The Setai, Miami Beach — Hotel in Miami Beach

Would skip this hotel. This place thinks they're cool by "gatekeeping". They give "you can't sit with us" vibes, and they think that makes them cool. Maybe elitism is cool to some, but to the rest of the world, I'd look other hotels in Miami.

Alternative recommendation: 1 Hotel is down the block, and is amazingly high end, much newer and incredibly warm and welcoming to all people. Even the Ritz felt more welcoming.

I went with my partner for lunch here at their beach side restaurant. We were staying at a nearby hotel and had checked out, but wanted to find a nice place for lunch before we had to go to the airport at 2pm.

We got to the lobby early and the vibes were immediately off. Rather than welcoming us, their attitude was more like "what are you doing here..." Keep in mind, their lobby has public stores and plenty of seating. We told them that we were going to lunch in a bit at their restaurant, and then they left us alone. We sat there for a bit, and were eyed even though it is a busy lobby with stores open to the public.

We then went to lunch which was fine (the waiters were nice). After, we needed to change for our flight, so went to the closest bathroom next to the pool, as one person showed us where it was. Next thing you know, the security guard comes to bother us in the middle of us packing our bags up, to which we're like "we're gathering our things". He then continues giving off weird looks, eyeing us and talking into his headset. Remember, we just went to their restaurant for lunch which was not cheap. You'd think the least they could do was let us use the bathroom in peace.

We then walked back to the lobby, and were opening up google maps to see traffic times, to which an attendant interrupts us asking what we're doing here, and "if we need any help" in very much a non helpful way. We answered, "we're calling an uber soon"... We were planning on sitting in the lobby to wait, but felt uncomfortable by this point, so we left. Such a shame that we spent money here, only to be made uncomfortable.

I wouldn't be writing any of this, if the staff had been courteous and made us feel welcome. They could have said, "oh you're going to our restaurant? Lovely, I'd recommend these dishes _" Instead everything was about who we were or maybe more specifically who we weren't.

I've stayed in many nice hotels across the board, and this place gives off old school service that's obsessed with perception and making certain guests feel "high status". If you want this hotel to stroke your ego, pay them enough and I'm sure they will.

Clearly, our lunch bill wasn't going to cut it for them.

This hotel does not pass the vibe check. Also important to note, this isn't necessarily the staff's fault... I'm sure ownership institutes a culture of status obsession and gate keeping to feed their own egos.

I'm rating this 2 stars, because the property itself is decent, but the vibe and value for what you're getting, especially when compared to all the incredible hotels in Miami, is...

Just spent 4 nights at the Setai! We were super excited as it's known to be one of the best hotels in the area. Immediately upon check-in we were welcomed to our Studio Suite Courtyard View with a complimentary bottle of Champagne, macaroons, and tangerines. Keep in mind this room type is not in the beautiful tall building, rather a short dingy looking own. The room itself is just okay. The layout of the bathroom is crammed. The sink space is minimal, the fact that the rooms have no balcony's and minimal windows felt a little suffocating. Both of our sinks were getting clogged with water consistently and we only had one towel to bathe with upon arrival. Also, shower gel in the shower was half full (I assume it was used prior by another guest). We had reservations at Jaya for 9pm on our first night, we didn't get in until 9:30-9:40ish due to them being "behind", it was very evident they over took reservations and tensions were high in the waiting area between others as well. The service at Jaya for dinner was poor. For a $250 dinner just expected more. The dinner itself was tasty, I'll give them that, the cocktails were fantastic. We had breakfast at Jaya every morning throughout our stay and the service was well however, we were very surprised to see them doing buffet during COVID. The pool service for towels was well, for food & drinks it was very slow. The Ocean Terrace food was not the greatest and the service was awful. They were consistently out of various things from time to time. One day it was ranch, the next jalapeños, and the next coconuts for the drinks. The attention to detail on orders was minimal. I asked for certain condiments inside and others on the side and they didn't care to accommodate. Each food/beverage tab on average at the property was anywhere from $80-250 dollars for two guests. With this pricing at a 5 star hotel you just expect more. None of the staff stood out to us for me to say wow. Frankly none were very friendly for that matter. We got massages at the spa, and the massage itself was fantastic. The room for service was beautiful and spacious. Again though, we asked for separate therapy rooms when making our appointment and this was not accommodated. These concerns in this review were addressed to management (when they asked in a text for a rating) however, nothing was done or said other than "thank you for your feedback, that is how we improve". While speaking to others on property who had stayed here before many said words along these lines "It used to be one of the best, not so much" "day by day it keeps getting worse, they went from linen napkins to paper". Not what you want to hear for a 5 star hotel. The hotel is in a good location, and the pools were very lovely, I'll...

Tldr; The Setai is a magical place… if you're not Asian (or are oblivious to discrimination). Mom's limited-edition makeup vanished, found in odd place after search. Suspicious housekeeping behavior. Missing promised amenities like caps, turndown service issues. Discriminatory treatment in dining reservations.

This was my third visit to the Setai. I really enjoyed my experience when I traveled with my husband (White), so I decided to travel this time with my mom (Asian) for her birthday. I will probably never go back there again.

It all started on D1 when housekeeping never provided turndown service. There was a communication blunder between the concierge and housekeeping that resulted in housekeeping harassing me by calling and barging in when I was in the middle of shower, even though I told the concierge that I'd be fine with having this service from D2.

The next day, the newspaper I requested was never delivered. And I found out I never got all the amenities other guests received (i.e., we had flip flops but did not get the caps). More housekeeping/concierge blunder. I specifically requested the concierge ask housekeeping not to come into my room before noon as I will need to go to the gym first and get changed before going to the beach. By the time I came back from the gym around 11:30am, housekeeping was well into cleaning.

The same afternoon, the annoyance turned into an actual nightmare:

(1) my mom's belonging were stolen (and later miraculously found by housekeeping in a snack cabinet between chips and granola bars, though my mom had searched that area multiple times before). I relayed this concern to the front desk and received a cryptic message from guest relations: "I am very glad to hear the make up was found. Our team was reminded to be very careful.. I wish you a wonderful evening ahead…". As if this were an issue of not being careful enough..

(2) I tried to make a dinner reservation at Jaya to watch the performance that started at 8pm. I asked for a 7:30pm spot, and Jaya hostess said all prime time spots between 6:45-9:45pm have been booked. I begrudgingly took the 6:45pm slot, worried I would miss the performance. Later I found out on Open Table that virtually all dinner slots during this time were available the entire time. I switched my reservation to 7:30 through Open Table.

Discrimination is very subtle. It makes you feel like something's off, but you're not quite sure if you're just having bad luck. At first, it's just housekeeping. Later, you find out you're not offered the same service as other guests. How come something like this had never happened before when I traveled with my husband? I could only guess-- they wouldn't dare do...