An Island Resort in the City

Spent four nights at the Palms -- it was everything their website advertises and more. Friendly staff and all the luxury without any of the pretension. Rooms are beautifully designed and comfortable -- an ocean view room is worth the extra money. Large walk-in closet was terrific. Pool and grounds wonderful. Beach staff excellent. You can't miss with the Palms.

Wonderful stay at the Palm's

We attended our first Miami Boat Show..stayed 3 night's at the Palm's..great hotel,beautiful ground's..wonderful staff..would go back again in a heart beat..thank you to everyone at the hotel. P.S...found this hotel on the internet..great choice!

Great atmosphere, Great staff

We came to Miami Beach for our niece's wedding and stayed at The Palms South Beach, she also got married here at the hotel. Almost everything was perfect! This property is like an enchanged garden, huge palm trees, lush plants all over, outside and inside. It is right on the ocean, you walk from the backyard of the hotel directly onto a beach boardwalk and a beautiful sandy beach. All of the staff is incredibly helpful and friendly, they really went above and beyond our expectations. We wanted to see the room where our niece's reception was going to be, and one of the set up men stopped what he was doing, took us to the room, and spent 15 minutes with us explaining exactly how the room was going to be set up, and how the ceremony and cocktail party would be set up. This is the kind of exceptional service we received throughout our stay. The perfect hotel for someone visiting Miami Beach for the first time, as we were. Very relaxing and laid-back place, not like the wild South Beach scenes we had seen on TV shows. Upscale, but worth the extra $$. We'll be back!

Bree

Spoiled at the Palms

I spent the weekend at the Palms Hotel in celebration of my birthday. I read the reviews of this hotel prior to booking. THIS is a gorgeous hotel! The beach is right out the door past the lovely pool area. On Sunday's there is a blues brunch with entertainment near the pool area.

This staff goes the extra mile to make you feel welcome, comfortable.

Paula, the concierge, probably contributed to my weight gain on the restaurant recommendations she gave me. She recommended Larios ( Cuban food and great entertainment) and Monty's (delicious seafood, nice atmosphere) They have a nice fitness room which I did use.

The bathroom is small, but I would like to know who spends their vacation in a bathroom? It's not as small as an airline bathroom. The closets are a nice size. You have plenty of room for all of your belongings. There is a safe in the closet. The rooms are cleaned daily and there is turn-down service. I ordered room service for the last morning of my stay. There was enough food for two. The food was delicious!

Leave your laptop at home unless you just have a burning desire to have it. There's free internet access in the business room.

One travel note: there is a flat rate for taxi transportation to the hotel for $24.00. One taxi driver tried to rip me off and charge me $29.00 from the airport to the hotel I told him that I read on the Internet about the taxi fee of $24. This guy was NOT associated with the hotel.

If you're a solo traveler, I would highly recommend this hotel. There are taxis waiting right outside the hotel. It is my understanding that they use a certain group of taxis. You can arrange pick-up with the taxi driver if you go out alone.

Check-out is very convenient I would definitely stay at this hotel again! Definitely check out the website for this hotel. You'll be very impressed.

Not quite South Beach, but...

Although they say, "South Beach" in the title of this hotel, it's not exactly in South Beach. It's a long hike via the beach or street to get to where the action is, so if you stay here, bring a car (but beware the pricey valet - find a meter nearby).

Our oceanview room was small, but functional. The bathroom was SMALL, with thoroughly inadequate lighting - nearly dark. A walk-in closet, nearly the size of the bathroom, was a delight, but seemed to be wasted space.

The grounds of the hotel are beautiful, and is right on the ocean with a nice beach with chairs & towels. The pool was horribly over-chlorinated.

The oddest thing about this hotel was the staff. Everyone I dealt with on a face-to-face basis was wonderful, however I think the best hotel staff are those that are invisible to a guest. There are apparently no service elevators in the hotel, so every trip to and from your room is accompanied by a dumpster, maid, bellhop or service staff of some sort.

The maid would wake us up at 8am to clean our room..one day when we had the DoNotDisturb up, we heard a continual scratching at the door, and found someone "cleaning" the outside of our door with sandpaper.

The elevators are a real problem, as we had to wait sometimes up to 5 minutes for a ride from our 10th floor (view was wonderful, but you might consider a floor where you can walk). EVERY time we rode the elevator, we stopped somewhere to pick up a maintenance person.

Place was very clean, though...

Overall, I'd recommend this hotel if you don't mind staff in your face at all times...

What a beautiful property!

If you want to be away from the noise and bustle of the busiest part of SoBe, the Palms is an excellent place to stay. The common facilities are very well designed, with a nice pool are overseen by two parrots that squabble with one another all day. Then it's just a short walk over the sand to the beach. The restaurant is well-situated with a patio overlooking the property -- a nice place to enjoy their $15 brunch.Our room was comfortable and well-appointed, though the bathroom was dated and quite small. The only real downside occurs when you arrive. In our experience, the front door help seem to fall all over each other trying to rip the bags from your hands. For those of us who prefer to carry our own bags, it's was tiresome trying to defend our luggage from those guys. We got our room in June for $120, which I think is tremendous value.

