National Hotel — Hotel in Miami Beach

Full transparency, we do not go on vacation very  often, with 2 little kids at home, its difficult. So please take our review with a grain of salt as our expectations might differ from yours.

This year, for our 10 year anniversary we decided to splurge a little and go have fun in Miami. We wanted to finally try the Adult Only experience. National was one of the very few options in Miami beach.

As soon as we entered the lobby, the first thing we saw was an upset visitor looking directly at us and saying "Dont stay here! There are renovations going on and we are leaving!"

My wife and I are pretty chill, so we kind of dismissed him as being dramatic or just high maintenance type of customer.

The Good: The hotel is nice. The pool areas are very cool. The long pool was awesome to just float around in and look at the beautiful palm trees and palm fronds all around you, with cute geckos and chameleons.

Second pool is a little smaller, but right near the bar. The pool staff was great. The servers were always arround to make sure you had the drinks and the food. Bar tenders made very good drinks and the small little kitchen trailer made delicious food. We also tried the fancy dinner and that was also a great experience. I would say that 95% of the hotel staff were very attentive and went out of their way to make sure you had everything you needed.

The Bad: The room bathroom - not sure if it was just our room in the main building, but the bathroom was very small. We're sort of slender builds so we dealt with it, but if you are anything of plus size, you will have a difficult time using it. The shower glass opening is right next to the sink. There is about a 12 inch gap for you to get into the shower. The shower itself if narrow. I was bumping into the bottle holder constantly.

The shower water presure was extremely low. It took us a long time to shower. There was also no fan, so the whole bathroom steamed up very quickly. No fan also means good luck with the #2s smell lingering around.

The bed matress was very very soft. If you like soft, then it would be perfect for you. I like a medium firm, so my back ached every morning. But thats just a preference thing.

Construction During our stay, there were 2 different remodeling projects going on. This was not told to us by the staff at all. The outside construction was mentioned by the man I mentioned in the beginning of my review. Then as we asked the front desk more questions, we were told it wasnt that bad, well it was. The 2nd, we found out on our own early in the morning.

Outside, long pool - Construction was everyday. Drilling, hammering, and over all construction zone noise. This definitely took away from a relaxing experience. You would think someone from management would come around, apologies and maybe offer a free drink or an app. Nope.

Room Next door - Every morning were were awaken by drywall being spackled and sanded. The same wall as our bed backboard. This sucked. We were finally away from our typical early kid routine, and we thought we would get some much needed rest. Nope, no extra rest for us.

Unmentioned extra charge We were charged an additional $59.28 per day as the Resourt fee. We were not told this or was ot ever mentioned when booking the room. Thats shady.

Management unwilling to compensate On the morning of our checkout, we felt obligated to mentioned all of this and give them the opportunity to make it right. We were told to pay the bill and someone from Management will reach out and talk to us. No one ever did. Very disappointing. Businesses always express how they need the clients to share their experiences so they can improve on their hospitality. So here you go.

Service gets 3 stars only because of the management practices. Otherwise it would be 5 stars.

Location gets 4 stars because it does require a vehicle or uber to get into the main part of the city.

We will try another place...

I am writing this review at day 2 of our week long stay. I was hoping to write a better review. We were told on arrival that the smaller of two pools would be closed for a private event. This was not relayed upon making the reservations.

Just after we arrived, we stopped at the pool bar for a drink. The bartender ignored us as we stood at the bar waiting for a drink. We decided to move to a table and asked three separate employees to take our order. Nearly 30 minutes later a wait staff arrived. It took another 30 minutes on a very slow day to get a frozen burger pattie marketed as their signature burger and finally get our drinks.

Day 2: We brought friends from Miami the pool for a drink. No back up bar or drink service was in place for all their non event guests. The hotel closed the pool bar early for an event and had a full pool. Their inside bar wasn't open...they lost a lot of money on drinks, but were assured we could sit by the larger pools later. Unfortunately we found out the hotel actually closed all pools, bars and restaurants for this event. Guests were harrassed by the event staff just trying to get to their rooms. Event staff got in my face as I tried to walk to the lobby bar. This is how they welcome their guests???

