heronb

I'll be staying in Miami for 11 days in June and would like to know if FS or MO are a good choice for a 'city' stay.

Staying in SoBe for a portion of the trip and would like to see a different side to Miami. The things that are a must for me are location to restaurants and shopping in pleasant surroundings. Next on the list is a good pool, but not pool scene if you know what I mean.

I know very little about the downtown area of Miami and any advice would be welcome.

Has the FS or MO had any renovations recently? One thing that I see sometimes is a reference to a property not being a real MO (or FS)?
Any other recommendations would be welcome although I'm not looking for the quintessential beach resort.

Many thanks

BaumeMercier

MO is a much better option. FS is a pure business hotel and the service is focused a lot towards their residents and not the hotel guests.
FS only has one restaurant while MO has more to offer.
Honestly location wise FS is better for me, as there are more restaurants close by and perhaps a bit more lively.
But all in all MO is definitely the right choice for rooms, service, food, views etc.

luxury1996

Mandarin Oriental, hands down! Not only they have better dining option but they also have a Spa to die for!

CGRA

disagree on the SPA, while the facilities are nice (even without vitality pool),
I had a facial and a hot stone massage :

the facial was sometimes painful and the hot stone were taking a lot of times to get hot and were often not hot (nor even warm)

IMHO one of the less attractive MO spa

Hotelsforlife

MO for sure. Much more like a resort.

Goodmorning2U

I prefer the Four Seasons. The pool and gym are vastly superior to the MO.

TRAVELSIG

I also prefer the Four Seasons although I do rate it as one of the lower Four Seasons I have stayed at. The pool area is nice. You are walking distance from a few restaurants at the Four Seasons whereas from the MO you will need to take a cab most places. I do find both hotels to be over-rated. If you are on SOBE anyway- why not just stay at the Setai (also not perfect but maybe the better option)?

robyng

Have you ever been in Miami before? There is really no "city or downtown" to speak of. Downtown - well you have the courthouse - and some office buildings - and the basketball arena - and some other stuff (like the place where the cruise ships dock). But no one would ever confuse it with even 10 square blocks in London.

South of downtown - a couple of miles give or take - there is the Brickell Avenue area. Which is where the MO and FS are both located. It is the type of area that is kind of peculiar to parts of the US - especially the SE. An area that is dense with office buildings - and condos - but not much else. It is not a "walking around" area (unless one cares to walk from one big building to another - which a lot of area residents do for exercise). There are few restaurants in the immediate area - and almost no shopping at all.

My husband and I lived in Miami for 20+ years - and still return there for business reasons every 2-3 years. We stay at the FS. It's a decent business hotel. Rooms are fine. The pools (one swimming - one lounging) are very nice. Last time we were there (a couple of years ago) - the in-house restaurants were awful.

Just FWIW - as a long time resident of Florida (40+ years) - well we don't have any real cities here. When I travel - I like to visit nice cities - and I always leave Florida (this year's city trips are to Toronto and Tokyo). Robyn

sedonanative

I would never recommend MO Miami to anyone. The building is dreadful and while the SPA is fine, so many other details (like having to walk through a bar to get to the gym) are poorly executed. Because of your criteria you seem especially ill-suited to it.

First, MO isn't exactly desolate but it's just far enough from restaurants to make walking difficult, especially if someone in your party is wearing heels... FS does have terrible in house restaurants but it is slightly easier to get around.

Second, the MO pool is terrible. It isn't exactly rowdy, but it is not peaceful. More families go to MO than to FS and the crowd at MO seems a little like they are just about to embark on a Carnival Cruise. The fake beach area is not impressive (and again feels like something you'd experience on a Caribbean cruise). The FS pool is significantly larger and less crowded.

heronb

Thanks for the replies, I expected contrasting views but not expressed in such a negative degree.

Robyng - I've been to SoBe before for a couple of days, but never ventured into Downtown hence the question. The important aspects for the stay are a top quality hotel with restaurants close by in a nice neighbourhood, Brickell appears to have this?

The FS seems to have the edge here and I'll need to investigate this further, any other recommendations?

Goodmorning2U

The courthouse is beautiful! You should see the probate office decorated for Halloween.

robyng

Hi heronb - To get an idea of the Brickell Avenue neighborhood - you can look at you tubes like this one (turn off the music - it's awful!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H3-_njzGQ8

Brickell Avenue is a nice residential and business neighborhood. There are restaurants in the neighborhood - but no impressive ones IMO.

I've only been in the MO once - for dinner - a very long time ago (when Michelle Bernstein was the chef there). So I can't compare the hotels. The FS is ok. But - for me - it's a decent business hotel (we go to see our accountant - whose office is in the neighborhood). Nothing special.

And the area isn't anything special either in terms of being a tourist destination (IMO). I wouldn't go there on a vacation (although it was a nice area to live in when my husband and I were both working in downtown Miami - we spent time living on Brickell Avenue - on Key Biscayne - and in Coconut Grove).

If I were going to south Florida and wanted to stay in a second place outside of SoBe - I'd probably pick Palm Beach. Because Palm Beach is pretty special. There's all that money there (and it shows - it's jaw dropping). Some good hotels. Good restaurants. High end shopping. Golf and tennis. The beach. A couple of museums worth visiting. A totally different vibe than Miami Beach - but I think it's fun. My favorite hotel in Palm Beach is the The Breakers (simply because it's "one of a kind"). But - if you have any interest - you can read the threads here about luxury hotels in Palm Beach. Note that Palm Beach was a favorite "short vacation" destination for us when we lived in Miami.

Anyway - just my 2 cents. Perhaps other people who have tried to do luxury vacations in Florida can add their 2 cents as well. Robyn

robyng

Was there a recent renovation? Or is your tongue planted firmly in your cheek ?

Note that I'm a retired lawyer - and used to go there all the time (my office was across the street). It's not a place I ever cared to revisit (so perhaps I did miss a splendid renovation).

FWIW - the downtown courthouse is known in the Cuban community as "cielito lindo" ("beautiful sky"). Because whereas the jails in Cuba were dark dank dungeon-like places - the jail in Miami was at the top of this courthouse - bright and airy. Hence the nickname. Robyn

mr_rogers

MO, no question about it.

LarkSFO

This is the part I would reconsider if I were you...

Are you stuck there on business, or is it possible to stay somewhere else entirely for part of your stay?

My partner and I enjoy baseball, and did like the Marlins stadium. Check out the Clevelander outpost in left field for some pure spectacle...