Michael M.
Yelp
There are a few basics one tends to assume when booking a room in Miami during the summer. Hot and cold running water might be one. Climate control might be another. Sadly Aqua was unable to provide these seemingly basic asks. Worse, the photos on their site are not representative of the rooms I saw.
The climate control in the rooms in Aqua is centrally run. It doesn't appear that the system runs more in the evening, or less in the morning. That means that, in the warmer parts of the day, your room may match outdoor temperatures, and in the morning, you may find the room unreasonably cold. There is no way of altering the temperature. The vent lazily allows cool air into the room without any correlation with conditions.
The lobby is cool and comfortable. It's a shame that they've extended a level of comfort to their working environment that they are unwilling or unable to extend to their guests.
Plumbing is another problem. In the first room I was assigned, the toilet seat was a different size than the toilet. With the seat extending off the end of the toilet, the porcelain rim encroached on the opening, making it likely you'll sit on the forward rim of the basin.
In the second room, where I spent most of my time, the toilet seat did match the toilet. Unfortunately, the pedestal sink overlapped the toilet, requiring the toilet user to lean hard to the left at all times.
The shower was no better. Make no mistake, the bathrooms do not remotely resemble the lovely, fresh, and renovated bathrooms on the Aqua website. I'm sure these rooms are part of the property somewhere, but they hadn't done anything at all similar where I was staying.
The shower tile has been painted over, seemingly with a roller. The tile peeks through in the many places where the paint, subject to constant water exposure, has failed to gain sufficient purchase on the slick tile.
Flaking paint notwithstanding, the water delivery in the shower was something I never understood. I was unable to find a correlation between the position of the handle and the temperature of the water dispensed. I once ran the shower for twenty minutes before giving up and taking a cold shower. Near the end, it turned warm. Another time, hot water was dispensed almost immediately, then cold water, then scalding water, and then cold water. Something is wrong with the plumbing.
I had to iron my clothes dry each day, because any water added would immediately run out the bottom. I probably could have obtained some satisfaction here, but by this point, I was done.
Unlike others, I did find the sheets to be clean and the WiFi was acceptable.