I cannot stress how unacceptable this extreme lack of communication from hotel management has negatively affected my first visit to Miami. 3/4 of the hotel is shut down to guests not here for the event. The response from onsite management was poor to say the least. The event staff was rude to guests who were not attending the event and the management seemed to shrug it off.

I am extremely disappointed as the hotel is aesthetically very beautiful and in a great area. I really hope I can update my review with a more positive comment by the end of my stay, but at this point not expecting much from management or hotel staff.

My initial experience and recommendation is to stay at another hotel that actually cares for all of its guests, not just the ones with deep pockets.

Update on review after check out I did want to update/add to my review after an entire stay to offer a fair and complete review.

The night following me posting the initial review, we had someone gain access to our room in the middle of the night while we were sleeping. Luckily I had the security bar in place and they didn't get all the way in. After an investigation by security, it was found that the front desk had issued access to our room to someone else. The response from the security team was great, but the response from management on what I consider a serious security breach was unacceptable. They admitted it was an error by the front desk and their resolution was to take $100 off our stay. It seemed a little dismissive after such a serious incident.

To be fair, I need to offer some positive feedback as well. This is a beautiful art deco style hotel. The cleaning and housekeeping staff were amazing the kept the hotel looking perfect. The bartenders and wait staff were very responsive and really took care of us the remainder of the week.

My final thought is most of the negative experiences came from poor management communication to guests and staff. If they can offer additional training to their management teams on guest relations I think things would be better.

Would I stay here again? I would suggest keeping this as an option in South Beach only as I hope management improves. I personally will look at other nearby hotels on...

We just finished a five day stay at the National Miami and we were amazed by the hotel, its staff, and all of the National’s on-site amenities. The National is now our favorite SoBe hotel by far.

The Hotel: The National’s location is perfect: situated between Lincoln Road and 17th which gives you walking access to the full South Beach experience. Front Office Manager Marcel Pena is an excellent and professional host. Front desk workers Matteo and Natalya were super friendly and helpful. The bellmen were professional and attentive.

We stayed in a corner one bedroom city view suite that gave us a great view of the South Beach city lights and beautiful sunsets. The hotel’s interior theme documents its art deco style and rich Miami night life history, while the hotel’s lobby is filled with incredible modern artwork, photos and sculptures. We had the opportunity to speak with the National’s Director Matias and General Manager Stephane and they are executing a beautiful vision of hospitality, style and wellness. The vibe of the National is restful, recharging, and immersive in art and natural beauty. The entire staff of the National worked seamlessly to give us a warm and stress free vacation that felt effortless and renewing.

The Property: Walking through the lobby takes you through the on-site Spanish restaurant Mareva 1939 (more on that below - incredible food!) and out that back to the hotel’s absolutely stunning outdoor pools and relaxation areas. Photos cannot do full justice to the tropical paradise the National has designed in its outdoor space. Alongside the Olympic length pool are gorgeous relaxation spaces that are tranquil and flawlessly maintained. Past the large pool the path continues to the second smaller pool, and large lounge and bar area. The bar and lounge areas feature incredibly comfortable padded recliners and hammocks and the poolside food and drink selections are excellent. At nighttime this area is stunning and a perfect place to wind down your day. The National’s back gate opens onto the wonderful Miami Beachwalk which we used for a run (after all, we had to earn our delicious empanadas and blackberry mojitos).

Activities: The National’s location gives you excellent walkability to shopping on Lincoln Road, the beach, running/walking on the beautiful Beachwalk, and South Beach nightlife. We took advantage of the complimentary yoga offered in the tranquility of the National’s outdoor space. The yoga instructor (Jenny Cornero) was incredible - she took us through a series of yoga poses that felt amazing. My husband and I are beginners at yoga and Jenny made the experience so accessible and positive.

Conclusion: My birthday weekend was more than we even hoped for thanks to our stay at the National. We have found our new favorite hotel in South Beach and we will be back...