InterContinental at Doral Miami by IHG — Hotel in Doral

Will return.

Orchids, pool, insulation, and coffee: it's easy to operate and the last drop is always the most delicious.

The lobby is modern with large paintings. The restaurant Blue Matisse and Nau lounge to the left, looking appealing but we didn’t have a chance to try.

Nice length pool (about 40 yard) and I get to swim in the early morning alone. It's pretty dirty on Friday afternoon: a receipt and a wide hair band are on the bottom, plus many leaves flowing above and below - this can understand that during the day. But the next two mornings, a staff did some cleaning, still leaving some ... however, on Monday and Tuesday mornings, it is sparkling clean.

This airport hotel, doesn't provide shuttle to the airport but offer for 3 miles radium near by (hope I get this right). The insulation is great: we didn’t hear roaring planes at all, inside our room.

Rooms 109-114 are super nice with a small patio, on the ground floor, next to the pool; especially 109 and 110, by the orchids.

Our bathroom doesn't have any cups. It finally came after I asked for 3 times. We're missing a robe: came after 2 asks. Hand soup and lotion came when I asked for half and half. On the morning of the last day, half and half never came, (our check out time till 12 noon).

No pen no pad. The bottom of the chair is uneven, so uncomfortable that I put a pillow on it.

The beds are on the soft side but comfortable. Four pillows are on the thick side. Shower has adequate water flow. The room cleaning could have been better. Bathroom is very clean.

At check out, there’s a charge of taco from yesterday. “We didn’t order.” I said. Too many good restaurants here. We actually rarely order taco. The young male staff said, “no problem, I’ll take it off.” Actually I was hoping he’d it’s a wrong room number. It’s a little disconcerting. … Maybe use room key to pay, to reduce this kind of mistake? Sometimes people just forget their room number, mixed up or messed up.

The room keys are handsome. Suntan lotion at the pool is refilled (?) every morning - I see the staff bring it back a couple of times.

Smokers smoking out side of the entrance is terrible - everyone going in have to inhale…

The funniest thing is when I get home, can't find an item, so I called them.

"Hi, this is Irene Eng. I just checked out of Rm 234 a few hours ago. Wondering if your housekeeping find an item X?"

Woman 1: "... oh let me look..." When she came back a minute or two later, she said, "Mr. Eng, thank you for being a xx member and we so appreciate your support ... "

"Ma'am, I'm looking for a lost item."

"Oh, just second, I'll transfer you."

A minute later, a man (William?) picked up my call ... pretty much the same and then transferred me out again.

A minute later, a woman (Julia?) picked up ... it's...

The best recommendation is a repeat visit. This is our second visit to this hotel within the last two months

.Though an older hotel, the renovations and modernizations are superb.The hotel is immaculate,the rooms are comfortable,the gym is 'state-of-the art', and the pool area is lovely and inviting. But, mostly, it is the people. The warmth, transparency, and sensitivity, albeit extremely responsive and professional, is unique. Perhaps it is the Latin underpinnings, as the emotional exprience is reminiscent, for me, of Sunday dinners and Christmas Eve at my Italian immigrant grandparents' house..Of particular mention (without excluding anyone) is the front desk; Julio, the manager, Carlos, and Conrad (who doesn't love Conrad:) are all such wonderful, gentle souls! They definitely add value to the hotel. Observing newly arrived repeat guests interact with the front desk, I can see others feel the same way. Walking through the front doors feels like coming home. It is the main (not the only one) for my return visit. In fact, now that our children are about to embark on their own careers and our child-centered vacations to Disney, all-inclusives such as Beaches and cross-country trips are over....as are the 'crazy' South Beach days of my youth (shhhh:), this place is feeling like a default vacation spot for us.

Others I'd like to mention are Fernando in the lounge. I am so impressed with his generous service and diplomacy, sometimes under difficult scenarios as when it gets unreasonably crowded or when the tapas offerings run bare. Carla and Roxana work very hard, always with a pleasant greeting and a smile.

There are a few recommendations (not criticisms) I woukd like to make:

1. It would be nice to have a bar out by the pool. There certainly is enough space .It would add to the spirit of community that is a mainstay of the hotel. And, would make it easier for guests in wet swimwear to grab a drink. To me, it is a win-win situation. I can't see how it wouldn't add revenue to the hotel, allow kitchen staff or a lounge employee (one can be pulled during down time) the benefits and opportunities for more tipping while at the same time enhancing the guest experience. Similarly, music at poolside would be nice.

2. A couple of hooks in the bathroom would be helpful: where are you supposed to hang wet bathing suits or wet towels; there is enough wall space... you can take out the picture over the toilet and put a couple of hooks in..:)

There are a few other thoughts, but, I'd rather leave the review on a high note. The take away: A venue with wonderful people who are disarmingly authentic in an elegant, non-glitzy space.

As before, I...

To start off, I want to say, conrad was amazing.A fun check it and during our one night's day. After checking into our room, we noticed that there was a huge water puddle on the floor we couldn't understand where it came from. We thought, maybe just housekeeping spilled water. We clean the water up and proceed to get ready for our evening. After we got ready, we noticed that the water was back. We look up in the ceiling. There's 2 wet spots. The ceiling is leaking and the floor is wet. We call down to the front desk to let them know what's going on. They sent a maintenance man that unfortunately didn't speak any english.We tried to explain to him what was going on and where the water was coming from, but he didn't understand He went and told the front desk, the water was coming from the refrigerator in the room which was completely untrue.

We go to the front desk and a lady with long blonde hair on herself.On, we try to explain to her what's going on.She looks at us as if we're lying.And tells us I can give you something free.We look at each other like we're not looking for anything free.We're looking for a room that doesn't have water leaking from the ceiling. I ask her, can she insist? She goes, I'll take a look and see what I can do. In the meantime, here's has free drinks at the bar, so we left the free drink tickets she gave us right where they were. 20 minutes go by, nothing has changed. We're still in the room. The ceiling is still leaking. So we go back up to the front the same rude lady that was there. We decided to walk over to Conrad and explain to him what's going on. She walks over and says you know, how those type of people are the room is not leaking the maintenance man said it was coming from the fridge. I'm like excuse me, those type of people who are you talking to?

This review is getting along, I can go on about that experience, but to say the least, I would never stay at this hotel, the manner in which they treated us as if we were criminals It was absolutely disgusting. We just wanted a room where the ceiling wasn't leaking. We will never stay at this hotel again if you're going to work in customer service, understand what it means to be in customer service and don't accuse your customers of wanting free items because you don't want to take the time...