Homewood Suites by Hilton Miami Airport West

We booked the Park, Stay, and Go rate for one hotel night, seven days of cruise parking, and a one-way transfer to the port of Miami. Breakfast and the rest of the stay were generally good, and the airport noise was minor. The halls and rooms are dated and show wear, though they were generally clean. The rate only covers seven parking nights total, so it doesn't include the night you stay at the hotel. They charged us $15 for that first night. At check-in, the employee also tried to charge for all the parking, insisting it wasn't included in our room rate. After about five minutes of explaining, he realized it was included and gave us a parking pass, though we still paid the $15 for the hotel night. The next morning, the woman at the desk said we had no shuttle reservation and would have to pay for the port transfer. I showed her the transfer paperwork the check-in employee had given us, but she kept saying she'd charge us because he had given us a transfer by mistake without collecting payment. After a couple more minutes explaining that the transfer was already part of our rate, she backed down. There are only two shuttle departure times, 10 AM and noon. The first trip took almost an hour to reach the Royal Caribbean terminal. Friends on the second shuttle said it left nearly an hour late for the same terminal. The main issue was how often the staff tried to charge us for things we'd already paid for. Check every charge carefully.

Check-in turned into an argument about using the card on file. The receptionist insisted I couldn't use it and that authorization had to be sent seven days in advance. I travel for business all over the country, and our company has contracts with these places, so I rarely run into this. After traveling since 7 AM, arriving at 4:30, I didn't want a hassle. In the end, the clerk was wrong and used the card on file. I'm a Diamond member, so my stay should have included two waters and a snack. She forgot them, and when I asked, she said that was just breakfast. I showed her the benefit details, and she eventually gave me the waters. The white bag still had no snack, though she tried to argue it was inside. Once I showed her, she went to the back and got it. That's three arguments already, and she was wrong each time. Another employee later told me the rude woman was the manager, which makes it even worse. I don't want to come back to Miami. It felt like a city without southern hospitality, with rude people and crazy drivers. I hate it here.

The shuttle was a mess. We waited an hour, it drove past us three times, and I called the front desk three times as well. There aren't any restaurants you can walk to. Breakfast was marginal, with no butter during my two days there and fruit already gone by 8 AM. They didn't keep food stocked or tables cleared, and the attendants weren't welcoming. I've had friendlier breakfasts at cheaper hotels. The kitchen had no dish towels, and the computers couldn't print boarding passes, which was odd. This used to be a great place, but now it feels poorly run.

I've stayed here both before and after a cruise. The front desk was accommodating to travelers who arrived early and had to wait. There is transportation to the cruise lines, but you have to make your own way back, and they didn't pick me up after my cruise even though I had a reservation to stay for two more nights. There's nowhere to get food here, though we went next door to the other hilton property for dinner one night. Breakfast was inconsistent. The Mexican options weren't good, and the tater tots were hard. I had room 401 before the cruise, then room 301 afterward. In both, the living room TV backed onto the bedroom wall, with air return vents right above it. You could hear the TV in the bedroom with the door shut, so it was a battle of blasting TVs. Overall, it was okay.