Ponce De Leon Hotel — Hotel in Coral Gables

Bottom line up front - I have stayed at this hotel and it is nothing special. It is in a great location in Coral Gables but there are much nicer hotels that will cost you only a bit more and you don’t have to expose yourself to identify thieves. As a road warrior for many decades, this was one of the worst experiences that I have ever had anywhere in the world! ||||Here is the room entire problem in detail - Hotel staff will make a photocopy of both your ID (e.g., drivers license) and your credit card WITHOUT asking for your permission or even telling you that they are doing so! I just happened to observe Jorge doing this. I have no problem with the looking at my ID to verify who I am, but I do have a problem with them photocopying it and keeping a copy indefinitely. Who knows how these copies could be misused in the future? Any reasonable person can see how these copies could be used to steal your identity or to falsely apply for credit in your name (e.g., submitting your drivers license copy as part of an on-line credit application. )||||The hotel’s policy is that you won’t be allowed to check until they photocopy your drivers license and credit card (which they do AFTER they charge the room to your credit card. If you object and want to go to another hotel, they tell you that the room charge cannot be refunded. The hotel’s mantra is you want a room, “we will copy your ID and credit card - take it or leave!” According to Jorge, if I left, I would lose the money that I already paid for my room. This “policy” is entirely unwritten and there is no possible way that any guest could possibly have any knowledge of this practice at the time of their reservation booking.||||Nicola Stasi, owner and manager, has been non-responsive to my concerns. I was hoping this was some misunderstand here and he would make it right somehow. Jorge, the desk clerk, ending up yelling at me afterwards, as well as cursing me in two different languages. He felt that the way we ultimately resolved my concerns about identity theft would lead to the owner/manager firing him. Jorge implied that the owner berated him over this matter at some length. In the end, it took me well over 2 hours and 15 minutes to get this issue even partially resolved. This involved having customer service from booking.com calling the property to resolve this issue. In an email that booking.com sent me, the agent stated, “ we have check your reservation and this (policy) does not come in your terms and conditions”. I was forced to wait in their small and uninviting lobby the entire time. ||||All I can say otherwise is that this is a very, very, basic hotel (seriously, Motel 6 has better amenities), the window air conditioning unit is incredibly noisy, the room is tiny and about 85% as clean as those at major hotel chains. No elevator here either, so if you have a lot of luggage, be prepared to haul them up a few flights of stairs if you get assigned a room on the second or third floor. The hotel provides the cheapest amenities (soap and shampoo), no wash clothes are provided to guests, and the towels are very small and of low quality. The wall mirror had some rust or mold on the left side of it. There was a used plunger in a bag near the toilet - but the bag was ripped on the bottom. The faucet on the bathroom sink was not properly attached and would slide on the sink porcelain when you turn on the water. I was worried about the pipes breaking. The shower stall is very tiny but admittedly useable. There is no bathtub if you are looking for one.||||The building is admittedly very old and there are few outlets in the room. There was a power outlet strip placed on the desk and I think that the coffee pot and microwave were plugged into it. Anything else plugged into the power strip might overload the entire circuit.||||In the end, Hotel Ponce DeLeon is not a good value in my opinion. It is truly best to stay...

Bottom line up front - I have stayed at this hotel and it is nothing special. It is in a great location in Coral Gables but there are much nicer hotels that will cost you only a bit more and you don’t have to expose yourself to identify thieves. As a road warrior for many decades, this was one of the worst experiences that I have ever had anywhere in the world! ||||Here is the room entire problem in detail - Hotel staff will make a photocopy of both your ID (e.g., drivers license) and your credit card WITHOUT asking for your permission or even telling you that they are doing so! I just happened to observe Jorge doing this. I have no problem with the looking at my ID to verify who I am, but I do have a problem with them photocopying it and keeping a copy indefinitely. Who knows how these copies could be misused in the future? Any reasonable person can see how these copies could be used to steal your identity or to falsely apply for credit in your name (e.g., submitting your drivers license copy as part of an on-line credit application. )||||The hotel’s policy is that you won’t be allowed to check until they photocopy your drivers license and credit card (which they do AFTER they charge the room to your credit card. If you object and want to go to another hotel, they tell you that the room charge cannot be refunded. The hotel’s mantra is you want a room, “we will copy your ID and credit card - take it or leave!” According to Jorge, if I left, I would lose the money that I already paid for my room. This “policy” is entirely unwritten and there is no possible way that any guest could possibly have any knowledge of this practice at the time of their reservation booking.||||Nicola Stasi, owner and manager, has been non-responsive to my concerns. I was hoping this was some misunderstand here and he would make it right somehow. Jorge, the desk clerk, ending up yelling at me afterwards, as well as cursing me in two different languages. He felt that the way we ultimately resolved my concerns about identity theft would lead to the owner/manager firing him. Jorge implied that the owner berated him over this matter at some length. In the end, it took me well over 2 hours and 15 minutes to get this issue even partially resolved. This involved having customer service from booking.com calling the property to resolve this issue. In an email that booking.com sent me, the agent stated, “ we have check your reservation and this (policy) does not come in your terms and conditions”. I was forced to wait in their small and uninviting lobby the entire time. ||||All I can say otherwise is that this is a very, very, basic hotel (seriously, Motel 6 has better amenities), the window air conditioning unit is incredibly noisy, the room is tiny and about 85% as clean as those at major hotel chains. No elevator here either, so if you have a lot of luggage, be prepared to haul them up a few flights of stairs if you get assigned a room on the second or third floor. The hotel provides the cheapest amenities (soap and shampoo), no wash clothes are provided to guests, and the towels are very small and of low quality. The wall mirror had some rust or mold on the left side of it. There was a used plunger in a bag near the toilet - but the bag was ripped on the bottom. The faucet on the bathroom sink was not properly attached and would slide on the sink porcelain when you turn on the water. I was worried about the pipes breaking. The shower stall is very tiny but admittedly useable. There is no bathtub if you are looking for one.||||The building is admittedly very old and there are few outlets in the room. There was a power outlet strip placed on the desk and I think that the coffee pot and microwave were plugged into it. Anything else plugged into the power strip might overload the entire circuit.||||In the end, Hotel Ponce DeLeon is not a good value in my opinion. It is truly best to stay...

We stayed one night here on a weekend trip to Miami. This was a holiday weekend for the 4th of July. The main highlights of our stay are as follows:

Staff called to follow up with us day of reservation to see when we would arrive and if we were familiar with location. We did a late night check-in and this was much appreciated.

This was an older hotel that you could tell they put in an effort to keep well maintained. It was clean, comfortable and nicely decorated.

I really liked all the historical photos and newspaper articles framed on hallways and entrance as artwork. The dated feel was intentional in order to preserve it's historic place in downtown Miami.

There were not any negatives with this stay.

There are a few things of important note for you to take into consideration before your stay:

There is not an elevator as it is an older building. The stairs led up to second and third floor. Staff offered to help us with our suitcases. This would not be wheelchair or stroller accessible. The room itself, although clean and well organized, was small. It had a fridge/microwave, two full beds that were not terribly comfortable and one bathroom with corner shower. It also had a window air unit that did work very well. We were not warm at all. There was no coffee or breakfast included in the morning. Closest store for this was a target about 1/4 mile away that had a Starbucks inside.

We will stay again as it was a good stay. Prices were fair and staff very friendly. We are able to take the stairs and we travel decently light.

I wanted to make sure and note important details for others considering a...