area and we have stayed in most of the Hyatt properties in Miami and Coral Gables before so we now there are better alternatives.

projectmaximus

Thanks guys, I see the garage you're talking about.

Hmm, with the negative reports I'm second guessing my plan to stay here lol. It's actually a staycation and just an attempt to burn an expiring cat 4 cert in a decent way. Hotel is just 15 miles from my house although we very very rarely get out to Miami Beach. I do have Hyatt stays already booked where I could use the cert, but none would be for more than $120 value so feels like a bit of a waste. The Confidante night I've booked is actually pricing as $680 in cash so seems like a good use...but $680 is obviously overpriced and my dates are flexible so I'm certainly not getting that much real value out of the certificate. I guess what it comes down to is do I value the staycation above $120...Considering the cash rate I doubt we'll get any upgrades or much of an early/late check in/out. Ugh...decisions decisions...first world problems.

River in Sight

Just completed a four night stay here leading up to Thanksgiving. I think this is my sixth or seventh stay, I continue to love this property although I see there are some mixed reviews lately.

Used a TSU to upgrade to the Miami Suite Balcony room on the top floor - this seemed slightly larger than the other Miami Suite Balconies I've had, very nice room and the bathroom had a window in it which was unlike the other Miami Suite Balconies. Only odd thing was the balcony was off the bedroom (unless I am getting confused, I think typically it has been off the living room) so it was a little less convenient once my son went to sleep in the bedroom. Speaking of that, a rollaway bed was provided at no charge and there was plenty of room for it in the bedroom. The room was very quiet and we never heard any outside noise.

We received a welcome amenity of 6 macarons and a half bottle of wine. The macarons were good, can't comment on the wine. I received a pre-arrival text from the hotel and they were very responsive whenever I texted them back with a question - I typically heard back in 1-2 minutes. The breakfast menu had been reduced from our last stay earlier this year, but I love eating outside and enjoyed the food. My son is an early riser so we were typically at breakfast pretty early, never had a problem with anything running out, and I appreciate that coffee is available for everyone in the lobby from 6:30.

The hotel continues to have a great happy hour deal with $4 draft beers that are available in the pool area.. very reasonable price for Miami Beach. I think I mentioned this in a prior review but Circa 39 across the street has $10 burgers at Happy Hour and I thought the burgers were pretty darn good, we went there two nights as it was convenient with our son.

The pool water was really warm (if I had to guess - it felt like high 80s) and the ocean was much warmer than I expected, and the waves were very calm which made it great for our son. As in the past, kids' toys are provided on the beach by the hotel. I had to work one day and my wife and son went to the Frost Science Museum back in Miami which they really enjoyed.

I am sorry to see some of the recent bad reviews of this hotel as I really like it, try to visit 1-2x per year, and am always looking forward to my next stay.

59Impala

I was there with my wife mid November for 5 nights. We booked the Ocean Front Suite, which is room 1228. an excellent room with a large wrap-around terrace and no pillar, so it was easy to move the lounge chairs around to follow the sun

I received a pre-arrival e-mail. I replied back, that we have an early arrival (9 am into MIA, so around 10:30 am at the hotel. They promised to speed up housekeeping to have the room ready as early as possible. When checking in, they told us the current guest has a 1pm check-out. That was fine, fully understand, especially as we were granted a 4pm checkout!. the again assured to speed up housekeeping. What I was disappointed about, was that the room nevertheless was "only" ready at 3pm. I do not call that speeding up, but simply sticking to the standard check-in time.

We received a half bottle of wine and chocolate strawberries as a welcome amenity.

On the first day of housekeeping (i.e. after the first night), we returned to our room just after 4pm and the room had not been made up. I texted the number published in the Hyatt App, and as River in Sight also stated, got a response within 1-2 minutes. I explained that I actually expect the rooms to be done by latest 1pm. We left our room after showering at 5pm, and the maid was in the same room as at 4pm, which means, our room would not have been ready at 5 pm either. we never had a service failure after that for the remaining 4 nights!

We never received any water bottles (has that tier benefit gone ?) every day I had to get water bottles from the front desk. I advised them of the issue and they said, probably the maid thinks that the mini bar staff will restock and vice versa. no idea. I mentioned it a further time, but this was never solved. There is a place in the lobby to fill water bottles, but in my view the water was not drinkable, smelled of chlorine.

Breakfast was really excellent, we enjoyed sitting outside as well. On one occasion though, the whole outside area was closed due to a private event. The event had concluded at 8:30, no one was out there, we arrived just after 9 but were unable to sit outside, as the tables after more than 30 minutes were not cleaned. We were forced (yes forced I call it) to sit inside, what for us was unbearable. way way tooo cold. I mean, we had to wear sweaters. we come from a cold place in Switzerland, we love warm weather anything above 82° and simply do not want to go on vacation to sit in an artificially cold place, when it's so nice and warm outside. I advised the waiter that I will complain about the coldness within the restaurant, and she thanked me for that, she was freezing as well. On the other days we were greeted with a "yes, you want to sit outside" - that was nice, them remembering individuals and preferences

other than the above small "failures", we really had a great stay and enjoyed the hotel. Water was warm (yes, I'd say around the 80's well), food very good, great cocktails from the pool bar, friendly service and helpful staff.. We'll return for sure (already booked for April and October, with friends on both occasions)

River in Sight

My wife and I were admiring that room from ours, we were on the top floor of the “Crown” tower and your room caught our eye. Looks like a beautiful room and I’d like to try it sometime. I don’t think our stays overlapped but if they did, sorry if we were peering at you on the balcony from afar!

