The Standard Spa, Miami Beach — Hotel in Miami Beach

The Standard is number one on Tripadvisor; don’t think of grand entrances and opulent accommodations, staying at The Standard is not about that. We think it’s more ‘the experience’. We arrived at 1pm, earlier than the check-in time of 4pm. We were greeted and advised they would call us when our room was ready, which they did at 3pm. We did feel the lady on reception was a little ‘aloof’ with her personality. A little bit matter of fact and not really warm and friendly. Perhaps it was just the French accent. We had reserved(pre-paid) for two nights at The Standard, as part of the American Express Platinum Hotels Collection (Details below). The mandatory resort fee must be paid on site and was $50 per night, plus taxes. I think we all know where we stand on resort fee’s. We were not told we had received a room upgrade, and we didn’t ask for one, but we received a garden room with an open air tub, which I think was an upgrade on our ‘large garden’ room that we had reserved. We didn’t use the outdoor tub, but had we, I think you would do so knowing you’re OK with other residents easily grabbing a peak as they are walking by. I mentioned not to expect opulent accommodation; in fact you should think a drive-in motel, but done very, very, very nicely. Great bed & linens/towels, AC and fans working perfectly and everything immaculately clean. This is a place to sleep, bathe and get ready for the day ahead. Rooms are ‘compact’ but perfectly suitable, with perhaps just a couple of niggles; not enough(no) hangers on the wall to hang wet robes/coats/rain wear, very minimal flat areas to use in the bathroom and bed/living area(no work table). There was a little fold-out café table that could be used, but this was a ‘Walmart solution’. Amex Hotel Collection benefits; ‘complimentary’ breakfast is not complimentary, it’s actually $30 allowance per person. The $30 is sufficient for most dishes offered with a coffee, but add sides and juices and you’ll easily blow through the $30. AND, don’t think of using part of your $30 to cover service/gratuity as the hotel informs you this must be paid when checking out, separate from any allowances. We had BIG problems both days for breakfast. Day one my wife ordered the oatmeal, while I ordered a traditional breakfast with poached eggs. It took more than 30 minutes with multiple apologies being issued for the delay, but apparently nobody had prepped the oatmeal. When the food was delivered, everything that I ordered had been waiting under the hot lamp and was either luke warm, over cooked, or rock hard in the case of the toast ! By this time we didn’t want to wait any longer and just made best use of what had been served. Day two of breakfast looked a lot more successful, until we realized the avocado on toast was guacamole on toast including small pieces of bell pepper and jalapeno. Both of which my wife has a severe allergy to, resulting in her airways constricting and breathing difficulties. Fortunately, we caught the issue before any had been consumed. You can’t list a dish as avocado on toast and serve it using guacamole without any mention of bell peppers and jalapenos ! Our server was great and ordered a re-do with only freshly sliced avocado. We had lunch and dinner in the same restaurant, both of these didn’t have any major issues, but there are better choices nearby. The onsite spa is very nice. Sauna, Tubs, Hammam, etc, all for free and they are very clean, functional and comfortable. The inground facilities are very nice; great bar, lovely seating areas, pool, roman hot tub, cold plunge pool, and you can swim off the deck in the intercostal. Shortly before our arrival we checked the rates for the room rate we reserved and the total for the weekend was more than $1,500. Our stay, including; 2 x breakfast for two, dinner for two, three cocktails, resort fees cost a total of $800 after $100 onsite Amex allowance, $200 Amex rebate and a pre-paid booking discount offer from the hotel. At $800 this was a great experience. At more than $1,500 I think I’d spend my money...

I had a really great staycation with my friend at The Standard. It was my first time ever staying in Miami longer than a night. I arrived hours before check-in & my room was immediately ready. Every staff member working valet, front desk, spa desk, café, housekeeping- really kind and understanding.

I had a large garden room with an outdoor tub. I was a bit disappointed the curtains dont really allow for much privacy at all as they are not flush. But I quickly got over this and became comfortable with it and used the tub many times during my stay and felt super comfortable- even when another guest walked all the way through my curtain, saw me in the bath, and walked away :^) (after getting a good look and apologizing hahaha) but seriously i loved the bathtub.

The rooms are small & dated but decorated cutely. I had wished there were wall hooks to hang your robe. One day housekeeping forgot to give me towels. There is seriously zero soundproofing. I could hear everyone on all sides of me. I could hear the pipes. I made peace with it but wished it was a lil better for the price.

The pool was really cool. I loved watching the ocean, watching boats, watching everyone relax. The vibe was very chill & sexy party energy. You have the option to go topless. There was nice house music, a DJ, and I noticed immediately as a first-time hotel guest during a "slow" season that the packed pool area was full of regular members and day-pass goers. It was fun to get a sense of the regular locals and it was such an incredibly social environment.

