BlissWorld

Please do

Starwood Lurker

There is no resort fee at this property...yet.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

BlissWorld

I'll do a mini trip report

pictures can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/dunkindonuts

Check in
What attitude ? Seriously, I just don't get it with people equating W with attitude . The check in agents could not have been friendlier. In fact, 2 check in agents were both talking to me asking me about my trip from CA (and one of the agents went on and talked about her nasty brothers trashing her apartment the night before, but I digress ). She confirmed my room but told me it wasn't quite ready yet (at 6PM? weird) but told me to hang out by the living room and gave me some flavored water and pastries (yummo). Within 10 minuets, she came by to give me the key. Oh btw, late check out was granted until 1PM (vs standard 11am). I probably could have pushed until 3, but I didn't bother . And, I had some issues on the second day so I went to the front desk, and she spotted me immedaitely and remembered my name ^

Room/Suite
I liked the suite I got. I'm not sure what the name was, but there was a $25,000 a night price tag in the closet Overpriced is an understatement. I LOOOOOOOVED the hallway with floor to ceiling windows that lead to a bright and airy corner living with floor to ceiling windows with panoramic Miami view. The hallway reminded me of a South Beach gallery. There was a day bed by the foyer, leading to a kitchen on the left, then to the living room (pictures can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/dunkindonuts). There was a 1/2 bath by the foyer. The master bedroom had a large ocean front terrace/patio with 2 day beds and an outdoor shower...el fresco . Everything was done tastefully. The best part of the room was the master bathroom. In addition to 2 separate sinks, there was a HUGE plunge tub that fits 4 easily. The Whatever/whenever manager sent a bottle of wine to help me unwind a bit. That was a nice touch

Room Service
I ordered room service for one evening and found the food to be good, but way overpriced. Seriously, why does everything cost an arm and a leg in Miami (even more $$$$ than NYC!)? The food was good, but definitely not worth the $85 a pop price tag.

Restaurants
There were Mr. Chow and Solea (sp?). We wanted to try Mr. Chow but it was way too crowded so went to Solea instead. The food was good, but again way over priced with little substance. I would definitely SKIP all restaurants at this hotel and go elsewhere. We decided to stay in because it was raining with hurricane winds that evening.

Pool
The pool was a bit disappointing. It looked lame, actually. We skipped it entirely and went to the ocean steps away

Staff/Valet
The valet and staff were excellent. Everyone I spoke to was friendly and seemed happy to be working at the hotel. Valet was excellent. Whenever I called for my car, it would be waiting for me at the front door everytime ^ Superb ^

Location
I find the location to be decent. Although about 20 blocks away from the popular areas of South Beach, it's close enough to some shops and restaurants near Lincoln Square (Tourist trap!) but hey, at least you have some options.

Overall
I enjoyed my stay, but was a bit disappointed at the hotel. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a fastastic property. But, at $400 per night for a standard room and SPG cat 6, it's a bit disappointing. I've seen better hotels in the SPG system for less price. And, it's not as "ocean front" as I had thought. I actually preferred the ocean front feel at Westin Diplomat, another ^ property. All in all, a solid W hotel with excellent service, but a bit overpriced.

Again, photos can be found: www.flickr.com/photos/dunkindonuts

NDDomer86

This is just because it's South Beach . You should see what I'm going to be able to rent my place out here for per month (I was a bit shocked to say the least). It puts the hotel rates into perspective (albeit doesn't justify them).

BlissWorld

It's a bit ridiculous. I don't think South Beach is all that (). I'll stay in LA, thanks

rolov

That location is the new popular area in Miami Beach, the Gansevoort South is next door, the Raleigh, Shore Club, Setai, even the Ritz are all right in the same vicinity (between 2300-1700 Collins) and they are all the same "Beach Front" where the pool is first, then you can walk out to the walking path and beach.

BlissWorld

Ritz is right in the smack middle of lincoln square/rd and I consider lincoln square the dead center of tourist trap. I like the area all the way down to the South tip of Miami Beach, which is 20 blocks away from W.

rolov

To me the tourist trap starts a few blocks south, right at the Loews. All the hotels I named have great pools and restaurants so there is no need to leave except to go to another hotel.

I know what area you are talking about, I think they call it South Pointe or something like that, That is where Nikki Beach is , and the Inlet where the Cruise ships depart from. It is a great area as well.

NDDomer86

This is the South of Fifth area, funny you should mention it as it's where my place is . It's where the Marriott is, and has for the longest time been considered "too far" away from the action, but is now very up and coming.

As for the W, I guess I'm a bit of an oddity, as I consider it "too far" North for my tastes

Leezell

Super quick review:

My wife and I used our free weekend nights over Labor Day weekend, and could not have been happier. Some thoughts:

• Yes, it's north, but no biggie. Wife and I had dinner & drinks at Big Pink Friday night and walked all the way back.
• Agree with earlier post, we had ZERO attitude thrown our way. If anything, the attitude was almost awkwardly goofy and good-natured.
• Beach was fantastic. 5 minutes from our room to beachside. We brought a collapsing cooler with us to ensure we stayed hydrated for cheap...
• You can save $10/day in parking by parking on one of the side streets. We had a spot right in front of the hotel, and I just stopped by twice a day to get a new meter tag.
• We were bumped up to a Superior suite, can't imagine wanting anything larger. With poor weather on Saturday, it was nice to relax in a spacious room with plenty of entertainment options.
• No review of the restaurants here, as we went elsewhere for all meals or snacked in the room.

Was it worth $400/night? For my wife and I, yes, we'd spend that much to stay here in the future. I can't imagine wanting to stay at the Delano or Ritz over this.

