Balfour

The hotel location is excellent. The pictures online are a bit deceiving when they show that it is a resort. The rooms and specially the bathrooms are very tiny. Being a water facing hotel with beach access, there are no hooks in the room or and place to dry wet clothes. The worst is the restaurant billing. We stayed for 5 days and paid for breakfast ahead. We got one toast, coffee and and some cut fruit. And they were charging us service fee and hefty gratuity. We ordered some extra food and the bill had lot of extra charges. They reduced it a bit but never provided a final bill. So we don’t know what they charged us for. Be careful. If you eat at the restaurant, pay right there so they do t charge it to your room.accounting is very shady.

I’m not usually one to leave reviews but feel I need to as the high rating currently on this hotel is quite deceiving. I also hope that the hotel may be able to take on some of this feedback. Our stay was fine - we survived. However , there is a large gap for improvement in this hotel. Firstly , the first receptionist we met when checking in was quite rude. There is $42 mandatory resort fee per night that is not mentioned anywhere when booking. There is also a $100 deposit per night so just be aware when arriving. Other receptionists we met throughout our stay were not rude. The construction works outside the hotel are awful. They start extremely early in the morning and are so loud they might as well be in the room with you. If you plan on getting a decent sleep, this hotel is not for you. The hotel offers a welcome drink per guest. We were tired and didn’t want to sit at the bar where there was no atmosphere so asked to take our drinks back to our room. Firstly, the bar man said he was too busy to make our drinks as he had a large table (there was only one table with people at the restaurant). Then he said we couldn’t bring a glass back to our room. Maybe this is normal but we have never experienced this in another hotel. Lastly, the condition of the rooms and the hotel in general could be largely improved. The stains all over the ancient carpet is not a good look. The pool is the size of a bath and the pool water felt slimey. The coffee machine and shower were both broken in our room. And there was dust everywhere. Only positive about the hotel is the location.

I had a great stay at The Balfour Hotel. Sophie and Coolie (sorry if I misspelled) were extremely wonderful receptionists. They were very accommodating and the hotel staff overall were very pleasant. The room was nice and cozy and the beach was conveniently located. The on sight restaurant, plunge pool and rooftop were also a great bonus. I would definitely stay again!

greetings, this hotel recently joined to Accor. So status benefits are honored. This hotel is very good for cozy beach staying, but not so good for the business needs. The rooms have very poor amenities, even not include some glass cups , only paper one :) no welcome amenities as well. The beach services are wonderful, you have all the package. Please do not take prepaid included breakfast , it is very poor for its 20$ money. Nearby there is plenty of shops or Burger King in 1 km to get 2x bigger breakfast with some plenty of meat included))

We were really happy with our stay. The price isn’t high given the area and we had a lovely time. The staff were all super friendly and helpful throughout the stay. They let us check in early and then keep our bags at the desk on our last day after we checked out. This made the stay feel a lot more expensive that they didn’t nickel and dime you over things. I love the style of this hotel, and the courtyard is so nice and never busy. It has a smaller plunge pool with a nice setup, but when you’re so close to the beach, it’s a no brainer choose the beach. The free umbrella and chairs were a MUST every day. Seriously such a plus!!! 🏖️ Our room had no issues- cute decor, comfy bed, coffee machine, great robes. It’s super nice to stay here and have the restaurant as a quick option for happy hour drinks or an appetizer. Our bartenders and hotel staff were always extremely polite and friendly! Pls sponsor me next time

I'll preface this by saying that I'm not leaving this review in the hopes of getting anything in return, I just simply think that this property could really use this feedback, if they choose. The Balfour is a lovely old hotel, like many in the area. Since it's old, you can expect smaller rooms with old charming fixtures and creaky floorboards. That's part of the experience and certainly not why I'm leaving a "negative" review. Our experience was made bad by the lack of customer service surrounding two key instances. 1. The second day we were at the hotel, there was a notable sewer smell as we passed the second floor and upon arriving onto the third floor. It was so strong in the hallways that I suspected that there was a backup somewhere, which I mentioned to another guest who said she could hardly stand to be around it and had to step outside or she would be sick. I went down to the reception desk and asked the front desk clerk why the strong sewer smell had suddenly appeared. She simply replied, "I don't smell it!" and dismissed me. I sat in the lobby for a bit and noticed that she did go over to the hallway and then called over some staff and had a whispered conversation with them. A simple response of, "Let me look into that for you!" or "I'm sorry you're experiencing that, let me see what I can do." would have gone SO much further than pretending the problem didn't exist. 2. The first day we arrived, there was water out in the lobby with cups provided. This was very welcome after a long journey. That night, though, when we arrived home - there were no cups available. Knowing that we didn't have any water in our rooms (unless we wanted to spend $8 on the warm bottles in the room for us to purchase), we asked the woman behind the front desk if she could replenish the water cups. She said that there would be no more water provided for the night, as they were out of cups. The next day, the water was removed entirely. It remained gone for the entirety of our 3 day stay. Since the restaurant/bar was under construction and closed (though we were told it would be hen on the second day of our stay, which it was not), there was no other way for us to get a cup of water. The bathroom sinks were so old and I couldn't fit my water bottle under the spigot. We asked the front desk multiple times if we could have a cup of water, and were denied. Water is such a small thing that can drastically improve the quality of a guests' stay, but so does friendliness and accommodation from the front desk staff. We paid nearly $50/day in a resort fee, surely that could have covered a couple bottles of water to make up for their construction project. I'd recommend staying elsewhere in this area. The other hotels are all equally charming and in a tremendous location, but I'm sure their staff are trained better and will hopefully improve the quality of your stay as a result.

Overall the stay was good, we booked a King Room that was roomy (a bit tired but I can forgive that due to the art deco building). Great location across from the beach and just out of the busy hub on Miami’s night life. Cons would be the loud music from the speakers outside that go until 11:30pm ish and are turned on early than ideal in the morning. The way the room is designed, we also had bright lights from the hallway shining into the room so bring your eye shields.. The staff wasn’t the friendliest and sassy

This is a historic hotel and has great potential. The courtyard and pool area look beautiful but don’t really match the rest of the hotel…mostly due to the lack of attention to detail with cleaning and upkeep. Our room was in the main building and the hallway carpets were stained and dirty on all floors. The room was dusty and shower hadn’t been thoroughly cleaned. It was fine for a 1-night stay and I greatly appreciate that the staff were very attentive. We received welcome drinks (which were delicious) and they were able to accommodate a request to move to a new room when we had concerns with proximity to street level. Lastly, close location to the beach and having chairs + umbrellas waiting for us was fantastic.

Wow! The Balfour hotel doesn't just have the best location (south of 5th) but it has this small boutique hotel charm we couldn't get enough of. You're served a welcome drink upon arrival (mojito) and the lobby bar has a daily happy hour from 4-8! $10 apps, $5 rotating beer, $10 select cocktails. The hummus is a must order and the truffle fries come with a generous amount of fresh truffle. There's a small pool and bikes you can rent out (first 2h are free!). They even have beach chairs and umbrellas in a prime location included for you to use. This was an amazing stay and this is the best hotel you can pick for your south beach vacation!

The hotel is understaffed. The rooms are so dated and the layout is poorly designed. The tiny bathroom had a narrow entrance that was obstructed by a too large TV that came into the entrance several inches. The sound of the mechanical room was so loud and pervasive that it was very difficult to sleep. the walls are not well insulated, so you can hear everything your neighbors are saying. I would not recommend this hotel.