seegs

Thanks for sharing. Smart strategy from W for only allowing room service breakfast, doubt it gets fully utilized as a benefit.

phil009

seegs

Nice! Did you select all the options or only Oasis? What floor was Oasis on? Read a review that they're actually on lower level and quite loud with club music below overnight.

My fingers are crossed that they oversold lower level rooms and will upgrade accordingly to suites. I'm there over new years and the only rooms available are the suites. Lowest 3 levels are sold out.

beachmiles

CLEguy

Yes, resort fees were added in the past few years. You'll be charged it on an award stay, unfortunately.

Early check-in will depend on how full the property is. I would reach out directly to see if it can be arranged, but no promises. There is a hospitality suite that you can use to change your clothes if you'd like to wait by the pool.

bgriff

Was just here over the weekend. Overall I like the hotel, even if it has its annoyances. I last stayed at this hotel in 2009 shortly after it opened, and overall not too much has changed.

I am Titanium Elite and was traveling with two other friends, both Ambassador Elites (and all of our spouses), and we had all booked Spectacular Studios on points for a Friday and Saturday night stay. I applied SNAs, which got messed up due to some now-routine IT issues at Bonvoy but fortunately the Lurkers were able to sort it out and I received an Oasis Suite as expected. Neither of the others used SNAs, but one of them who checked in around 4pm got a Marvelous Suite (which is a higher room type than the Oasis or Fantastic Suites on offer for SNAs) and the other who checked in around 9pm got a Fantastic Suite.

The most pleasant surprise of the trip was that the friend who checked in around 4pm was told their room wasn't ready yet but without even any complaint was offered a $100 F&B credit to make up for it. I checked in around 4:30pm and my room likewise wasn't ready, and again without even complaining I was offered a $150 F&B credit. Both of our rooms were ready around 4:45pm so it was a particularly high apology to inconvenience ratio for me. (How I got a bigger F&B credit, as a lower elite level and with a shorter wait, is a mystery; my only theory is that maybe having used the SNAs meant I appeared in the system as a confirmed suite guest while the others were getting upgraded day of.)

(When I stayed here in 2009, we had several mishaps with housekeeping taking forever and rooms not being ready, which at the time seemed to be because the hotel hadn't properly staffed up housekeeping to account for the large rooms and full kitchens meaning extra burden on the housekeeping staff. Based on the lack of room availability, even with the hotel rarely to never allowing late checkout, it seems maybe they still haven't figured this issue out 10 years later? Similarly, there was a knock on the door at 10pm on Friday night offering a turndown service, which was much later than I've ever seen that before.)

Oasis Suite was quite nice, I particularly appreciate any suite with an extra half bath. It would be big enough to be a functional big city one-bedroom apartment (and even already offers the features like full kitchen and washer/dryer). Marvelous Suite had a great view with wraparound windows in the corner of the building, though my friends staying there initially thought the Oasis was a higher category since it's bigger and Marvelous lacks the extra half bath. Fantastic Suite is perfectly nice by any objective standards though feels much more cramped in comparison to the other two.

As others have mentioned, breakfast is underwhelming -- main option is a continental breakfast through room service only. Offering includes coffee or tea (the french press coffee was IMO much worse than the Nespresso available in the room), a wide selection of juices, and two choices: cereal or yogurt, and pastry basket or fruit. Each selection can be made separately for each person. No delivery fee was charged and gratuity was included (I think/hope? No check was presented to sign). For a short stay it actually worked kind of well, since I didn't want to be stuffed with a big breakfast before going to the pool, and I enjoyed being able to have the food from in-room dining and enjoy the suite and balcony. One of my friends was told something about there being an option of a discount on the buffet with the breakfast amenity (or possibly as a separate elite benefit?), but the one time I tried to follow up on it the phone operator didn't know what I was talking about, so can't confirm the details there.

