Lower Your Expectatioins

Based on some of the other reviews, it all depends on where your room is. I was NOT in a renovated room. It was clean, but the whole hotel had a stale odor to it. Advertised a restaurant,but the only thing open for dinner is the pizza stand in the basement. The pool and beach is very nice, but the poolside towels were threadbare and the lounge chairs (the one's without the broken slats) were rusty. The staff was friendly enough but this hotel is very average,

Beautiful Place

I just got back from a beautiful mid February vacation at the Marco Polo Beach Resort. The hotel has been fully renovated within the last six months. My room was beautifully refinished with new carpet, curtains, and bed spread, all with tastful colors. The room was a direct ocean view- gorgeous. The beach was HUGE; there was a lot of attention paid by the army core of engineers to reconstruct this beach; that was done for over a year. Free buffet breakfast was included; it was a decent meal- and quite ample. The price is more than right; it wass a BEAUTIFUL bargain!

Our Honeymoon Choice

I first contacted this Ramada for our honeymoon. When we arrived the we were pleased to have a nice ocean front room with a kingbed! The resturants here were great! Loved the pool and beach area! The shops were convenient too. This hotel is well thought out, concierge service excellent, room was great for a moderate resort! Public transportation was readily available out front to South Beach and Adventura Mall. We enjoyed our choice for our honeymoon!

What a location! WOW!

I just stayed here a few nights, and here are some observations:

- You can't get a better location. Close to both Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, but without the noise of either. The parking situation was easy....never waited more than a few minutes for my car.

- It has it's own beach that is splendid. If you don't want the beach, it has a huge pool. The health club is nicer than the Bally's that I belong to, and far less crowded.

- My room was obviously brand new. Very bright, cheerful, and clean. My view was over the fantastic beach and pool area.

- The food (breakfast) was part of my room price; so no complaints there. A huge step over and above the typical freebie continental set up that a lot of hotels offer. This is an all u can eat buffet, with full-on service.

- Theres a lot of shopping nearby at a great mall (Aventura) just down the street; also, there's a decent collection of shops and stores in the hotel itself.

All in all, it's easy to see that this hotel is well kept, and everyone I came into contact with were pleasant (and spoke English, a HUGE bonus in Miami!)

Garbage Hotel!!

Garbage!!! This hotel is a waste of money!! Stay anywhere but this hotel... They have moldy rooms, ants, dim lighting and terrible food.

The carpets are damp and smell like they haven't been washed or replaced in years. There are black ants in the rooms, underneath the bed, on the night stands and in the fridges. They wanted to spray bug spray in the room... I don't think so.

Do you self a favor and stay somewhere else...

Great relaxing spot

We stayed for i week in Aug. and the staff could not be freindlier.

Everyone was helpful and happy to please. The oceanfront location is the perfect place to relax and get some sun. The restaurants and lounges were refreshing and comfy. Just a really nice place to stay, close enough but away from the hubbub of south beach. And the rates were resonable..

Do Not Stay Here!!!!

Do not stay at this hotel for any reason. The rooms are dreadful. The service is dreadful. The food is dreadful. Parking is $7.00/day and hopefully you won't need your car quickly, the boys run across the street and get your car, not to mention the way they drove the cars. My room was moldy smelling, the ocean view was overlooking the roof of another building. My bedroom had two double beds pushed together, but no room for the bedside table or hardly to squeeze between them to get in the bed. There were NO windows in my bedroom area. The "lounge area" had windows (filthy). I had NO balcony. The bathroom needed tilex among other things. It was freezing in my room even with the a/c off for the whole week. The food, pizza cafe was horrible, you wouldn't believe what they call a cafe-the store there was very expensive. The chairs & umbrellas are extra on the beach, so unless you want to pay more, you will stay around the pool. The dining area is filthy. The "free" breakfast for 2 is poor. Don't expect much. The staff has lists of guests staying at the hotel, so be ready to explain who you are at breakfast, and when going to the pool. This hotel is also CONDOS. People have bought these dreadful rooms to live in. The staff stated they could not control noise by tenants who live there. It was noisy in this hotel. I could go on, but just do yourself a favor, stay somewhere else.

Hotel is Deceiving

You will need to take a bus or have a car - the nearest store is at least 9 blocks away. They are renovating the hotel and the hallways have a nasty smell. Unless you get a complete oceanview room it isn't worth staying there. The rooms are average. They have a very nice pool, pool area and restaurant.

The worst hotel ever!

Don't stay here! Don't be fooled by outer appearances. The hotel may look pretty from the outside and the lobby may be nice, but when you get to your room you will find a dingy place with the wallpaper peeling off. They don't seem to clean here very well. A little beach sand spilled on the floor and the whole week I was there no one vaccumed it up. Nonsmoking rooms and smoking rooms are right next to each other so you often get the aroma of the smokers next door seeping into your vents.

The food in the main restaurant is horrible. Don't eat in the restaurant if you enjoy food above the level of your average high school cafeteria. The eggs in the breakfast buffet are obviously powdered. The dinner buffet looks like something they would serve in prison.

The "beach" the hotel sits on is just a tiny strip of sand that all but disappears when the tide is high. When the tide is low there isn't much room for your lounge chair anyway. The waves come so far up to the hotel's sea wall that half the time they block off the entrance to the beach and you can't get there from the hotel anyway.

The staff is reasonably friendly and helpful, but that isn't enough to save this place. Do yourself a favor and go someplace else.

What a dirty place!

Despite its the appearence from the outside this hotel is not nice. I booked a room on line for three nights, and checked out after the first night. The carpets have not been cleaned in the rooms since the place opened. So the smell of sweat and dirty feet are over-whelming as you try to sleep. And don't try to walk around barefooted your feet will stick to the carpet and turn black from all of the dirt. The shower was moldy, and not just a little, the handle was thick with mold. There had also been a leak from the room above into ours, although there was no water in our room the mold was there, on the ceiling and cabinets. The walls had also never been cleaned after the leak. Over all I give this hotel a rating of one out of a possible five, the only thing that was clean was the sheets, I think...