The staff mentioned the cold snap you experienced, they seemed somewhat shaken up by it themselves! However it was beautiful when we were there, low 80s and sunny most days.

We also noticed the water bottles seemed to have disappeared, I assumed this was due to the new water bottle filling stations they installed in the lobby.

One other very minor change from our prior stays was the toiletries were a new scent; same brand but “champagne” instead of the lemony type scent they had before. I liked the old scent better but this one is fine too.

59Impala

Ah, that was YOU,

just to avoid any confusion... it was nice and warm/sunny outside. the cold was inside, the restaurant was cooled down way too much (I updated my post to be more specific)

In fact, this was prior to Hyatt's announcement regarding plastic waste. I mean... they handed out bottles at the FD, as much as I wanted actually.

qcb20

DEC2019: Just completed an award stay (as Globalist) to hit my 55 nights for the year. Overall, decent Cat 4 property, especially booking last minute during the busy winter season. Welcome amenity was 6 macarons and a half bottle of Napa Cab. I didn't get upgraded to a suite, rather a side-grade to a corner room (xx11) without a balcony facing Collins Ave. I got my daily bottled waters from the front desk. Breakfast lines were long, and the buffet area can be a clusterf***. Multiple hosts stated only the full buffet was included as a Globalist benefit - no a la carte dining nor Continental buffet. Resort fee and valet parking waived. I called the front desk once to get my vehicle, but they didn't pass the message along. The valet was still able to get my car in a couple of minutes. They're fast, so for the rest of the trip I just presented my ticket directly to the valet attendants.

mleef

2 rooms booked asked for a 2 on check-in on. One (flexible on other). Arrived at 230 was told a few mins. At 4pm still no rooms had a talk with front desk and was told one room in 15 mins. Received first room after 5 and 2nd room shortly thereafter.

Room was missing basics (shampoo and cork screw) and overall experience has been crap thus far.


Disappointed

electronicmaji

I'm arriving tomorrow around noon. I'm expecting them to not have a room ready, but I'm hoping I can just lounge around the pool/beach while I wait.

I'll report on how things go.

roder

Just completed a 3 night weekend stay at the Confidante and I was completely underwhelmed by the property.

I can confirm that the Globalist breakfast benefit was in fact strictly limited to the Buffet. At $32 "retail" I can definitively say that anyone paying for the pathetic spread they had available was easily getting the worst deal in Miami. I was even charged $6 extra for ordering a cappuccino (only 'regular' coffee is included) I found it absolutely infuriating that the ala carte menu had many good looking items, at half the price, that I was not allowed select as a substitute-- confirmed by both the waitstaff, restaurant management, and the front desk. The front desk apologized and gave me a $30 resort credit as an apology.

The $22 charge for the umbrella and $19 for an extra beach chair is also insulting, and I found the WiFi to be completely useless throughout my entire stay. I would have been doubly as angry on both accounts if I had been charged the resort fee (Waived as a Globalist)

I also requested a late checkout on my last day, and was informed it could not be accommodated as they were sold out. However, that was a flat-out lie.. they were selling all available room types on both the day of my request, and day of my departure. However, they refused to relent and I ended up checking out shortly after noon. I overheard another Globalist check-in as I was storing my bags and he was being upgraded to the Ocean Front Suite. So clearly, they were just simply not interested in honoring the request.

Also, warning that the hotel charges a $4 package handling charge if you get anything delivered to the hotel. And despite requesting turndown service on two nights, it was either incompletely delivered one night (towels left on the counter, no other refresh) and completely ignored the second (room was not serviced, we needed the sheets changed and we ended up doing it ourselves)

While a 'deal/ at 15k points/night for an Oceanfront Property, I would definitely choose a different hotel on my next stay in Miami Beach.

joe_miami

Sounds similar to my stay. I mentioned several issues when I filled out the post-stay Hyatt survey but never heard back, which was the icing on the cake.

roder

I will also note that for anyone STILL deciding to stay here, I would highly recommend having lunch or happy hour poolside at the Cadillac (Bungalow By The Sea) which we found excellent and 1 min walk away (and not having to deal with the horrible Confidante Beach attendants/app).. and also would look at Cecconi's at the Soho Beach House (<5 min walk) for dinner and/or drinks.

The added benefit, of course, is diverting as much incidental spend away from a hotel that clearly does not appreciate your business.

mbmd

Confidante is a hard pass and should be avoided unless you are looking to burn a cat 1-4 cert. Betsy Hotel (SLH property) has been our go to since it was added to the portfolio. Much better location, hotel, food, and overall experience. Granted Betsy is a cat 6 and Confidante is a cat 4, but the properties are worlds apart.