More about W South Beach
Amazing hotel, great service and wonderful location
by TripAdvisor Member SFLeonce
Upon arrival at the W South Beach we were upgraded to an amazing suite with two balconies, a separate entertainment room, full kitchen, dining room and large bathroom. The suite was very nicely designed with light colors and very functional.
The hotel is wonderful, the gym larger than average at W hotels, the restaurant served great food and the staff was very attentive and friendly.
The infinity pool and the garden landscape are amazing and guests have direct access to the beach with attendants providing towels.
Overall a wonderful property with great views, perfect service and great rooms.
TWO THUMBS DOWN ~ WHOEVER HIRED THE STAFF SHOULD BE FIRED
by TripAdvisor Member TinsleyDreamWorksSKG
Such a disappointing hotel! Totally over rated! Doesn't deserve the W name. Beautifully designed, but the the staff obviously have not been properly trained. I work in film and television. I travel often for work. I usually love staying at a W Hotel. In terms of service. This was by far the worst of my experiences. The service was a joke. Whoever hired the staff should lose their job. Pretty people w lots of attitude working there that seem to clueless about great service. The W Hotel South Beach has so much potential to be a wonderful hotel. I was so excited when I first saw it. I was researching the hotel as a location for an A list celebrity event. But the hotel seems to be so mismanaged. After my experience staying there. Im sad to say the hotel just cannot properly handle a major event. There is no way I would consider putting on an event there. To be fair. The pool area was beautiful and I did have a very nice room w a great ocean view. For the same price point, I prefer the Ritz Carlton South Beach. First class service and its in much better location. I was a little surprised that the W Hotel South Beach was so expensive. Its in a terrible location and the service was awful. When they say Whatever/Whenever I now realize what it means. Whatever, I dont care! Whenever I get around to helping you.
Probably the best hotel we have stayed in!
by TripAdvisor Member Pigalicious
My wife and I arrived to the W South Beach on our honeymoon. Arriving late at night from Ireland, we were too exhausted to enjoy the late night festivities at the hotel's nightclub. Instead we checked in, and to our surprise they upgraded us to a suite, rom 433 to be exact and I would recommend it to anyone. The room was large, well-appointed and detailed perfectly. Haven't ever seen anything that comapres, and we travel a fair share. we awoke the next morning to a breathtaking view, straight out to Miami Beach.
The restaurant downstairs also kept the standards high. The food quality combined with the service made the dining experiences a real pleasure. Lester and Jose are very cordial and kind, offering terrific service and also passing on local knowledge for us tourists.. we appreciated that extra service whick in my opinion makes the experience that much better.
Heading out to the pool after breakfast was a real struggle. All you had to do was walk out and there would be 3 or 4 staff waiting for you. One would ask where you would like to sit and once there you wouldn't want to leave. The occasional dip in the pool and the odd sip of your beer might be it. Paradise.
The private beach located straight outside the hotel was also a delight. Take your chair and almost instantly a staff member showed up to offer drinks and/or something to eat. Great service. Drinks aren't overly cheap but you are there to be pampered right?
During our 6-day stay we ventured out to Ocean Drive, a strip full of bars and restaurants. Woth a visit, especially the Clevelander, a newly renovated hotspot with an excellent atmosphere. 22 blocks to the North of the hotel is another newly renovated hotel/resort. FountaineBleu offers something for everyone. We enjoyed the BleuBar where the cocktails are fabulous, although so is the price. $15 per. The restaurant upstairs, Hakkusan is one of the nicest and elegant we have ever been in. An Asian fusion menu with 5 star service, I do recommend it.
All things considered, we were delighted with our stay on our first visit to Miami. We are looking forward to our nect visit and the W will see us again.
Still need the training wheels, but lots of potential
by TripAdvisor Member Seven_Continents
There were far too many small things to mention, needless to say they should not deter you from the W experience. I'm sure they will smooth out with time. Pool and beach service were very good. Hotel vibe and amenities very good. Rooms are touted as suites, which I don't agree with. The smallest rooms have a three foot divider with a sectional couch and coffee table across from the desk and wall mounted TV. This does not a suite make in my opinion.
The less encumbered views are on the north side, but beware if you are on the lower floors the bass and the people can definately be heard, even around 2AM. While not party loud, if you are sensitive to it you may want to ask for the south side of the building, albeit with a different view.
As for the various reports of "things missing", you are in a big party location. It's well known that you don't leave valuables in plain sight. I kept my laptop in the in-room safe, made sure all other valuables were at the very least in a drawer and had no issues. Be smart when you travel.
Liked The Hotel, But They Do Need More Work for What You Are Paying For!
by TripAdvisor Member Endeavor212
I arrived probably the second weekend after the hotel opened. Once I arrived I was escorted up to my room and shown around the hotel. After about thirty minutes of thinking this is the best hotel, it went down hill from there! The shower started to spit out Dirty rust water and after calling downstairs to tell them about what was happening, the hotel staff said they are working on the plumbing and they cant bring back the Clean Water! So afterwards we order room service, which is not cheap. The entire order was completely wrong, and the did not look to reimburse me for their mistake. I could go on and on but instead let me get to the end result...I put in a customer complaint twice and yet to have heard anything from the hotel. In my opinion its the quality of staff and not just the hotel looks that make you want to return to a Hotel.
