Castle Beach club apartments — Hotel in Miami Beach

Terrible Experience - Avoid This Hotel!!!!

I recently had the most horrendous experience at this hotel and feel compelled to share my concerns to prevent others from enduring the same ordeal.

First and foremost, the cleanliness of the rooms was appalling. Opening the sink cabinet was a strong moldy odor along with what seems to be cockroach eggs/feces.. it was clear that proper hygiene and maintenance were not priorities for this establishment, I was scared to put any of my personal belongings in there let alone stand in the dirty shower without any sandals on.

The WORST PART of our stay, however, was the interaction with the hotel’s SECURITY. The security guards at the pool were exceptionally rude and disrespectful. I had just arrived and brought a cooler and the security comes up to me and says we had to leave because coolers were not allowed. the man had no manners, instead of starting off by saying "excuse me miss" he quickly used the power of his security badge to reprimand and belittle me that if I didn't take the cooler away there would be consequences. I put the cooler under the chair waiting for the rest of my family of 15 to show up so we could all go to the beach and take the cooler else where. The security guard returned within minutes and threatened to kick us out if we didn’t remove the cooler immediately. To make matters worse, we observed other guests with coolers, glass bottles, and food at the pool in the following days, yet they were not reprimanded at all.

Another incident occurred when I was sitting by the pool with my feet in the water, enjoying a drink I had purchased from the hotel bar. The security guard rudely ordered me to get out of the pool area without any courtesy or excuse. I pointed out that I wasn’t the only one with a drink by the pool, and he assured me he would address the others, but no one else was asked to move.

To add to our distress, another man who claimed to be security (but wasn’t in uniform) threatened my boyfriend and challenged him to a fight outside by the beach since we were incapable of following rules. This same individual was frequently seen smoking MARIJUANA and drinking from a GLASS Corona bottle at the beach gate, in plain view of everyone, including children, at all hours of the day.

Clearly the security did not like us and wanted to get us into more trouble, they ended up calling the manager saying we were opening the emergency doors to let people who weren't staying in the hotel into the pool area, if im being honest I have NO IDEA where that emergency exit is and have no interest in letting people into the already overcrowded pool area. Anyways there were people in the pool and in the hotel premises without a hotel wrist band, they should be more on top of strangers trespassing rather than worrying about my cooler with water and juices for kids.

The check-in process was equally frustrating. Despite being told by Lola that we could check in early if our rooms were ready, we were sent to two different desks before the process even began. Then, we were told that our rooms wouldn’t be ready until 4 PM, which would have been understandable if not for the previous misinformation. After complaining, our room was suddenly ready in less than 10 minutes, which felt very insincere.

Overall, the staff was unprofessional, and their lack of manners and respect made us feel belittled and unwelcome. As paying guests, we expected a certain level of service and compassion, but instead, we experienced a vacation from hell.

I strongly advise against staying at this hotel. Save your money and go elsewhere where you will be treated with the respect and dignity...

• BEWARE do not stay here!!! * Being that this was a last-minute trip for us to be able to acquire same-day passports for an upcoming trip, we were excited to be able to book a place to stay on the beach, which we thought would be fairly reasonable . However, we had many problems during our stay. we had booked our stay on a small third-party travel site, which charged us taxes and fees, and didn’t advise of any other fees upon arrival. There is a valet, which for us was included and check in was fairly easy besides the long valet line at 4 PM when we arrived. Upon entering our room, the decorations were fairly simple, we had a beautiful view of the city, skyline, and bay from our 16th floor accommodation, however the room was very outdated with lots of different things either broken, missing, chipped paint, dirty, sandy floors etc. The carpets throughout the halls on multiple floors, including the lobby and gym area never appear to be vacuumed in the three days we were staying. The lobby smells like bleach instead of the pleasant smell you get at real hotels/resorts. Although this establishment is on the beach and has beach access, with a pool on site, it does not give the vacation vibes you might expect. 24 hours after arrival we incurred an interruption in our stay, after returning from brunch. We came back and found our room key was not working. So we went down to the front desk who then sent us over to the new point Miami Beach Apartments office on site, at which time they advised us we were locked out of our room because we had a balance due. Because our reservation already included taxes and fees, and no other fees nor credit card was requested at check-in the previous day, we were surprised. It took us about six hours to resolve this situation because we were proving that we had already paid the fees and they did not have their manager on site to be able to provide a written bill or explanation for these additional charges they were also demanding be paid in cash. Instead of enjoying the beach and the area we basically were confined to our room until the manager came back because they told us they would temporarily allows us in our room but would disable the key again til we paid these fees. Had they asked for these fees to be paid, or a credit card at check-in with advisement of further fees, we would have consented to pay them, but being that they did not ask for anything upon check-in and had locked us out of our room in the middle of our stay made us highly suspicious, especially after arguing with them for 30 min and then being told we had to pay in cash. In the end, when the manager returned, she provided a bill, and an explanation of what they received from the small travel company, showing why they were wanting us to pay these additional “resort fees”. They then at that time activated our key and we did not experience another issue for the rest of our stay. It is odd to me, however, that this is clearly labeled Castle Beach, Apartments, or New Point Miami Beach, Apartments, and they still charge a “resort fee”. There’s nothing resort-like about this...

This is more of a short term rental apartment property than a hotel, so don't expect room or maid services. The Bldg. and room were clean. The room was close to the elevator shaft, ugh. The elevators for the most part worked well. There are two convenience type little stores in the bldg.. There are two places to get something to eat, plus one by the pool. I did not use the one by the pool and the other two were closed. There are soda machines but no ice machines in the bldg.. My Air B+B, Instant Stay rental and the pics were more hype than actual. The rental lacked several amenities and safety features. It needed maintenance, many repairs and TLC. No inside door safety lock, no room safe, no room phone, couldn't close drapes, couldn't open windows, no hot water at kitchen sink, no working clock, no shower grab bars, no tub, no soap dish, no bath mat. There were no dish towels, dish rags, paper towels or napkins in the kitchen. The refrigerator/ freezer acted like freezer only. Microwave worked well. A/C worked well. There was a large screen television. I had no problems with the wifi/internet service. The bed was comfortable although the pillows were lumpy, There was a full length mirror along with some small mirrors on a wall and a bathroom mirror, which I had to stand on tip toes to see in. I am on the shorter side. There were hangers, iron, and ironing board. The closet was adequate. Hopefully, other units are better than the one I had. The Front desk, although polite, seemed un knowledgeable nor very helpful. The Pool and pool facilities were good, plenty of chairs and loungers. It could use some more shade umbrellas though. I did not access the beach but what I did see of it it looked clean and safe. The laundry room could use cleaning, repairs, and upgrades. I decided not to use it. Valet was hit and miss, some were inattentive and unhelpful and some (like Jaun Alverado) were outstanding. The Bus stop going North was in front of the building premises. Bus stops/shelters are about every two blocks. The drivers were ok and some went out of their way to be helpful, all were patient. You need exact change to use. There are discounts for seniors and disabled. I Used the bus to go to the Publix liquor store/grocery store and also to Aventura mall. The Uber drivers I had were all very good and seemed to me cheaper than the taxi's. The Publix is a short ride or long walk away. You could find pretty much whatever you are looking for there at reasonable prices for that area of town. Suggestions: bring night light(s) and...