Gale Miami Hotel and Residences — Hotel in Miami

We booked for four days to evacuate from hurricane Milton, from 10/8-10/12. Here is the good.... the rooms are clean and modern, and offer a great city view. Isn't this what you would expect from a 5 star hotel? This is where it stops though. We arrived the evening of the 8th. Parking is valet only, at $56 per day. Shocker #1 There is a massive language barrier. From speaking to the front desk, to the bellman, to trying to order breakfast.... English is not the first language here. Shocker #2 There is NO ICE! They say there is, and you just have to call for it, but no one answers the phone. There is no ice machine for self service, you must call an unanswered phone to receive ice. My best guess is to earn a tip. Shocker #3 There is no coffee in the morning! A brief but rude conversation with the front desk at 5:30 am assured us there would be coffee at 6:30am, then again at 7:00am, then 7:30 for sure. When the lounge coffee did show up, it was barely drinkable. (at 7:45am). Shocker #4 Breakfast options are extremely limited within the area unless you are willing to walk. We tried eating breakfast at the posted opening of 7am at the hotel. There was no one there. We waited for 15-20 minutes and walked out. Came back at 9am. Ordered 6 basic breakfasts, 5 of which were incorrect (3 plates were given to other customers) 2 were missing ingredients. Add an autogratuity or as they call a service charge on top (+18%) for crappy food service was insulting. Shocker #4 After the hurricane subsided, we were anxious to get back to our homes in Cape Coral to survey damage. We tried to check out early, and were given the go around by the front desk. Call Expedia, Expedia says they need to verify and request approval from the hotel, the hotel denied our request to check out early and be refunded for the additional day. Not only did they not refund, but they also charged a resort fee for the day we did not stay, even though no amenities were used because we were not there. Shocker #5 Upon checkout, I attempt to retrieve my truck from the paid for valet service. I am notified it is not retrievable because the new 2021 F150 has a flat tire. We assisted valet service with replacing the tire because we wanted to get on the road, a hole, punctured in the sidewall of my tire causing an instant flat. This was done within the parking garage, as it would have been flat instantly. They waited until I was checking out to notify me. Incident report was filed, I was promised a call back within 24-48 hours. Nothing. Called back two weeks later, was promised an email.... Nothing. As of 10/21, I have still not received a response. Shocker #6 All in all it was not a good experience. I have had better food, amenities and service from 2.5 star hotels. The unexpected charges and arrogance of the staff was astounding considering what we were facing. I would not recommend, regardless of the owners attempt to capitulate below. Gale, you...

I recently stayed at Gale Miami Hotel & Residences and, unfortunately, it was one of the worst hospitality experiences I’ve ever had. While the property is undeniably beautiful and the rooms are modern and aesthetically pleasing, that’s where the positives end.

Whether you’re staying in one of their Airbnb residences or in the hotel itself, you’re required to pay a resort fee. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue—but this is the furthest thing from a “resort” experience. The hotel offers little to no convenience, support, or service to justify that charge.

Elevator Nightmare: There are five elevators in the building and not a single one functions efficiently. They lack basic optimization, often ignoring capacity limits and stopping at every floor even when full. They are painfully slow, and the keycard security feature was disabled (because the elevators were extremely inefficient, it created a back up and long line resulting in them doing this to try and speed things up however, it still not help) during my stay, raising serious security concerns. It felt like a tech failure in motion, with inefficient systems and poorly coded logic.

Severely Understaffed: The hotel is clearly operating on a skeleton crew. There’s a coffee shop onsite, but there was only one employee juggling inside orders, outside guests, and preparing every single item. He was doing his best, but it was clear he was overwhelmed and overworked.

Zero Convenience & Lack of Communication: Upon check-in, I was given a number to text for 24-hour service. I made one simple request and didn’t get a reply for six hours. When I ordered food via Uber Eats, I had no idea it would be dropped at a random table in the lobby. My meal sat there for 33 minutes—no notification, no call, no help from the front desk despite me texting and calling multiple times. Included in that 33 minutes, is the 15 minutes it took just to get down to the lobby due to the elevators (this is not a gross exaggeration. I can assure you I can provide timestamps of all of this). When I finally asked why I wasn’t informed or assisted, the response was simply, “That’s not something we do.”

They Lost My Package: I had a package delivered, and the front desk couldn’t locate it. I had to provide them with the name of the person who received it and the exact time they were working for them to even begin looking. I was told it was never logged in their system—which I honestly doubt even exists. Again, no delivery to the room; I had to track it down myself.

This property is a clear example of investors who had the means to finance a hotel but absolutely no interest in hospitality or customer service. They’ve created a visually stunning space with zero regard for the guest experience.

You can get the same quality of room and design elsewhere—with much better service, respect, and convenience. I absolutely do not recommend...

It appears I have to write a bad review to get a response. I've been calling to get confirmation on my reservation.

I just want to verify my reservation, because I haven't gotten an email from the hotel yet, though I booked through Capitol One.

Update* After actually staying at the hotel, I can say that the hotel and it's amenities are quite nice. The room was in pristine condition. The pool area was nice and though they don't advertise this well, they actually have a property on South Beach that you can go to. They claim to give you a complimentary set of chairs and towels, had I had more time, I'd have taken advantage of this. The bar on the 9th floor is nice, but VERY small. Seats maybe 20-30 people. It's more of a dimly lit intimate setting. Happy hour was 4-7, but I would take advantage of the surrounding area for happy hours. The HH menu is quite limited. The staff was nice, but they were exceptionally young and inexperienced. The hotel could really benefit from people with hospitality experience, as it was glaring that the staff was all lacking training, in all areas. From valet, front desk, attendants, bartender, security, etc. While this does not in any way reflect how refined the hotel is, it can get annoying trying to get an answer.

The location is literally perfect. You are a 5-10 minute walk from most bars and restaurants in the area. You'll spend more time waiting for an elevator than walking. Also, use the "Freebee" for free transportation within Downtown Miami and Brickell. Totally worth it, and it cost you nothing but a little planning.

Now, for the worst part of the stay. While this isn't unique to this hotel, it is quite bad. There's only 6 elevators servicing 54 floors of people all checking out at 11 am. After waiting 20 minutes (on the 24th floor), I decided to take the stairs. The company I was with waited for the elevator, and after another 20 minutes, decided they would take the stairs. The valet was an even longer 30 minute wait. In total, leaving the hotel took over an hour. That's just horrible. Having an attendant on the elevator to close off the elevator once it's full would make it go by so much after. Instead, you have the elevator stopping at 47 floors. Just to get to the bottom. Also, when you opt for the stairs, you have to take the elevators anyway, just to get from the 2nd to 1st floor. Luckily, a chef saw the line of people waiting, and took it open himself to escort people through the kitchen. He will go unnamed, but he was the best part of the staff that I experienced.

Tl;dr - Excellent quality hotel, fair for the price. Amenities and room were in great condition. The staff, while not rude in the least, is quite useless. If you checkout early, then you will probably have a far...