Courtyard by Marriott Miami Beach Oceanfront

Elite '08

120

218

Peter K.

Bronx, NY

When originally booking a trip to get away from the toils of graduate school and work, I used Expedia to look up ratings (sorry Yelp, this hotel was not reviewed). For some reason, I got this confused with the Courtyard by Marriott Miami Beach-South Beach (http://www.yelp.com/bi...). This hotel was not listed. Considering the cost and location I was happy.

My wife and I stayed here for a short 4 day, 3 night trip, 3/17/08 - 3/20/08.

On the first day I pulled into the front. The building said "the Cadillac". A valet welcomed us to the Marriott and took the car away.

Check-in was painless. We took the elevators in the rear because the 2 main elevators see high traffic. We had room 934 and it was wonderful. The bed was very soft, the plasma tv was nice with the other standard ammenities. The room thermostat worked very well. Unfortunately, WiFi was not available for this room, so I had to connect my laptop to a CAT5 cable or go to the lobby to surf for porn and locally Yelped restaurants. Boo.

The local breakfast option is the breakfast buffet. For $12+ per person, you can eat all of the scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and cold cereals and fruit as you like. The highlights are the eggs station, where a gentleman cooks your eggs to order and the waffle machine. Although service is friendly and beverage needs are fulfilled quickly, I don't think it is worth it, since I don't eat that much for breakfast.

The other option is Carrabba's Italian Grill (http://www.yelp.com/bi...). Meh. The outdoor tiki bar is what it's good for. Nothing else.

The major draw of this is hotel is its location on the beach. You exit the hotel to see the pool, hot tub, chairs, hammocks and the outdoor bar, the boardwalk and finally the beach. Because the weather was overcast and windy, my wife and I stayed on the property and enjoyed the hot tub and pool. We laid out on the beach for 40 seconds and retreated because of the pelting sandstorm.

On Wednesday, we got a couples massage in the cabana by the pool. It was nice (not the best massage ever ~ $115 each person for 60 minutes) but it took two separate attempts to obtain an appointment at the front desk. I did not have confidence that the front desk folk understood all of the service provided (in this instance).

We encountered a small infestation of Spring Break kids. It was not too bad. I realized that my mistake of booking the wrong Marriott was a blessing in disguise. During the week, I really got sick of seeing drunken meatheads wearing their cleanest wife-beaters and hoochie chickens walking the strip.

Would I come here again? Yes I would, but not during Spring Break.

IFHTP 1

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1

14

Christian V.

Westwood, NJ

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