Gale South Beach, Curio Collection by Hilton — Hotel in Miami Beach

If I could leave a zero star I would. I have NEVER experienced such disrespectful, rude employees at a Hilton property in my life. Charging fees that are completely against policy (Hilton customer service agreed and are disputing charges as we speak) and offer no help whatsoever. The headache began as soon as we drove up. No one at valet for over 20 minutes. Next, we had to walk around the entire property to try to find an entrance in. We had 3 large luggages and a couple bags and there was NO way to avoid having to lug your bags up stairs in this very small “boutique” style hotel. The front desk staff was the absolute worse. Rude, snarky and very unprofessional. Room was very small and smelled moldy (carpet floors may have been wet from previous guest). I called front desk to ask about the extremely slow internet...both upload and download speeds were LESS THAN 1 mbps and this is a big problem for me because I am a teacher online and really need at least 2mbps speed to be able to work. The guy who answered said he had no idea about anything with internet and said he was new being trained but his supervisor would give me a call to help with that... I asked if they would be calling tonight and he said yes. Never got that call. I had to cancel both of my classes the next morning due to this which cost me money. Next, I called again around 11:30pm just to ask if they had a place that sold snacks or even maybe vending machine and the person very rudely said “um.... no???” So I just said ok thanks and they hung up. Also, our remote control did not work for tv and did not feel like calling to speak to rude staff so we just dealt with it. You hear everything from others in floor over you so don’t expect to get any sleep. Breakfast was just ok... prices are outrageous and they force the tip so quality of service is out the window. We were so ready to go. Called for bellman and after 20 minutes of them not showing up I called and asked if they were coming. Let on phone said “I guess I can call and see why” we just went down and got our own rolling cart. We could only get so far until you have to again roll your luggage down stairs because this place is a joke. I told my husband to get receipt to make sure it looked right. It was NOT. They charged us a $36 resort fee plus and outrageous amount of taxes. My husband is a team member and Hilton’s policy is team members do not pay for any resort fee at any property. I came back in after my husband told me the front desk girls said his bill was right. I just walked up to the two front desk girls talking to each other and asked to speak to a manager. The girl looked at me as if how dare I interrupt her conversation with the other employee and just pointed to a woman at a desk speaking to another guest. So I said “can I speak with her please?” And she looks at me and said with such snarky sarcasm “ Can you wait?” I lost it at that point. I said “are you serious? She’s clearly speaking to someone right now I wasn’t just going to walk up there whiles she’s busy” and she didn’t even reply. Perfectly the person she was speaking to left so “manager” walked over to me and asked what the issue was. I plainly said “I honestly don’t know where to start.” As I just being telling her one or two of of the concerns we had the two front desk girls are just snickering and laughing with each other. I called them out and said “you are looking at the problem ma’am. As I am voicing my concerns with you your employees are standing her just laughing about the entire thing. She said she would talk to them but in my opinion that is a NOT Hilton hospitality. This entire experience was atrocious. I will be forwarding this to the general manager and owner of the property as well as Hilton themselves. They would be beyond disappointed with the type of service they would find here. Save yourself the MASSIVE headache and avoid this place...

I and my family were booked at this hotel. We arrived at 9am and check-in. They said our two rooms would have been ready by 4pm, so we’ve left our luggages at the deposit and we went out for a walk. The guy at the reception was very kind and nice and he suggested us what to do in that spare time and the day after.

We went back to the hotel at 3pm because we were very tired and it was pretty hot on the 29th of December, so we wanted to have some rest in our rooms. Upon our arrival a young lady at the reception advised us that a “technical problem” had occurred in the mean time and only one of our two rooms could be given to us.

So she “warmly” invited us to move to a newly acquired property of theirs (the Bentley hotel of Ocean Av) telling us that it was quite nice, at the same level, with a pool, with larger rooms and they would offer the breakfast (we discovered once there that consisted in one cup of coffee and one fruit) for the day after and, of course, the bill of the taxi.

So we accepted their proposal having they been so kind and helpful and in about one hour’s we reached this Bentley hotel.

