AC Hotel Miami Wynwood — Hotel in Miami

This is one of the most bizarre hotel stays I've ever had. I arrived rather late (12:15am) after some flight issues, and the check-in agent was having issues checking people in. The woman before me was given a key which apparently was to a room with a person staying in it, causing some understandable drama. I was the very last room in inventory (533). It took me a half hour to get checked in, when I was already extremely tired, but the agent was apologetic, thanked me for being a Gold member, and offered free breakfast.

Upon entering my room nothing was obviously wrong. But when I began to walk around, I noticed a sticky substance on the floors. Frustrated at the lack of cleaning, I started cleaning it up myself with some wet towels. But no matter what I did, it seems to have kept getting worse. I then realized that it was the act of putting pressure on the floorboards that was causing this dark liquid to ooze through the cracks up and onto the floor! This room's entire sub-flooring must have been saturated with some sort of liquid, and it was all over my socks and shoes. I ended up throwing away the socks.

Knowing that this was the last room in inventory available and being after 1am, I decided to just form a moat of towels to access to bathroom, and go to sleep. The next morning was a tightrope act of trying to gather my things without touching the floor, taking a shower, cleaning my sticky shoes, and ultimately leaving the room with all of my stuff.

I then talked to the front desk and ended up going up to the room with the front desk manager, who confirmed the bizarre floor situation, and offered 15k Marriott points as consolation. I was then moved to a different room later in the day that was fine.

Although the second night was perfectly pleasant, and the hotel is modern and new, the way the first night situation was handled was completely unacceptable. Although they did leave a nice fruit plate amenity and apology note in the new room, to me the bare minimum of compensation should be that first night completely comped - not a mere 15k Marriott points offered on what was a 33k point + $30 resort fee night. That room was uninhabitable, and had I claimed as such the same night (at 1:30am), they would have been forced to book me a room at a sister property at their own expense. How is it that they are collecting revenue from Marriott Bonvoy for my first night on a room that is now out of inventory and should have been out of inventory before I endured the night? If that liquid was toxic, the hotel could be looking at a sizable civil suit. 15k points, really?

Finally, a follow-up e-mail requesting late checkout at the new room (for Marriott Golds this should be 2pm) and asking about Airpods I believe left in the previous room was replied to by noting, "after investigating with housekeeping we did not find any Airpods in the old room, i hope this helps and we hope you are enjoying your new room!" No response or acknowledgement of asking for late checkout. And I guess the Airpods are gone, oh well.

Needless to say, I can't say I'll be returning. While other guests may have a pleasant experience here, I have to review with the experience I had personally. I've added a second star because the second night was decent. But to still have to pay for that first night - not to mention all the time I've wasted - is a downright...

Pros: Check-in was fast and flawless. Was able to use a Debit card. We were able to switch rooms to a higher floor even though the view was no better. You can only access the floors via elevator if you have a key-card which we loved. The rooms were quiet for the most part. free portion of buffet was minimal (Cereal, various meat slices, yogurt, juices and breads). They do have a hot food menu for purchase (pancakes, bacon, omelets etc). Hotel and hallways are clean. Room was clean. Our Housekeeping person was very attentive. The rooftop was nicely decorated with 360 views of the city. and the food at Elevar was good (even though the portions were small). Our room came with a daily $30 food and beverage credit which we used once at elevar (it didn't make much of a difference because the food was a little pricey). The location had its good spots with prime shopping stores and restaurants nearby. Uber/Lyfts were average $5-$10 to get around wynwood.

Cons: Try to book a city view room, or else you will be looking at the roof of nearby businesses. The abandoned building across the street is an eyesore (although the Marriott looks nice on the outside). Everyday we went down for breakfast, we had to tell the waitress that we had complimentary breakfast which she always had to go verify. No-one told us that the $30 food and beverage credit was daily (we used it on our last night). After the second night, my boyfriend and I woke up with a bad cold only to look at the thermostat screen that said "Check air filter". we turned the A/C off for the remainder of stay. One morning we were awaken to what sounded like 2 bulls fighting in the room next to us. It was a domestic dispute. nonetheless we had to watch our TV shake on the wall and pray that it didn't fall. All had went quiet until our last morning. We woke up at 4am to get ready for check out when I noticed red bug bites on me. This was my first time sleeping on the other bed in our room and the right side of my body has 9 bites. We maybe thought they were mosquito bites until I got to the airport and had my boyfriend take a look. the bites were grouped together and on one side of my back and legs where i slept. and if that wasn't the icing on the cake. Some man walked in the front lobby at 4Am starting a fight with the front desk clerk Ashley. I see that he left a review "Howard Timothy" saying how "rude" she was but he was nasty and yelling at her from the time he walked in, I have it all on recording. He wanted access to a random floor to see a random guest which he did not have the right name or room number. Me and my BF were nervous for her safety but our Uber was near and there was another family in the lobby.

Other than the unruly guests, visitors and my itchy bites, the customer service, breakfast and the...

We redeemed a 25k Marriott night since we were unlikely to go abroad this year, and thought this new property can be a good redemption.

It's a fairly new property that's close to the design district (about 10 mins walk or 2 min drive). The staff were friendly. We arrived early and were waiting for our room.

We decided to go enjoy the rooftop area, as there are cabanas that are nice to relax on. Pool is nice, water is lukewarm though, so you can't really use it at night for long durations (we went in January so it was a bit chilly).

The roof gym was pretty large and modern. There is also a dog run area. Parking is shared with the Hampton Inn that's next door. It's 20/day, you just need to display a parking pass that they give you at check in.

We stayed on the 5th floor near the elevator. The room was large and modern looking. The bathroom was also fairly large, though it's a sliding door. The shower was amazing - rain shower with a nice drainage at the other end.

Unfortunately, the sleeping experience was terrible. First of all, the blanket is literally a thin sheet layer which was too cold for me to sleep with. There is also no weight to this thin "blanket". I needed to grab a bathroom towel to add some weight and warmth. No wonder the bed looked so thin, they literally did not give us a real comforter.

What is worse is that we got a room facing the 7-Eleven gas station, since there were a lot of cars blasting music while filling up gas, with high bass and windows down.

The terrible "modern room design" decision is the automatic movement detector on the thermostat - a bright blue light turns on whenever you get up, which is extremely bright and distracting when trying to use the bathroom quickly before heading back to bed.

It was already 2am and it was too much of a hassle to call for switching rooms and asking for a comforter. We wish we noticed these issues earlier in the day.

Other than the poor sleeping experience, the hotel has a lovely roof, and if you get a room that faces inside (towards the parking lot and not the street), then you'll...