Cardozo South Beach — Hotel in Miami Beach

[TLDR] - the customer service here is good until something goes wrong, then it becomes atrocious. Will not be coming back. GM and rest of management will cause this place to be the least desirable hotel on the South Beach strip.

Full Story: My fiance and I were woken up at 1:30am by multiple bugs crawling on us and flying around the room. We spent 30 minutes in a panic searching through our clothes and bed sheets, attempting to kill all of the bugs, and inspecting where they were coming from. After searching, we discovered a hole in the bed frame fabric and could see antennas sticking out whenever we shined a flashlight on it. That tells us that for the duration of our stay up to this point (2 nights), we had been sleeping right on top of this infestation the entire time. Fun stuff.

Once I called the front desk to inform the staff of our issue, they said they would send their maintenance person to come to our room and take a look. After inspecting our room himself and seeing the bugs, he said that we could not sleep in that room and would have to move all of our belongings to a different room. We were informed that all other rooms at the hotel were booked except for one. This room was available because it had a defective air conditioner.

We were told that the air conditioner had issues with cooling and that our room would struggle to get cool. Given that all the rooms were booked and it was past 2am at this point, we decided to move to the room anyway rather than continue to sleep with the bugs.

We spent the next 30 minutes packing up all of our belongings and moving them in multiple trips from the 3rd to 2nd floor to our new room. After 10 minutes in the new room, I stood up to use the restroom and stepped in a puddle of water beside the bed.

It turns out that the air conditioner did not have an issue with getting cool, it actually had an issue with leaking water that flooded the floor. As a result, our house slippers got soaked with AC water along with the bottom of our suitcases and our belongings inside.

h the front desk receptionist and asked to speak with a manager, they questioned us and said that the issue had been resolved since we were moved to a new room. When we continued to ask for a manager, he finally called for a woman named Patricia (a manager).

After 10 minutes, Patricia came and spoke with my partner and I. She told us that all they could do at the moment was to keep us in the room we had been moved to. She also said that the GM, Stephen Smith?, would be at the hotel the next morning at 7am to discuss the situation and offer something to make up for our experience. She reassured us that he had already been made aware of our experience.

The next morning, we went to the front desk and waited from 7:00-7:20am but were told that the GM or any other manager was unavailable.

Overall, this was a frustrating, sickening, and inconvenient stay at the Cardozo Hotel for my partner and I who were visiting south beach for the first time and wrapping up our vacation.

The issues we encountered negatively impacted our experience at the time. We have not been contacted or reached out to by anyone to address this situation and are now having to spend time and energy after our vacation to write this email and breakdown the situation.

The incident occurred on 10/14/23. I have emailed the GM directly. I have called the Cardozo hotel over 5 times over the past 2 weeks and have the same interaction every time. The front-desk employee answers the phone, they question why I'm calling, I explain the situation and say that I want to speak to the GM directly, they continue to question me (in a very skeptical and reluctant tone which they all do and really is something to experience - it's like a twilight zone experience), and then they take down my information and say they will provide it to the GM who will call me in the next couple of days. I haven't received one call back or email reply since all of this occurred. VERY strange behavior by these people, and terrible...

I have experience of being a Manager of a hotel/restaurant and this is an honest account of my stay at the Cardozo Hotel. ||Firstly, location. This is superb. It's located right across from the beach. Also Ocean Drive has many bars and restaurants. It's a two minute walk to Collins Avenue which takes you to where all the main shops and restaurants are located.||Reception. Wasn't entirely impressed by the welcome we received. The receptionist looked liked she'd had a hard day and had to force a smile. Everything looked too much trouble. Also none of the emails that I had sent previously asking if there was a hairdryer in the room had not been replied to. ||The room. The room we had was spacious with a bathroom. The bed was very comfortable. The room had a fridge and lots of storage space, a safe and a hairdryer. There was a good size TV in the room. Two bottles of water were also left each day. HOWEVER The walls are paper thin and you can hear everything in the room next door. The air conditioning unit was very very noisy. This also leaked a fair amount of water over the tiled floor right next to the bed. This was not only a slip hazard but meant every time you got out of bed, your feet got wet. The fan in the room was also very noisy. The windows in the room did not open at all. Reception were notified of the leak in the air conditioning and this was seen to straight away, but unfortunately, the next day it happened again, so again, reception were notified and it was seen to immediately. This carried on for three days and we gave up reporting it in the end and had to put towels down on the floor every day of our stay as we gave up reporting it. ||Bathroom. This consisted of a toilet, sink and well sized shower. There was shampoo, conditioner and shower gel provided in the shower and hand wash and hand lotion over the sink. HOWEVER There was black mold all around the perimeter of the shower.||Restaurant. The food we had here was superb. Full of flavor and well presented. It had a Cuban influence and the menu had a great choice. There was a great range of cocktails. There was some live music too. HOWEVER. The staff in the restaurant looked very very unhappy. There was one female who possibly was a Manager who, when I smiled at her, gave me such a dirty look, it upset me. There was also a male, who again I think was a Restaurant Manager who walked around with an air of arrogance at all times, looking at you as if you were a complete inconvenience, we found this to be very rude. If dining outside the music was so loud that you couldn't hear what the server was saying. The music was louder than any other restaurant on Ocean Drive. ||Facilities. There were beach chair and towels that you could use for the beach. ||Overall. I would recommend this hotel only if you were staying for one or two nights. If looking for a longer stay, then look for an alternative hotel in...

We stayed at Cardozo South Beach hotel with three rooms for three nights, and we all had some thoughts about the place. When I review hotels, I usually check out the location, appearance, comfort, performance, and customer service. I gave two stars for the location and appearance, but the rest didn't do so well, losing three stars in total.

First, the good stuff - the location is awesome. You're close to the beach and surrounded by great restaurants. The hotel itself looks pretty. The lobby features a charming bar/restaurant with occasional live performances. The rooms are aesthetically pleasing with white floors, selfie lights, and a modern vibe.

But, here comes the not-so-good part. It feels like the hotel spent all its money making things look good but forgot about making everything work well. The elevator, which you have to use to get to your room, is tiny, shaky, and smells like sewage. (I've spotted some drain flies as well). And the rooms, although pretty at first glance, have some issues. The air conditioner in all three rooms was so noisy we could hardly sleep. Even when turned off, it made loud machine noises. The beds had stains, the walls were cracked, and the bathroom doors were heavy and slammed shut. The TV was old and didn't have many channels. Considering the hotel's price, the quality should be better. It felt more like a $60 motel than a $200 hotel.

Now, let's talk about the abysmal customer service. The middle aged lady at the front desk was extremely rude. She was overwhelmed by the slightest line at the front desk. She would snap fingers, yell, sigh, and roll her eyes. Someone really needs to tell her that these behaviors are not professional at all! While my colleague was trying to ask a question during the check-in process, she would interrupt them and start yelling in Spanish, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. Then said that she needs to do things one at a time. Dealing with people can be tough, and we get that. But if she's this easily stressed out and openly expresses her frustration to customers in the rudest way possible, she might not be the best fit to represent the hotel at the front desk. During check-out, there were two guys at the front desk and they were a lot friendlier.

In summary, if you care about looking good for pictures and being close to the beach, this hotel might be okay. But if you want a quality stay with good customer service (and you don't speak Spanish), then you will be very disappointed. Overall I do NOT recommend Cardozo South Beach Hotel and...