Almost... when we arrived the road to the hotel have been blocked for new year’s eve celebrations and the taxi had to stop a couple pf blocks away. Nobody was there to help us with the luggages and we had to drag all our belonging to the reception.

Once there our real nightmare became: the hotel was oldish, uncleaned, uncomfortable and only one of our rooms was ready. We had to wait again, wasting our leisure time in Miami but we were on a holiday and it was only a one day staying so we decided to be easygoing. The lady at the reception told us that our room would be given us on our way back to the hotel after dinner.

We were there at 9.30pm and a new lady at the reception was surprised at our request for a second room. She dully told us that no more rooms were available because all their rooms were sold out. An unemotional, unexpressive, unheeding person that simply ignored us. We strongly claimed that we have checked-in for both rooms so just needed to have our keys. We could not talk to any manage, we could not have help neither from the Gale hotel or the Bentley and we were simply left standing by for few hours. Then we reported to our tour operator that was dismissed by this sullen lady as well.

To put and end to the story we had to wait for AN HOUR for the check out and we had to find a new hotel by ourselves in an overcrowded Miami. There was no help for even getting a taxi because we “were guests no more”, so we grab our belongings, our sleeping boy (it was already passed midnight) and move trough Miami until we found a new hotel, at our expenses (and at star eye fees), at 2am.

I and my family felt like parcels going for one place to another with no assistance or so ever, although our bookings had bern made and paid for in advance, about a month before. Thank you Gale hotel, thank you Bentley hotel, you do not deserve even one of the five...

NIGHTMARE! Worst overall hotel experience of my life. Booked this hotel while driving down to Miami for my daughter’s birthday. The price was reasonable and I relied on the Hilton name as a means of knowing what I’d be getting. This place is a stain on the Hilton name. Gale is FILTHY, rooms are TINY and UNSANITARY, halls looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in weeks. I booked with the hotel, not a third party, and was told I’d have 2 double beds or a king for myself and my teen daughter. Since I was driving, the confirmation was sent to my email. When I arrived, there was a single full size bed for the two of us to share. Additionally, when I arrived at my room, I had to ride a small elevator up with a staff member who was coughing with his mask worn low beneath the nose. Not the hotel’s fault if someone showed up to work sick, but I can say that, for guests, no temperature was taken at the door and zero measures were noted that the Gale is observing proper COVID practices. Upon entering the room, it SMELLED HEAVILY OF SMOKE . You should also know that, in addition to room and tax (around $50) the hotel CHARGES AN ADDITIONAL $32.50 PLUS TAX FEE TO USE THEIR POOL. I explained that we would not be staying to use the pool the next day, but I had no choice but to pay for it. After seeing the shabby state of the place and being told all King bedrooms were booked, I asked to check out as this was not what I signed up for. I did not feel the conditions were sanitary enough to stay there The receptionist and manager refused to give me a refund even though they could not rectify the problem. That bothered me, but I could have lived with it. I felt, however, that others deserved to know my experience and told the hotel that I would be sharing this experience. I then left and didn’t return. When I called to inform them that I was checking out (well before midnight on the same night), I was initially told they would KEEP THE INCIDENTAL fee of $100 they had already charged me. I didn’t so much as take my shoes off, but I got slapped with a “resort fee,” paying for a room I didn’t sleep in (we had to book elsewhere and eat the money), and now I was told I’d pay $100 in incidentals for what exactly? Scam of the century. What started as an $185 get away somehow became a $365 mess, and for a hotel I spent 10 minutes in at most. Then the good news finally came! The manager had kindly agreed to refund my $100 incidental fee for the room I didn’t use. Maybe one day, we can laugh at the ridiculous way the Gale does business, but right now, I feel so disappointed for ruining my daughter’s 16 birthday. I HAVE NEVER LEFT A NEGATIVE REVIEW before in my life. This hotel ruined my kids’ birthday and was a costly mistake. Do yourself a BIG favor and AVOID THIS HOTEL at all costs. The only benefit is their parent company, the Hilton, who did their best to make it right. I swear I wouldn’t stay at the GALE...