Riviere South Beach Hotel — Hotel in Miami Beach

DO NOT STAY HERE! This was worst hotel experience of my life. Walking up to the unit after check in we could smell the bug bomb they had just used. Upon entering it was overwhelming. No, we didn’t see any roaches but you just know everything is covered in bug poison (lovely). No hot water in the shower. No, it wasn’t peak shower time. Sink had hot water, but not the shower. Some kind of plumbing issue. Tiles in the shower aren’t even glued down. They are just placed on the floor all loose and wobbly lol. Water spills out from the shower and floods half the bathroom floor.

The horrid smell and lack of hot water alone would be grounds for a refund. But I’m not even complaining yet. I can live with a cold shower and putting towels over the pillows to avoid the bug spray.

It is completely inconceivable however that the air conditioning was not working. This is June in Miami. Temperature outside was 90' that day. The nighttime heat index was 88’. The room has a cheap “window unit” style air conditioning. I just thought it would take a little while to cool down. Went to the beach, got dinner came back and room was not cooled at all. By now the front desk is closed. I already didn’t feel good from a long travel day and the room was miserable hot. I am from Texas. I can deal with the heat, but no one should be subjected to sleeping in an 80’+ room. It is actually quite dangerous.

I tried everything to get the A/C working, cycled through the high/low/auto modes. Power on/power off. Unplugged it, plugged it back in. Nothing worked. We took all the sodas out of the fridge and put them in the bed to try and stay cool. I barely slept at all. We were scheduled for one more night. The next morning I went to front desk and told Michael (he also goes by “Mike”) that it didn’t work. Maintenance guy came, looked at it and said it’s working fine. I explained all it’s doing is blowing hot air. It’s not actually cooling. He mumbled something and left. Back to Michael at the front desk. He says maintenance claims it’s fine. Wouldn’t let me move to another room. I asked to switch the a/c unit out with another one. No. I asked what can we do then? His answer was “nothing to do”. So you are saying me, my wife and two teenage kids all arbitrarily decided the air conditioning is not working? I was not going to keep my family in this awful place any longer.

We packed up and went to another hotel around the corner which cost me ANOTHER $346 that I wasn’t planning on spending.

I emailed management upon returning home and requested a refund. My request was declined, not even for the night we did not stay there. It is disturbing they are unwilling to admit there is a problem, which means they are not the least bit concerned about fixing it. They are still renting out the space. I especially feel bad for our European guests from cooler climates that will most certainly suffer. Do yourself a favor and avoid Riviere hotel, the most disgusting and worst hotel in...

We spent three nights from March 22-25, 2023 on the upper floor in the 300 wing. The bed was enormous and there was a spacious closet and fridge area. A small coffee maker was provided yet no complimentary coffee, only tea. Plenty of sugar, sugar substitutes and powdered creamer were also provided. I always travel with my own instant coffee as I am a coffee addict and used the coffee maker to heat the water to drip into the pot which I had filled with my own coffee. Soap and shampoo and lotion were provided both by the sink and in the shower stall. We liked the bathroom drawers for our toiletries. The lack of sink counter space meant all of our toiletries were out of sight yet still accessible. I always travel with two sizes of sink plugs yet unfortunately the bathroom sink--which didn't have one--was too large for either of them. I had never encountered that before. Extra bath towels were provided and also beach towels. The hotel provided free beach lounge chairs from the Boucher Brothers kiosk at 14 Street. It was a pleasure to have beach access so close. The breakfast was far greater than the hotel staff made it out to be. We loved the scrambled eggs, cereal, danish, toast, yogurt and juice. Although this was one week after the (violent) spring break, the hotel atmosphere was very quiet. There was only the occasional person yelling in the alley behind the hotel to disturb us, but that always ended after a few seconds. No keys or key cards meant that hotel access was by punch code only, so you had a few number combinations to memorize. We will definitely be staying here again. Front desk staff were very helpful and smiling; we dealt with three different women and they all were lovely to us and...

Not What We Expected - Average Stay at Rivere Hotel South Beach

We booked the Rivere Hotel South Beach last minute after our Airbnb was cancelled, and unfortunately, it was a disappointing choice. From the photos, it looked nice and tidy, which it is to some degree, but the reality was quite different.

The room had a strong smell of mold and dampness that lingered throughout our stay. Even our unworn clothes had to be washed upon returning home because they all picked up the musty, damp smell. The air conditioner also smelled musky, and we had to keep the windows open to get some fresh air.

The noise was another major issue. We were woken up every morning at 6am due to construction next door – jackhammering, loud voices, you name it. On top of that, the walls are paper thin, and we could hear our neighbors talking all through the night.

The TV in our room only had one channel, which was disappointing. While the beds were comfortable, our peace of mind was shaken after reading reports about bed bugs being found in the hotel, so slept on top. We really wished we'd done more research before booking, as the hotel was cheap but didn’t live up to expectations.

Overall, while the location is amazing, the room’s condition in terms of scent and the noise made our stay quite uncomfortable. It’s an affordable option, but if you’re looking for a restful experience and if you are going to stay long term, we’d recommend...