Frank S.
Yelp
The Arlo Wynwood is a beautiful, modern hotel located in the up and coming Wynwood neighborhood in Miami. There's a pool on the roof, which was great, but the canned music is so loud you have to shout to be heard. The drinks at the bar and breakfast were crazy expensive. The grab and go was devoid of much of any breakfast foods at 10:00am. We opted out of the hotel restaurant for dinner.
The neighborhood has a funky, East Village kind of feel, and appears to be going through a transition. There are lots of new businesses and lots of closed up ones. In other reviews I've seen some people have said the Wynwood neighborhood feels unsafe but we didn't feel that way. The only downside to the neighborhood is the noise. It's probably not the best area to stay in if you're a light sleeper. This was our first trip to Miami, so I have no idea how the noise in Wynwood compares to other Miami neighborhoods. The hotel has an outdoor bar in the courtyard that was very loud one night we were there, but was quiet the next three nights. The music shut off around 11:00pm so it wasn't a big issue for us.
Our issues were with the plumbing, light fixtures, and the fact that items that normally are in the hotel room weren't there. If you need extra blankets, pillows, more coffee (only 3 caffeinated coffee pods per day doesn't really work for 2 people) or ice, you have to call down to the lobby. We've always tipped hotel staff when they've brought items to our room, but we ran out of cash very quickly and the front desk doesn't have any cash, so you can't break larger bills there or get more cash without leaving the hotel.
We arrived exhausted and wanted to shower to freshen up, but our first room's shower had a clogged drain. There was no floor barrier between the shower stall, the bathroom and the bedroom, so the room flooded instantly. The shower stall has 3 knobs, a tub faucet, a sprayer and a shower fixture. Two of the knobs don't appear to do anything, and the third controls everything, although sometimes one of the other knobs allowed us to adjust the temperature, but it was inconsistent. It takes running the water a solid 4 minutes before it starts to warm up, but it's impossible to know if you're setting the fixture correctly because it takes so long for the water to heat up. When I tried using the sprayer the water instantly became so hot I couldn't hold on to it (I'm a chef, I have a high tolerance for holding hot things) and the temperature couldn't be adjusted. I'm lucky I didn't get scalded by the spray. The sink's hot water knob fell off if you touched it. The manager was very helpful and found us another, similar room with a working drain, but the fixtures had the same issues.
The light switches are marked "down lights" but turn the lights on and off, some outlets didn't work and the in room charging ports were mostly useless. The bathroom lights are on a timer and there's no nightlight. It was unseasonably cold while we were there but the thermostat in the room does absolutely nothing, it's just for show evidently. We were freezing and asked for extra blankets, but the "blankets" they brought were light cotton.
We had to request luggage racks, the "closet" only had 4 hangers and was narrow and the rack was perpendicular to the wall and had no lip at the end so if you wanted something towards the back you had to take everything else out or your clothes ended up on the floor. There were unnerving brown stains on the floor. The cleaning staff left a full bag of garbage on the bench (which is their substitute for a couch) and didn't clean up the coffee area. The elevator requires you to use your room key and a touch screen to access it from the outside, there are no buttons or screens inside the elevator. It was impossible to access streaming services on the TV.
All in all, although the staff was mostly great, we had an awful time there. I understand their desire to be modern and cutting edge, but the room felt more like a room full of mirrors at a carnival fun house than a place where we could relax. Light fixtures and bathroom fixtures don't really need to be reinvented.