JBauer

here's a quick review from sept...

Used our FWN for 2 nights. As a Plat we were upgraded to a huge suite - a bedroom, living room, kitchen, entertainment/guest room and 2 balconies -- just huge and must cost a fortune. So hard to complain about anything else. Nice location -- short cab ride to the restaurants and all...or you can walk to shopping on Collins. The pool is amazing -- very cool and nice. The chairs are great and very comfortable, though be prepared for the pool boys to seat you and place 3 towels under you (so be prep to tip). The beach is just beyond the pool and they have a great private area -- though umbrellas cost $15 a day...not outrageous. The Spa is not open yet -- will open in Sept, when the hotel has an official opening...There is def a "scene" at this hotel. Be prepared to dress -- or feel under-dressed. Not a great place for kids, but perfect for couples...a few "issues" that were probably growing pains:


-BEWARE- there is a 20% service charge on everything included at pool and beach. My waiter did not mention it to me when giving the bill and it is kind of "hidden." When i asked if this was his tip, he kind of shrugged it off as "oh yeah." they clearly expect more from you.
- I called down for some extra soap. Said they would bring it right up. It never arrived. Two hours later I stopped by the front desk to tell them -- still no soap an hour later, but i was able to stop a passing maid cart and grab some.
- I mentioned to them it was our anniversary and they sent up a bottle of champagne (happens a lot for me as a Plat member). Well, the wife is prego so not drinking. rather than have it go to waste, i mentioned to the front desk they can come and grab it and I thanked them for the gesture. The man at the front desk said, well then, thanks we will send something else up. They never did -- and they never did come to grab the unused bottle.
-On the beach I ordered a $17 grilled cheese with tomato sandwich. When the waiter brought it, it did not have tomato. I mentioned that to him and he said he'd bring a side plate of tomato -- i said for $17 i expect the tomato to be cooked on the sandwich...he wss annoyed.
-Finally, the non-drinking wife ordered a virgin-pina on the beach. It cost $16. Not unusual for a alcoholic drink, but crazy for a virgin (we asked, it was not a mistake).

Overall, a very nice and swanky place. Very Miami South Beach.

hhoope01

My wife and I just finished our 1 night here on our way to St. Kitts.

Overall, I would rate the hotel staff highly (for the most part) and say that they still seem to have some "opening" issues. I have to say that everyone there was very nice, smiled a lot, and were helpful. No "attitudes" that I could see anywhere.

We checked in last night. I have to say I'm not sure the hotel was prepared to handle a full load of people. We had to wait almost 25 minutes to check-in as there were only 4 front desk agents and quite a few people waiting in line. We arrived around 4:00pm. Two things I suggested. One was that when there is a crowd, they might want to have some of their Concierges help out with checking in. They were not always busy and it could have helped move people through the queue faster. The 2nd was that they normally spend quite a bit of time talking with each person about what a "W" is, the SouthBeach W itself and what it has to offer. This can take about 10+ minutes per group logging in.

At checking we were upgraded to what they called a Fantastic Suite in room 301 (even though the hotel was full last night.) Well, I'm not sure that I would call it a "Fantastic" suite, how about a "Sauna" Suite. The temp in the room was over 90 F when we arrived and the AC was already on full blast and set to 65. We had the maintenance manager come down and he admitted that the x01 rooms which have a glass wall to be a problem with cooling especially in the afternoons as the sun beats down right into the room. I called down to see about getting another room. After about 1.5 hrs in the "Sauna" room, they put us in a normal room, 1220 which after the sauna I might call a "Heavenly" room as it was actually cooled. Another problem with the x01 rooms is that they are the furthest rooms in the hotel from the ocean and have no ocean view at all (unless you want to lean out over the balcony railing which will then only give a partial view at best.) I was a bit surprised that the hotel would give their most problem ridden and worst view rooms to their "Plats". But then it hit me that everyone was probably asking for different rooms as you couldn't sit in the room for very long with it being as hot as it was in there.

When we checked in to our new room, 1220, we looked around and noticed that someone had already helped themselves to one of the Vodka bottles. So I had to call the front desk again to get them to replace it, as I didn't want to be charged for something I didn't have the pleasure to consume.

Next, we wanted to go over to Lincoln Ave to walk around and eat dinner. The concierge stated that they have a complementary car and driver who could take us over, but that we have to make a reservation for the time, which we then did. Unfortunately, one of the concierges either didn't know about the reservations, didn't care about them, or forgot, as when we checked-in at our scheduled time, he had just put someone in the car and it had left. The other concierge, promptly lit into him pretty strongly. It led me to believe that he had done this more than once before. Needless to say, she appologized, went to the front desk to get some cash and flagged us a cab to take us over. So the issue from my point of view taken care of. (and hopefully the other concierge doesn't keep doing that.)

Finally, when we checked out, of course there was the obligatory beach umbrella charge that we never made. So after getting that taken care of we were on our way to the airport (where I'm at now) and waiting for our St. Kitts flight.

As I mentioned, most of the issues will slowly get worked out as the hotel deals with them. My biggest concern is giving Plats those x01 "sauna" suites. Even my wife who sleeps under 10 lbs of blankets every night was hot in that room.

ThisDJ

I don't now that calling Lincoln Road Mall a tourist trap is accurate, there are plenty of locals that grab some food at some of the restaurants on the mall and while some of the shops are a bit dodgy, there's also some decent boutiques.

KENNECTED

Miami Beach in itself is a tourist trap. Lincoln Road mall along with Collins and Ocean, between 5 and 12 are tourist areas.

The locals support because things are clustered in those two areas.

BlissWorld

Glad to see we agree on something