Jelly R.
Yelp
We stayed here for five nights in early October 2020, then drove down to the Florida Keys for a few days, then capped off our trip back in Miami at the Vagabond for one night before flying back, so in total we stayed for six nights in two different rooms (108 and 112, I believe).
I booked via hotels.com. Check-in was easy. The room was very clean and modern-retro style. I'm always iffy about hotels, especially ones in tropical regions where bugs are common, so I pretty thoroughly looked for bugs, opening up drawers, looking in cabinets, looking underneath the sink area, inspecting the bathroom, inspecting the mattress and area under and near the bed, etc. (then, later, flicking on the lights suddenly at night). I'm happy to report I didn't see anything in either room. In fact, it seemed so clean that, for the longer leg of the trip, we even unpacked our suitcases into the drawers (after I wiped them down with a damp towel just in case)! The hotel and housekeeping staff were great. We were told at check in that we could opt to have housecleaning come every day by putting the "make up my room" sign on our door but, if we were paranoid because of pandemic stuff, we could choose not to... We opted for daily housekeeping, and it was always done well and done promptly (for example, we might put the sign up and head out at 9 am, then stop back at noon and it would have already been cleaned by then). The grounds were immaculately landscaped and the pool area was pretty. We swam in the pool, and it seemed clean. We were disappointed the pool bar wasn't open, but we understood, especially since there seemed to be very few hotel guests given the pandemic, and since I think Miami still was mandating bars remain closed at that time. I liked the walk-in shower, and fact that it had a normal shower head, a handheld shower wand, and a foot faucet type fixture, which were helpful for washing my swimsuit and getting extra clean after sweating in the humid weather. I was a little iffy about the neighborhood when we first arrived, but I ultimately felt very safe at the hotel because the staff-- especially the gentleman who was there during the majority of our stay-- walked the property and peeped out the window at night when we'd pull into a parking space and just generally seemed to be cognizant of who belonged on the property and who did not. I noticed that the hotel also had limited points of entry, security cameras in common areas, and bright lights illuminating the parking areas, and the doors seemed to have very secure deadbolts and an optional night guard lock. So, even if my husband hadn't been with me, I would have felt safe staying at this hotel by myself. I grew to really like the location of the hotel, as it was central to everything (including freeways) and in a quieter and less congested area. I'd originally considered booking a hotel in South Beach or Brickell, and am glad I decided against it as it would have just been way too much hassle to try to stay in either area with a car (which we needed as we wanted to explore the city and go to the Keys).
The only things that were odd about this place, but not enough to lower the ratings, were some weird issues with the rooms. In the first room (108), the cover over the bathroom vent fan was hanging open, so you could see the fan blades with all the dust on them. If I'd been taller or had a ladder, I would have closed it... But as it were, it wasn't even worth mentioning to hotel staff, since the fan worked fine. In the second room (112), the large light fixtures over the night stands hung way too low, such that the bottom of the fixtures was maybe four to six inches from the surface of the night stand itself-- enough to leave room to set a phone or tablet or something else skinny on the night stand, but nothing much thicker. Apart from that, though, it appears the remodel was done very well.
