James Hotel — Hotel in Miami Beach

Let's start with the positive. It is a great location. I was able to park early (5 dollar fee which I though was very reasonable given the lot size and area.) Also, there were no signs of bedbugs- always a plus! That's where it ends. If you would like to sleep in a hot dirty room, sleep in a bed with pillows and blankets with questionable "stains", breath in air from a vent full of dust and mold, other people's hair EVERYWHERE, and shower under a shower head full of mold, this is the place to stay, otherwise, stay somewhere else. We had to unplug the lamp because it was shorting out and would go on and off on it's own (it's wasn't a bulb issue). Towels are so thin and old that they do not absorb water (I didn't realize how nasty the shower head was until I was already in there... not something you usually have to check for.) I wish I could explain how bad this place smells. Leave your mop head in a bucket of dirty fabuloso water for a couple of weeks, add the smell of mold and you might get an idea. I complained about the room being dirty and requested a refund so I could leave. I was of course denied. They did offer to send housekeeping again, but I think if you look at the pictures you will see why I thought it was pointless. I'm glad we had pillows and blankets in the car.The ac is "central air" in the room I had, so I had no control of the temp.They did offer to send maintenance when I complained it was to hot in there (there was a wall unit but it was disconnected). When offering to send maintenance, I was snidely told I just needed to give it time as it was "just turned on". It was hot and I had been in the car for over 11 1/2 hours, but I gave it time. The room took forever to cool down and got hot again several times through the night. All but one of the staff members I dealt with were beyond rude. If you question anything they get more rude. I was taken back when told I have to leave my key with them at all times. When I asked why, I was told "it's policy". I get it, I have to enforce policy all the time, but I'm capable of explaining the policy so people understand- you don't just say "it's policy". When pressed on why they would need access to my car I was told in case they need to move it in an emergency. Somewhat understandable for the lot size, but it made me uneasy as I have a manual Mustang. When I tried to confirm they had staff who could drive manual I was told "I'll find someone"... either you have staff that can, or you don't, it's as simple as that, there is no in between with a manual. If they have staff that can drive manual, what was so hard about saying, yes, we actually do have staff that can drive a stick. What were you going to do, ask a random person to move my car! Given the response, I repeatedly asked if they would just call me. First she said (snide smirk) I don't have your number. I of course was more than willing to provide it. Once provided said she said "I'll call you if you are here". Several times I went to get my key and they had to look around for it under papers and one time it was in the wrong room box! It's the ONLY key to the car, and even if it wasn't, I was over 1400 miles from home. If you're going to required people leave their keys, you should have a locked box in which every key is clearly labeled. The desk was unattended several times and anyone could have grabbed keys. The next morning I went to my car and a guy came out and glared at me before walking up behind my car ( I was backed in and standing at the front of my car). He never addressed me- not a smile or good morning, nothing, just glared at me and watched me the entire time I was out there. I understood, after I figured out he was staff, that the first time he came out he was checking to make sure I was allowed to park there. Even after seeing the green sticker they stuck on my taillight (I had to scrape it off with a razor blade-super cool). He never addressed or treated me as a guest. I was never expecting a glamours hotel, but I was expecting...

We arrived and checked in the hotel on December 24, 2022. The very first impression was the hotel had very strong moldy odour that I had to back out right away to catch some fresh air. The check-in process was problematic at first: we booked 2 rooms but they only gave us one room until I had to turn on my laptop to show the proof I had booked 2 rooms. At which time, they dug in their mess to find the other room for us.

The hotel overall needed more than an TLC; it was old, run-down with cracked and patched walls, cracked floor tiles. The rooms (we stayed in 106 and 115) were filthy and moldy. It was covered up paint but I could still see black spots of black mold from water leak on the ceiling and wall. The air condition unit were not functioning in our room (106). The air filter were very dirty in my other room (115); it blew air plus dust and moldy smell!

Parking was advertised as free but was limited and on a first come first grab! We were banged on our door at 6 AM in the morning because they wanted us to move our vehicle so that they could fit more vehicle in LATER; meaning at the time they banged our doors, there were no check-in and/or our vehicle was not blocking anyone's access in/out of the parking lot. They just needed us to move BEFORE other check-ins arrive at a later time.

Hotel personnel persistently requested to give up our vehicle key but I declined because it was rental vehicle and if hotel staff caused damages to the vehicle, I'd be the one on hook for the damages. When I refused to give the hotel staff my vehicle's key, he was very upset and wanted to kick us out of the hotel.

Overall, this hotel is the worst hotel that I ever experienced. They have zero regard to your safety, well-beings and/or enjoyment of their guests. All they wanted was to jam-pack more guests.

I regretted that I prepaid for the hotel, otherwise, I would rather cancel my reservation, pay a little more ($30-$50 extra) to stay in Mariotte which is just 400 metres away!

I got sick after breathing the moldy air in the hotel and in the rooms. It was the worst hotel experience that I never thought it could happen for a hotel in the US. I thought I was in a third world country. TRAVELLERS, STAY AWAY, FAR AWAY FROM THIS HOTEL FOR YOUR OWN...

It being close to everything is the only perk. I reserved a “triple room” which i was under the impression it came with 3 beds but none of the websites actually said how many beds or what the rooms really look like. We get there and theres two full sized mattresses that now 3 adults have to share. I easily take up the whole bed myself. We went downstairs to ask if they had a cot or literally ANYTHING we could bring up and the man at the desk didn’t understand us and thought we wanted another room and said the hotel was fully booked and try again tomorrow. Great! Now i have to sleep on the floor because this was 1 am and everything is closed(not their fault of course). We leave for a bit and come back and I ask for just a few extra pillows. My dude felt super inconvenienced that i asked for something, they didn’t have extra pillows he has to go take one from a room but i thought there was no empty rooms today but whatever. What hotel doesn’t have extra stuff for guests to use? The pillows that went with the room where all flat and not comfortable at all to begin with so i would've asked for an extra regardless. The actual mattresses that my friends used were not that great their actually i kind of lucked out with the floor not gonna lie. The tv was a smart tv which really excited us except there was no remote to switch it to any of the apps on the tv. Hotel has a tiny little elevator that I’m pretty sure is not compliant with ADA. Once we got ready to check out i had asked if they did luggage storage like the website says. This woman was great, i wish i asked for her name. She actually understood what i was asking for, didn’t act like the world was going to end because a guest had asked for something. She showed us the room where we could put our luggage and low and behold.. a whole room full of fold up cots. I...