Loews Miami Beach Hotel

2007 - 2008

Above and Beyond

• Loews Miami Beach Hotel does a great job in maintaining the art deco feel of South Beach.
• The lobby is very pleasant and a great place to watch a spoting event with many TVs and full food and beverage service.
• The staff at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel offers very friendly service and they are fairly attentive.
• The bedding is very comfortable.
• The rooms have good workspace for the business traveler, with great internet connections.
• Very nice size flat screen TV and plenty of convenient electrical outlets for the equipment one must charge today.
• The rooms also have great drawer and closet space.
• The beach is beautiful and the Loews Miami Beach Hotel provides full service, including food and drinks, at the beach for a nominal charge. I found the beach service to be excellent. They also encourage you to take a towel from the towel hut located at the pool before you head to the beach as the beach concierge will only provide you a towel to cover the chair.
• The gift shop is one of the more expansive gift shops in a hotel.
• The Loews Miami Beach has a beautiful spa and fitness room.

A Matter of Taste

• This is a BIG hotel – perhaps the largest in South Beach. If you are looking for a boutique hotel, look elsewhere.
• The Loews Miami Beach Hotel is located right in the heart of South Beach, just a block south of Lincoln Road.
• Within walking distance of many of the hotels in South Beach as well as some of the best restaurants in the area.
• A lot of convention business.
• The rooms are adequate. I have always stayed in a balcony room as I love to sit out in the morning or late in the day and have coffee and read. The balconies are too small to accommodate a lounge chair, but adequate for two chairs and a table.
• The bathrooms are way too small and as such, they squeeze in the sink, toilet and shower/bath combination.
• A haven for families and they are everywhere, including dominating the pool area during holiday times.
• Pool chairs are taken very early in the day and the pool is very crowded. Great for children, but this is not a relaxing environment.
• The fitness room does not open until 6 AM. This is not great for someone like me who loves a daily workout, but must be on the road by 7 AM to fight the South Florida traffic and get to my business meetings that usually start at 8 AM. What shocks me here is that Jonathan Tisch, President of Loews Hotels is reputed to be a fitness junkie as well as a hard worker. I wish this hotel would open their fitness room at 5 AM.

Needs Improvement

• Be prepared to wait up to 25 minutes if you park a car at the hotel. The good news is that if you call ahead, the car will be there waiting for you most of the time if you budget 15 minutes.
• Room service trays litter the room floors in the morning with food remnants several hours old. I cannot understand why a hotel cannot track where the used room service trays are since they had to deliver them at some point. It is not pleasant waking up at 5 AM and walking past hours old food scraps.

My Conclusion

I have stayed at Loews Miami Beach Hotel 5 times in the last 3 months. Overall, not a bad hotel given its size. But think BIG, not boutique. With BIG, you clearly sacrifice on service, but this hotel certainly tries. I have found that the Loews Miami Beach is fantastic at apologizing for its missteps.

Ritz Carlton – Dallas

February 2008

Above and Beyond

• The bathroom is very spacious with two sinks, a tub and shower, two comfortable robes, an abundance of towels, plenty of light and just incredibly comfortable.
• The closet is large and there is plenty of drawer space.
• The Ritz Carlton Dallas has a GREAT room safe that is embedded in a drawer. I use the word “great” because the safe has an outlet in it. You can charge your laptop while it is secure in the safe.
• The Ritz Carlton Dallas is very conducive for a business person with a well equipped desk and a TV that swivels toward the desk giving one the ability to work and observe the TV at the same time.
• This Ritz Carlton Dallas has a great fitness room that is open 24 hours. For those of you who read my reviews, you know this is critically important to me. The fitness center has state of the art equipment with individual TV’s. They provide a towel and water bottle on every machine. There are headphones available. The good news is that they don’t charge extra for the use of the fitness room. I find this offensive at other hotels.
• The lobby bar and restaurant are terrific and happening (see Needs Improvement).

A Matter of Taste

• The Ritz Carlton Dallas is just outside of the city.
• The standard rooms are of average size and typically comfortable of what you would expect from a Ritz Carlton.

Needs Improvement

• I had a minor problem in my room on arrival. I made 3 phone calls to the front desk – no one came to resolve the minor issue. I finally made a call to the executive office – which jumped on it immediately. It should not have taken this much time.
• The Ritz Carlton Dallas has wired high speed internet access which they charge for. They claim to have wireless, but I found it very spotty in the room and non-existent in the lobby. This is very disappointing, especially since the hotel opened in 2007. I also find it offensive that they charge for internet access. Hotels like a Hilton Garden Inn include it in the rate – one would expect that a Ritz Carlton would also. People who choose to stay at a Ritz are not going to avoid it for another $10 per night.
• The lobby bar and restaurant - my only complaint is that the service was a little weak for a Ritz Carlton. This is a relative comment. If this was not a Ritz Carlton, I would not make this comment.

My Conclusion

Overall – The Ritz Carlton Dallas is a great property. I would stay here again.

Marriott Fort Lauderdale North - Not a Luxury Hotel...Great For Business Trips

January 2008

Above & Beyond

• Check in is always a breeze and rarely is there a long line at the Marriott Fort Lauderdale North
• The rooms are clean and functional
• The hotel bed is incredibly comfortable
• The bathroom amenities include everything you need for your stay and are of quality
• The new flat screen TV’s in the room are large and they swivel. While “swiveling” might intuitively appear to be a natural for a TV, I find most TV’s – both flat and ones still stuck in an armoire, do not swivel. In this particular case, I was able to work at the desk and truly watch the TV
• The desk is L shaped which gives you plenty of space to work
• The wireless internet service in the room works perfectly and is included in the rate (It bothers me when hotels label it as “free”). I truly appreciate a hotel that does include it in the rate. Charge me more per night, but don’t let me think the bill is an adding machine tape. Thank you Marriott Fort Lauderdale North for doing this.

A Matter of Taste

• The bathroom is small, but very functional
• The sink is separated from the toilet and shower, which I like so the mirror does not get fogged up from the shower and I can shave right out of the shower when my skin is moist.

My Conclusion
The Marriott Fort Lauderdale North is a solid business person’s hotel as it has all the creature comforts that a person traveling on business desires.

I think Marriott does a great job on training. I rarely run into a Marriott hotel whereby the staff is not both efficient and professional.

The Marriott Fort Lauderdale North was a little tired and they have put some money into it. When I was there, the hotel gym was undergoing a renovation. It needed it. I am optimistic that the gym will be very good.

The Marriott Hotel Fort Lauderdale North is not a luxury hotel. It is great for business.