Pros and Cons
by TripAdvisor Member momofoneFlorida
This hotel is modern and beautiful. Overall we had a wonderful time here. There are pros and cons though
Pros- View of the beach
Bathroom is a good size and shower is wonderful
Beach chairs are free and the service is great
Pool area is large, many chairs available
Cons
Street noise- very loud inside the room- hard to sleep, were not going to bed early either this was between 2-5 a.m.
Two TVs next to each other, the room is too small to have two TVs
Service- The better dressed you are and the more money you have will get you better service
the drinks by the pool and the bar are very overpriced- good yes, but not that good for the price
$35.00 to park each night
The hotel is not that close to all the shopping, nightlife and restaurants in the area
Maybe one of the Top Hotels on this Planet?
by TripAdvisor Member ko1050
I've stayed at some of the best hotels in the world and I have to say this place is in the top 10...and I'm not even a fan of Miami Beach.
The architecture is superb and the rooms have tremendous views. The terrace and pool is perfect.
On the negative side, service was mostly great but spotty at times. I suspect this is mostley because the hotel had only been open a week or two when we stayed. I'd also like to see free wi-fi in the rooms.
But overall, this is one great hotel.
Wonderful Experience
by TripAdvisor Member ronishia11368
My husband and I traveled to Miami for our 2nd wedding anniversary. I was already excited about staying at the W. I loved the fact that the beach was just a few steps away from the hotel. I can truly say everything about this hotel was amazing. The staff was so accommodating, and the hotel was so beautiful that we extended our stay twice.
They had some of the most exquisite food I have eaten from a hotel. We ordered room service for breakfast and everything was not only hot but it was delicious and perfect. I had banana French toast with pecan homemade butter.
If at all I had any issues they resolved them with haste. The issues that I had were extremely small nothing to complain about ( forgotten salt, bed service etc). The service at the beach and pool were marvelous. At the W they cater to your ever need. As they say Whatever, Whenever they will handle it for you. My husband and I planned several special things for each other through the hotel and everything was taken care of to a T! I loved this hotel!
Amazing hotel, but the service was horrible.
by TripAdvisor Member spgplat2
As a newly minted SPG Platinum member, I have stayed at a lot of hotels and a ton of Ws. My experiences have generally been very positive, and I have only been refused a late checkout one time during the Christmas holidays on a sold out night.
First off, the positives. This hotel is beautiful. The rooms are amazing looking, and the beach is superb by public beach standards. The waitstaff on the beach and at the pool were amazing too, so any negative comments towards service, is only directed towards housekeeping, the front desk and management. The prices were high as expected at a nice resort, but the quality of the food and drinks were excellent so I couldn't complain. The workout area was also extremely nice with lots of brand new equipment and free weights. The pool was always super crowded so I would suggest getting down their early on the weekends to get a nice pair of chairs, but I prefer the beach anyway and there were always plenty of chairs there.
Now for all the negatives.
The first night we arrived, my girlfriend and I wanted to eat Sushi at Nobu down the street(which was amazing by the way, it's really pricey but to save a little money the omakase is plenty big for two people with normal appetites to split). We called downstairs early that day to have the concierge make us reservations, to which she replied that the restaurant only took reservations for parties of 6 or more. So we went an hour early expecting to wait since we didn't have reservations. We ended up only having to wait 45 minutes but it was for the tiniest table right next to the waiter station (this had to be the worst seat in the house). When I asked to be moved to a better table for two that was also open, the waitress told me they were for reservation only. It turns out that they do take reservations for parties of two. If only the concierge at knew what she was talking about, we would have had an amazing table with no waiting.
The next morning we left the hotel around 10:30am, went out to the beach, ate lunch, went swimming, lounged around the pool, and then came back to our room around 4:30pm. The room wasn't cleaned so we called down to have the room serviced and were told that the cleaning staff was really behind and that they would let them know to come clean our room as soon as possible. We showered quickly and then left so we wouldn't be there when they cleaned the room. We got back at 8:30pm and it still hadn't been cleaned. So I called to complain that we needed the room cleaned, and was told that housekeeping had left for the day.
Then we called around 9am in the morning to ask for a late checkout so we could eat lunch on the beach again. I was gold at this point and asked for 2pm. First, the lady told me that they were sold out so that they couldn't do a late checkout. When I called her bluff and mentioned that I could go online right then and book up to 9 rooms for the night, she changed her tune and said that they don't have to do late check-outs since they are a resort property and that they were expecting to switch out over 100 rooms that day. Ok that was terrible, but whatever. I didn't appreciate being lied to, especially when I could see that the two rooms right next to ours had no one staying in them either. So then I just asked for 12:00 so that we could have enough time to grab breakfast down at the pool and she said she would check with the manager who said NO to just ONE hour later. This is unacceptable when there are that many available rooms. I then made a comment about not knowing what their rush was in getting people out since housekeeping apparently couldn't make it to the lower floors anyway.
But to add insult to injury and really push me over the top, who do we see waiting outside of our room right at 11am to clean it, HOUSEKEEPING! They finally decided to come do their job. It was so upsetting I cannot even describe it. And the entire time we complained about the lack of cleaning and the outrageous late check-out policy we were never offered anything for the inconvenience of staying out of our fabulous room waiting for people to clean it.
Overall, the hotel was beautiful and all the waitstaff at the pool and the beach was fabulous. But next time I go to Miami Beach I'm going to the Ritz-Carlton down the street. At least I could expect to get my room cleaned there.
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