Aloft Miami - Brickell — Hotel in Miami

This is not a bad hotel. If you come here, you should probably have a decent experience. Even before checking in, my platinum status had secured me an upgrade to a suite after requesting it via Marriott chat. Now, certainly, a suite here isn't that large, nor is it anything particularly fancy, but it was a nice upgrade, and it had two very nice balconies, though I suppose one was missing some chairs. The room was generally clean, and the lobby area was quite nice. It is worth noting that the hallways to the rooms could use some improvement.

The breakfast was better than some other Alofts I have experienced in the U.S., and it was included for the three of us due to our Marriott Platinum status. That doesn't happen often, and it was definitely a nice touch. The price is also reasonable, especially given that this is, in fact, Brickell. Parking fees, for what friendly valet drivers are actually payed, always suck, however.

Be not mistaken. This is a one star review, not a four star one. After checking in, we proceeded to take our room, and our keys to open it worked flawlessly. I went to the restroom, and a man entered the room when my wife and son were in the living area. Now, fortunately, the man did not turn out to be a malicious actor; he himself was extremely frustrated that something like this could even happen, and my wife and son saw him storm off to the elevator.

My wife then exited the room to check if our keys worked, yet none of our three keys could open the door. She then went down to the front desk to get the situation resolved. Upon her leaving, my son informed me of the situation, and, it goes without saying, but I was very, very distressed.

So I went down to the front desk, and I saw the front desk agent arguing with my wife. She did not care to simply say "sorry". Rather, she said something along the lines of, "You need new keys. Here. I'll give you new keys. I haven't seen you before. Your husband needs to be here for me to give you new keys!" Sure, I checked in with my son, but seriously? This kind of attitude is ridiculous. Now, I said "something along the lines of" because this happened around two weeks ago, and the front desk agent might have said those things in a different order; however, the point is that she did say those things, and she did convey those ideas.

When we confronted her about the security risk, she explained that she had no clue how the person got access to our room, that she could check the cameras, and that she would inform security. She was the only front desk agent at that time of day, so it had to have been her. Nevertheless, we ceded some ground, we just wanted to get our room safely, and we figured to contact a manager the next day. We also didn't neglect to put the deadbolt on this time.

Later, we discovered the security agent had not been informed and that there were no cameras in the hallway.

The next day we told the front desk team about what happened, and they just pretended not to have heard us. No explanation. Certainly no apology. My son called Marriott directly, and they said they would submit a request to get the general manager to resolve the situation through some sort of compensation (and hopefully, perhaps more importantly, an apology while at it too, right?)

Some days later, I was given a highly generic response (not from the general manager) and 6000 bonvoy points. That was disappointing. I responded back, and then I actually received an actual human response (though not from the general manager). Though it has now been two weeks, a promise to get the general manager to respond and help while not insulting me with 6000 bonvoy points has not been fulfilled.

I did not want to post a negative review. If the front desk agent the first day or the next day would have apologized and given a genuinely professional response, we would not be here. Service recovery is such a powerful thing! Though now, this is the case. Therefore, I highly urge you not to give this manager and staff, that seem trained not to care when things go...

The experience I had at the Aloft Miami Brickell has single handedly led me to the decision to never stay at a Marriot Bonvoy Property again. I will be cancelling my Marriot Bonvoy credit card and gifting my points to a relative who is willing to support your corporation. The entire experience from check in to check out was embarassing and not to the level of quality that i expect from what used to be SPG. I am a ex-plantinum member who has stayed at SPG properties around the world (US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand). In the past year - even during a pandemic - i have stayed 40 nights in Bonvoy properties. Where do we begin - firstly, the concierge that checked me in was not wearing a mask (im not so big on masks either but this is a client service industry and its the law). Second, the room was not clean when we arrived (the floor was obviously dirty). Next we were surprised with the fact that now during the pandemic the rooms are being cleaned every third night? I found this shocking considering cleanliness has been the focus of the world we live in since March 2020. I certainly would have expected this to be communicated when I either A) booked the room B) Received a confirmation C) Received a welcome email about my upcoming stay D) Check in maybe? 4 chances to alert a customer of this new and unacceptable practice? I understand COVID times are tough, i work in finance, i understand profit margins... but you cannot tell me that cleaning a hotel every 3 days is acceptable practice by any means. Even less so in Miami where nobody gives a hoot about the pandemic. Im guessing youre willing to roll the dice on having the hotel be a focal point of spread to save a couple dollars? I expect better from Marriot Bonvoy and I used to believe that SPG/Marriot Bonvoy held itself to a higher standard. When i requested the room to be cleaned anyway i was told they could not because the new hotel policy only allowed every three days. I had to tell the front desk attendant that my girlfriend had her period for them to give me the time of day, which i later found that ONLY the bedsheets had been changed (thanks but i was told they would take care of it and expected more). I had to go through this humiliation and begging to have a room cleaning? The towels in the room are comparable to the terry towels i use to dry my dog with. They are really great for drying animals or floors or anything except for humans, because they leave white fuzz on you. They left white fuzz all over me. I went to the front desk to ask for a fork, and told they have none... at a hotel? really? A hotel with a restaurant (albeit closed due to pandemic)... but i have a funny feeling you didnt sell all your silverware to cover pandemic losses... No forks? Where in the world did i stay? Absolutely worst hoteling experience of my life. I am a firm believer in voting with my dollars, and I will never spend a dollar more at a bonvoy property again. As mentioned above, i have stayed at SPG/Bonvoy properties all over the world... a reputation is built over a lifetime, and ruined in an instance....

I was in town early for a business trip and needed a "bridge hotel." So I chose the Aloft. Since I was up essentially all night and all morning to catch a red-eye flight, I was pretty exhausted. So I didn't take advantage of all the amenities the hotel had. ||That said, I liked having the options: the marketplace, a little bar, a little kitchen/restaurant to order food (which I did the next morning on my way out). It's great when a hotel itself has all these things. There are restaurants and such nearby, but sometimes when you're dead tired (and it's raining and/or crazy hot and humid out), you just want to stay in! Everything I saw was reasonably priced, too.||Anyway, the first thing I noticed when checking-in and getting to my room was how quiet the place was. Since I was sleep-deprived, all I wanted to do was rest in peace; sleep-wise, I mean. So it was great that the hotel was silent. I don't think I saw or heard another guest until I checked-out the following morning. And in general, the neighborhood was quiet. I've stayed in city hotels where you're constantly hearing the city, for better or worse.||Further, for a city hotel, the room was surprisingly spacious. I was traveling solo, but if I was with someone, there'd easily be enough room for the both of us. I loved having the balcony as well, and did spend some time out there admiring the views of the city and getting some fresh air. ||Everything in the room was clean and inviting. The bed was very comfy. Climate controls were great. It was little too nippy at first (crazy to say for hot and humid Miami, I know), but I was able to quickly adjust the temperature to something more comfortable. Sometimes hotel thermostats don't work well; that wasn't a problem here.||The staff, both at check-in and check-out was very friendly and polite. But that's not surprising since I feel like Miami as a whole prides itself on excellent customer service. Thank you to the front desk for the quick and friendly experience!||My only suggestion is to install a sheer curtain for the balcony glass door/window. There's a blackout curtain which works amazingly well, but the typical, additional sheer curtain wasn't there. If I wanted natural light, I had to pull the curtain back, which let people see inside my room. With a sheer curtain, I could at least get natural light, without having to "show it all off!" ||But otherwise, great hotel. Would recommend and...