The Palms -- Miami, FL

Just got back from a long weekend in Miami over Memorial DayWeekend. We stayed at The Palms and it was excellent! I have read mixedInternet reviews, but we thought it was great!First of all, avoid Miami atall costs on Memorial Day Weekend. It is Hip-Hop weekend every year so itis really crowded and full of lots of 20-somethings and big souped up cars.We still had fun, but it can be crowded and you don't get a real sense forthe diversity and culture in Miami because of it.Anyway, The Palms was agreat hotel. It was located just far enough away from the heart of S. Beachthat we could get away from the extreme noise and business of hip-hopweekend, but it's only 15 or so blocks so we walked it a lot in the eveningfor dinner or late at night after clubbing. Collins is very safe and wefound the location ideal.The beach at The Palms was very nice and not ascrowded as the beaches further down on S. Beach. However, The Palms needsto invest in more beach chairs and definitely more umbrellas!!! It wasunderstandable that they would be out on the busiest days of Saturday &Sunday, but they were also out on Monday and even Tuesday was tough to getan umbrella. There should at least be enough chairs and umbrellas to serveguests on a Tuesday!! But the staff and customer service were gracious andgot us umbrellas as they became available.Also, the service in the hotelwas great. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The general areas weredefinitely a little nicer and more open than the actual rooms. However, theroom was definitely what you would expect of a hotel of this class. Itisn't super fancy, but it was modern and decorated in a more modern way.The bathrooms are on the smaller side, but they were clean and we didn'tspend a lot of time in the bathroom. I would say that the pictures on thewebsite are accurate in terms of the rooms.The food was also good, thoughwe only ate at the pool bar & in room service for a snack. But it wasnice to have food by the pool with a full bar too!All in all we woulddefinitely stay there again!

Thoroughly Enjoyable!

I stayed here for 2 nights for a conference in May, 2003. The conference facilities were great for a smaller group (120 or so) and you didn't feel lost like a conference this size would in a larger hotel. The lobby was very nicely done and the rooms, though not huge, were more than adequate and nicely furnished. I strongly recommend springing for an ocean view room. It is well worth the extra money! The pool was a nice size with plenty of lounge chairs and a great little bar. There are also hammocks set up in the shade of large palm trees and 2 beautiful parrots on a perch near the pool. The beach is gorgeous and the mandatory $7 resort fee per night includes 2 beach chairs and a large umbrella (and a free shoe shine, too!) By far the best thing about the Palms is the service. Everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful. I had no problems getting towels, beach chairs, etc. Staff tends to go the extra step and provide a little bit more than what you asked for. The turn down service in the evenings is also a nice touch. The one drawback is the location. While the property itself is great, you are not in walking distance of other sights. Most of the good restaurants, clubs and shops are south of 17th street, so be prepared to take a cab (there seemed to always be one or two waiting outside the front door. Overall this is a great place to go enjoy the beach without being right in the middle of the insanity that is South Beach. I definitely recommend it!

Penthouse suite

We stayed in the penthouse suite. It is huge with

full balconies facing the skyline of downtown Miami on the North side and the ocean/beach on the South side. Excellent service and helpful staff. We had arranged for dinner on our balcony with a private waiter. The penthouse has 2 huge bathrooms, one with a jacuzzi. A living room and small kitchen with TV/CD player. A guest bedroom

with a walk in closet and 2 double beds. This suite can easily sleep 6 adults. It was listed at

$1500/night but we guarenteed 3 nights, so we paid

$850/night. Not a bad deal. Beautiful Art Deco design and the hotel is located about 10 blocks from Ocean Drive. This allows you to walk down easliy to all the restaurants, bars and malls but keeps you away from all the crazy late night crowds and noise. Check it out

Clean & small but acceptable

I just returned from a one night's stay at The Palms (June 2002) and was initially disappointed when I entered the hotel lobby. It didn't look nearly as upscale as the pictures on their website lead you to believe.

However, for a $109/nite room, this is a pleasant hotel that I would compare to a Marriott. With the exception of an airplane bathroom, this hotel's bathroom is the smallest I've ever been in. Inexplicably, there's a walk-in closet that's almost bigger than the bathroom. The rooms were streamline efficient and had new furnishings (it reopened from a big remodel in fall 2001), there was a fresh flower in the bathroom. There's a fridge in the room, but it's filled to the brim with drinks so it's uesless unless you wanted to be charged for emptying it out. Our "city view" was staring at the face of another building across the street, it's probably worth paying extra for the ocean view if you plan to spend any serious time in your room.

The hotel is about 10 blocks from Lincoln Road Mall, and sits where the traffic thins out on Collins Ave. Like most of the hotels in SoBe, valet parking is compulsory and you get charged everytime you park your car--even tho you're a guest there! It appeared that all hotels on Collins Ave. provide a short path directly to the beach. We primarily wanted the room as an air conditioned retreat at the end of the day and that served its purpose well.