There was an advertised elite happy hour sort of thing from 6-8pm on Saturday night, with some snacks and complimentary bubbles, though we ended up not bothering as it was being served in a small area of the Living Room bar and there weren't any seats available when we got there. It's a nice thought though. I saw a flyer as we were checking out that there appeared to be another such event Sunday afternoon.

Late check-out was basically not available, as expected. One of my friends was offered noon (vs. 11am standard checkout) which I suspect falls within a standard grace period anyway; I called the night before checkout and was told it was too soon to say and that I should call back in the morning, which I didn't bother to do.

Pool and beach are nice, but getting seats at the pool remains a sh*tshow. On Saturday there was a wait for chairs as of 11am or so. Lots of chairs were under-used despite a stated policy of chairs vacant for 30 minutes being forfeited; I can see how that would be hard to enforce, but in reality the staff didn't seem to be even trying. Chairs are readily available on the beach, but umbrella rentals cost $25++ each. Food and drink service at the pool was fairly good although it was occasionally hard to track down a server and a few orders took absurdly long to arrive.


All that said, I was still perfectly happy with the value of a 60K/night points redemption for the weekend, considering cash rates would have been around $1k/night or more (even if I would never have paid that cash rate). It helped that the weather was warm and perfect while it snowed back home. I would happily go back to W despite its issues even at the higher points price, although I'd probably also consider the Ritz (where I've also stayed a few times, before the current renovations) in the future since the W's elite breakfast doesn't really add a ton of value, although even with Titaniums and Ambassadors being eligible in theory for suite upgrades at the Ritz, I suspect they'll be much harder to come by than at the W. I haven't stayed there but I also might try the Edition at some point.

chazas

I just spent 2 days there on a redemption and was surprisingly happy about it. Standard redemptions were available for the spectacular studio category, which is not the lowest room category (nice views, quiet, higher floors). My room wasn't ready at 3:30 pm when I got there, even though check in time was 4 pm I didn't get one until about 4:30. It really wasn't a big deal, I was waiting for a friend who didn't arrive until even later. Nevertheless I had apology texts from my "elite insider" and emails from both the hotel manager and the front desk manager, and was separately for no particular reason I can tell comped a bottle of Sangria and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, and some nice candies. Almost a bit of overkill for a mere gold, but nice. The weird events and velvet ropes and doormen were as annoying as expected but dealable, and the living room was a fun place for a drink and people watching at the end of a long evening. On a cloudy day there were plenty of seats by the pool. The oddest thing was an elite reception they held in one of the penthouse suites for all elites - odd because it was just two couples lounging around and watching TV on the couch with some snacks on the dining table. Fun to see the rooptop terrace and view for a few minutes, but we didn't stay. I wouldn't say it's going to be my favorite place to go, exactly, but mostly worth the high redemption rate and a good option for Miami.

yerffej201

any recent stays?
what categories do SNA clear into?

bgriff

As of last year there were a few SNA options, including some to proper suites (unlike a lot of hotels these days). This hotel has a lot of suites so it's usually a good bet for upgrades in general.

yerffej201

I’m trying to book a points stay and over my dates they want to charge a deposit of $2800... that you forfeit if you cancel 14 days in advance. Kinda weird given this covid day and age. Has anyone encountered this?

beachmiles

i have a couple of reservations booked with points, and have stayed here in the past. I do not think you will be charged the deposit. If your dates are more than 14 days out, book it , and keep an eye on your credit card.
they might hold you to the 14 day cancellation.
remember, this is Florida, they are not likely to shut down anymore.

dugu

I booked a 5-night stay at this hotel using points, and just received an email telling me that if I cancel within 14 days of the reservation, they'll charge me $8200!! I didn't know they can charge more than what it costs to make the reservation (in this case, my 280,000 Marriott points). We do intend to make the stay, but worry about unforeseen events such as flight delays, government-imposed shut down, etc. Any suggestions?

yerffej201

yeah, that's what i thought. crazy

skywalkerLAX

Just enter an old cc and be done with it.

yerffej201

In the past on paid rez when I've done that they've emailed me saying here's a preauth cc form and pay now or your rez will be cancelled.