Townhouse Hotel Miami

We only stayed one night, but had a blast. If you want to be near both the beach and restaurants in Miami, this hotel is very convenient. They provide towels, plus a voucher for an umbrella and lounge chairs on the beach. Beach drink service is available too, though you pay for it.

The stay wasn’t worth the price, even though the staff were friendly. It felt at times like they thought they were right no matter what. The art deco character and location are quaint, but there’s a lot that needs work. Some of the trouble may have been due to the boat show that weekend, but parking was a mess. There’s none at the hotel, parking starts at $15 if you can find a spot, and the two check-in spaces are two-hour spots that we never saw empty. The lobby is small, and the guest shop had random hours with nothing posted. The elevator barely fits three or four people. Our room wasn’t properly cleaned on arrival, just had the beds remade. There were stains on the headboards and pillows, and spills on the floor by the windows. My wife cut her hand when a bracket fell from the dirty shelf as she tried to open the mini fridge. There were only two small towels on the floor by the wet shower. We should’ve taken a photo. They were also charging $3 per K-cup. The TV remote was broken and fell apart, and the TV didn’t work. When we asked about it, they showed us a photo of the TV on in the room, so we spent the evening on our phones. At least the phones stayed on and the Wi-Fi worked. There are also resort fees and a deposit. All of that made the price hard to justify.

The bed was comfortable, the room was clean, and the staff were friendly, but the repeated maintenance problems were too much. I stayed a full week and expected a lot more for the price and location. The toilet failed three times. Each time they said it was fixed, but it kept breaking and the bathroom would flood unless I shut off the water myself. Several outlets didn’t work, and the chandelier had no switch, so I had to unplug it to turn it off. On my last night the AC also seemed to stop working. Construction around the hotel made everything very dusty, and I had a sore throat all week. A few smaller things added up: for a week they gave me only two bottles of water, a metal bracket blocked the mini fridge and I had to remove it to use the fridge, and there was no desk or work surface. I needed to work a few times, so I used the ironing board as a makeshift desk.

Someone was given a key to our room and walked in while my wife and I were checked in. We went straight downstairs, and the front desk person apologized for issuing the key. We left immediately, but he said he couldn’t authorize a refund and told us to call in the morning when a manager was there. The toilet was leaking, really flooding. This place was a disaster, and I’d never stay here again. It needs proper management.