Casa Sofi — Hotel in Miami Beach

We made a reservation to stay for 2 nights. Check in is at 3, and we landed pretty early so obviously we could not check in. The day of i receive a text that the hotel has partnered with Esteban’s place on the beach and that we were able to get two complimentary cushioned beach chairs with our stay. I called Casa Sofi ahead of time and asked if they were able to hold luggage and they said the location we were staying at did not, but their sister location Casa Ocean does and that we could store our luggage there until we had to check in to Casa Sofi. The following question was if we were able to use the beach chairs prior to check in and they said yes, and to just head to Esteban’s place and provide them with my name and room number. It was really easy to find, i get to Esteban’s place, give them my name and room number and he said that i wasn’t on their list. The man working said to call the hotel and to ask them to send over my name and room number so that we could get the chairs. I did so and the man on the phone said he would do that. I told the man working at Esteban’s place what they told me and he then brought us to our chairs, which were NOT cushioned, it was a regular folding beach chair. Whatever not a big deal we were happy to get chairs. Maybe 20 minutes or so go by and the man is seating two other people and then comes over to us and says that the hotel hasn’t sent over my information yet which i thought was kinda of annoying and i thought he wouldn’t let us stay, but i told him they were going to send it over. He apologizes and goes back to the cabana. I assume he ended up getting the information because he never came back. It’s like 2:45 when we decide to leave the beach because check in was at 3 and we wanted enough time to walk back to Casa Ocean, grab our stuff then walk over to Casa Sofi. We get to Casa Ocean around 2:50, grab our bags and the receptionist said that our room was ready and we could head there. We start our walk and we get there exactly at 3pm (our check in was at 3pm). We get inside and we walk up to the second floor and we could tell that the housekeeping was still cleaning the room. The housekeeper sees us and asks if that was the room we were staying in and i said yes and she proceeds to call her boss and says he told her to call him when we got there. She passes her phone to me and the man on the phone says he’s sorry that there was an error in the system and that the room wasn’t ready yet. But that didn’t make sense to me because check in was at 3 how could there be an error in the system? He then offers us to stay in the room across which was two twin beds, versus the king bed we booked. I discuss with my friend and we didn’t want two twin beds and told him we would wait, and he said that was no problem and apologized again. Waiting wasn’t the problem, me and my friend are very patient people. It’s like 3:05 now and the ladies are finishing up the room and one of them tells us to give it a few more minutes to dry, okay cool no problem. It’s probably like 3:10 now and she tells us we could go in, so we go in. Upon going in, it was a beautiful room, spacious with lots of natural light which we loved. We then start to unpack and i proceed to shower. The shower took forever to get warm. At first glance i didn’t see anything wrong with the shower but then i really started to pay attention and there was hair literally all over the shower floor, and im thinking to my self, did they just take a quick glance at the shower and deemed it was good, or did they actually clean it? Or did they not see the hair?? I don’t know but it was nasty. After seeing that i start to really pay attention to everything and overall didn’t look too clean. There was hair in and around the bathroom sink. When i got out the shower and was walking to the bed, the floors didn’t look too clean, like it was cleaned with swiffer one time. We then noticed the tv was unplugged after 15 minutes of trying to turn it on. Overall i just wished it was cleaner. It’s in a great location, everything...

At 1.35am we got back to Casa Sofi (not drunk or under drugs effect). Tried to unlock the front door - the red light came up instead of the usual orange blinking and we could not enter. Before that we entered a couple of time in the building in the afternoon of April 2 and the door and lock worked. We whats up, called them and no one answered. We called Booking and they tried too. No one answered. Booking suggested to call 911 and report it. It was 3am and we decided to go in another hotel to sleep a couple of hours (so we spent extra money). This morning we had to go through the insulting conversation with casa sofi telling us that we were unable to enter and use their front door because of our fault, since the code and door were perfectly working. And they were not. No one enjoy spending 1 hr and a half in the street in the middle of the night, and pay an extra room if the access to the building would have been possible. The external numeric lock was not blinking orange and entering the code followed by # was giving a red key board and the door closed. The place is very nice, the location great. No service if something happens. So if you remain locked out in the night because the door is not working, no one will help you. Be ready to call 911 and report it. I was stupid to go and pay for another hotel room. If it happens again I will call 911. And for sure I will not come back here. It is a pity but this morning chat arrogance was not what I expected. I often come to Miami and I will go back to the places we are used still in Miami Beach but where at any time there is someone available to answer a phone at least.

UPDATE ON CASA SOFI REPLY: we have entered all the afternoon with no problem. We know how to use the door and lock. We did have a complete string red flashing board which it is not what happened in the afternoon and next day. We have been putting the code and tried the door for at least a couple of times before starting sending you sms with no reply. And for 1 hr and a half we tried with one person putting the code and the other at the door. You can remain of your idea and me of mine. Anyway a place that has no availability to help customers in the night if they have a issue with the lock (even if as you think is our fault which is not true) shows to me not a serious and safe environment by considering that you have not been able to help (my fault or not) and we...

I guess I should read the reviews before I booked…

After arriving I went pee and the toilet wouldn’t flush. We got the attention of a cleaner on site because there was no front desk. The cleaning lady attempted to clear a clog which was non existent. It was clearly a pressure issue. She left the plunger and told us to use the restroom “lightly”. Not sure if you’ve ever had Cuban food in Miami, but a restroom in general shouldn’t have to be used lightly. Needless to say, we had to use the restroom again and after three calls they sent another gentleman to clear the “clog”. Mind you, he wasn’t a cleaner so he left all the toilet water on the bathroom floor and walked it out of the room so we had to clean after him. We requested to change rooms and were told that all of south beach is like this because of the water pressure. Which I know is BS because this isn’t our first rodeo in South Beach! So we had to use the restroom at restaurants and other places.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, when we attempted to shower, we found hair from a previous guest. My wife is strawberry blonde and the hair in the photo is clearly a brunette.

The tv doesn’t play any channels, you can only watch YouTube or risk getting your account info stolen by logging into their “smart” tv.

The walls are not insulated. I could not sleep more than 1 hours off and on without hearing the guest across us either watch tv, fight, make love or just have loud drunken rants. And since we were near the front door, we could hear the streets noises and the guest coming in and out of the “hotel” ALL NIGHT.

To say the least, this has been my worst “hotel” experience. I do not...