The one kind-of con about the pool: the staff. They work so hard, I can tell. They're killer at it. But to be honest, when I was solo, it felt impossible to get a poolside server's attention. And when I did I felt a very dismissive, annoyed, and judgemental attitude towards me from some staff. It took a long time to get anyones attention, to get a menu, to get drinks or food. Probably it was just a busy as hell afternoon. In the end I dont take any of this personally- everyone at the poolside worked their asses off and did great. I thanked as many people as I could. In particular the towel staff, people running food & drink and clearing plates were impeccably kind to me.

Lido was really nice. While I was dining a manager came by and made sure I was having a great meal. I mostly loved it for the seating by the water. Again, superrr kind and sweet staff.

The spa: this was my first time at a spa ever!! I loved the services I received and my technicians. Each was so accommodating. I loved the hurts so good massage with Jacob- he was incredible!! He worked on my body in a place where I had never known I was holding tension. It was a transformative 60 minutes and he was a sweetheart. Please book him. Juan did my journey to tangier scrub and it was amazing.

The hammam is really nice. Its honestly a bit distracting to face the door & constantly feel like youre looking at people but I loved every moment of it. Its cool but to be honest I almost wish there was... a bit more? I spent many hours in the spa. The front desk people are great, kind, i booked all my services in person and not over the phone.

The biggest problem to me w/ the spa was other guests. There are multiple signs saying no phones allowed. On sunday morning I was in the hammam, steam room, and sauna by 9am. I am a woman. The only other people in the spa this morning were men. This isnt an issue.

What was an issue was that multiple men, over 6 of them, in diff rooms, all had their phones in the spa. This annoyed me as I felt very distracted by seeing a screen & hearing tiktoks in my periphery. I began to feel uncomfortable as the only woman in there at that hour. Eventually I asked staff about it and they sent in security- who just meandered/patrolled. It didnt really deter anything. I relented- but it bothered me that the male guests were so inconsiderate as there are topless guests. Unsure what the solution is there. Who uses their phone in a steam...

The Standard is sub Standard. Almost everything has been accompanied by a mistake. The weather has not helped the experience and I can well imagine had we had access to the pool and bayside bar my opinions would have slightly changed. Net/net- this is NOT a hammam. I have been to many in Morocco and the idea that this is a hammam is ridiculous. When booking I shared that I had chosen the Standard to celebrate and enjoy my birthday. Not one person wished me a happy birthday and that includes the fact that my husband, who is currently in Chicago, ordered me a piece of birthday cake to be delivered to the room, and the person delivering it called me to tell me they were trying to deliver birthday cake to my husband that I had ordered and she didn’t even wish me a happy birthday when she brought it. I had explained to her on the phone the mistake. When she delivered it she was very nice and apologized for the mistake/confusion stating the notes were wrong but still didn’t even say Happy Birthday😆. So as you can see the employees are rushing, not really paying attention-details are of the utmost importance if you are in the hospitality business and want to create an interesting experience that people might remember and care to repeat. The valet rushed me out of my car when we arrived. The transition to our room didn’t go well as we were not directed or accompanied. The receptionist literally told me to “get to the point” when I had called 10 days prior to shore up some specifics about our stay. The restaurant at the pool was closed, so you chose to minimize the menu-people are already disappointed that there is not sun or the ability to enjoy that portion of your property so you “punish” us more by reducing food options and availability??? Very short sighted. If you want to overcome an uncontrollable circumstance you go the extra mile, not create more limitations. The communication abilities of the woman cashiering at the cafe was frustrating. We were given different information from the host stand about the menu and limited seating options. We were told we must take our food from the cafe to go because there was no seating left in the cafe area. It was only when I ultimately pushed that they were gracious enough to “Allow” us to eat in the bar. The bar menu was ridiculous-I don’t eat meat and you were out of salmon so that left me with hummus and 1 other thing that wasn’t anything close to an entree. The cashier over charged me and was annoyed that I didn’t want to pay for 2 acai bowls instead of the 1 I ordered. The lattes were cold. I asked them to be served hot-they were annoyed about that too. Then they brought a shot of espresso in a cup and several minutes later the coconut milk out to the table in a metal frothing container for me to pour myself. So the net/net of that is my coffee still sucked. Our meal the night before was great! Loved the tuna. Ended up ordering a second we enjoyed it so much. The vegan Caesar was really good! The waiter we had and the host on the evening of the 14th were both great BTW. But several of your other staff have been generally annoyed, impatient and kind of give off the feeling that we should feel grateful to be here. Generally everything has been well below expectations for the price points. I feel like you are trying to create a retro Miami feel, but honestly it’s cheap-not retro. The room patio is mostly empty-it could be a great space with comfortable seating but instead there are 2 flimsy chairs and a table I had to carry out myself. That table awkwardly matches the “Micky Mouse” table in the bathroom that is the only available space in the bathroom for cosmetics and personnal items-which is also a ridiculous set up-come on bathrooms should also be luxurious in a hotel experience. Even the toilet is too short and did not flush properly. Have to end here. Much more to say but I'm...