Hilton Miami Downtown — Hotel in Miami

This is an unfortunate review to need to write because I have stayed here many times previously.||I guess I should state that whenever you visit Miami, there are two situations that you need to be leery of: 1 - there are a lot of international tourist who are not accustomed to tipping and 2 - there are a lot of people who travel to Miami, run up huge bills, and then leave town without paying them.||When I checked in, my stay was for 6 nights. As is customary in Miami, when you check-in, the hotel charges the price of the room and $100 per night per incidental. Again, this is routine, and the $100 per night in Miami is fairly typical. What is different is that as a result of item 2 above, this hotel (which they do not inform you about when you check in) will charge additional charges directly to your credit card when the remaining deposit amount is less than $100 per night. My first night there, I ate dinner with a coworker. The bill, after a mandatory (because of reason 1 above) 18% tip came to $237. I charged this to my room. When I got back to my room, I noticed that there was a $234 attempted charge on my credit card which I thought was a mistake, so I paid it no mind. I went to the hotel restaurant again the next night, had dinner which again included my mandatory tip, and the bill was $80. I was told that when the server tried to charge my room and was unable to do so. She went to the front desk, had a conversation with the individual there, and came back and told me everything was ok. This morning, I tried to charge coffee to my room, and again, they said they were unable to do. Finally, I went to the desk myself to figure out the issue. ||For perspective, I stay in Hiltons for work approximately 115 night annually, so no, this isn't my first time in a hotel nor is it my first time at this property.||When I went to the front desk, a manager (Andy - which did not match the name of his name tag) was called over, and the manager stated that the initial charge didn't work. Mind you, at this point, I had been at the hotel for 2 nights. So I stated that if the initial charge hadn't gone thru, they would have asked me to remedy the situation or leave the hotel. That clearly couldn't have been the issue, and I asked him to check again. He then told me I exhausted the incidental charge. I said that some simple arithmetic would determine that was not the issue either. Then he said my card was declined which again both couldn't have the case and wasn't the issue here. I finally had to leave for work, so when I called back, I asked for a different manager. After being on the phone for 20 minutes, I was finally put on the phone with another manager who essentially explained that when you charge incidentals to your room (the amount that was being held from when you checked in), if the remaining incidental charge is less than $100/night, that amount is directly charged to the credit card. What he tried to avoid saying, but was later clarified by Hilton, was that the hotel had been burned by other travelers, so they instituted this rule which they do not explain upon checking in at all, to protect themselves. Interestingly, when I called Hilton to try and move hotels, the individual I spoke with seemed all too happy to explain to me how frustrating and difficult the charge back process is. ||As some other service failures, the soap that they provide in the room was empty on the day I arrived and remained so until I checked out, and the valet attendants pay very little attention. I called down to get my car about 15 mins before I reached the valet station. I was told that they would need 5 mins, so I purposefully gave them extra time as Miami tends to be slower with these types of things than other places, and when I got down there, they had no idea that a car was even requested.||All in all, I am forced to stay an additional night because my checking out after checkout time would inconvenience them, but I will be checking out tomorrow morning. I will not stay here again, and I would caution anyone planning on staying there to plan accordingly as they have rules that clearly do not wish to...

I don’t even know where to start-

We arrived today, (Saturday March 22) for two nights in Miami here.

Our decision in this hotel was due to location, being in Biscayne - we never thought it would be as horrid as it has been- (a nightmare actually)

We booked 2 rooms for 1500$ USD

(Please note- we were travelling with 3 small children, grandparents and ourselves) a family of 7.

We came in at 10am, knowing that we were early and just asked to check our bags when we got there and to let us know when the room was ready, fully prepared for a 4pm check in- not an issue-

We brought our bags to the bell storage room/ desk on the Main Street level- where they then told us; to take them to the main lobby to check in- so we lugged 6 suitcases 3 backpacks and our kids up to the lobby to wait- Gave my ID; and Card for the two rooms so that when it was ready we could get the cards and go-

I asked the woman at the desk (“to confirm, when my inlaws come in for their room, all they have to do is get the key since everything is done”; she said yes of course mam)

However- she then told us to take our bags to the bell desk back where we came from, as they dont store them on the main level- Perfect- back down we go.

Left the bags and went out- 12:29pm I get a call the rooms are ready and to head there for check in-

Sent my in-laws with our youngest child at 230 to the hotel- They were told “the room is NOT ready”, you can’t get in without Amanda here (me) and you have to show her ID to us.

My mother in law frantically calls and says they need to verify my ID- however she doesn’t have phone data and cannot receive text picture messsges!

They wouldn’t take this as an answer and said NO we will not talk on the phone to get confirmation- we need the photo of her ID.

Fine - all sent over-

Asked for the bags to be brought up by this time it was 315; They waited in the room for the bags, we arrived back- and had two rooms side by side. The bags were NOT found until 630pm tonight-

I had to go down IN person 3x to speak with Diana- and she called herself with 3 follow up calls-

They said “it was in the room” - it wasn’t because my husband was there and I verified this

We were then told “it’s coming in 5 min” Waited longer Nothing!

Then when we called again to ask We were told “the elevators are broken”!!! I had NO words- I went down myself to the storage room and they were gone- claiming they had been sent up — but “when they knocked no one was there”….

We had 4 adults in each space - waiting on these bags!! We needed them as we continued to tell them kids want to swim we just need their bathing suits

645 they show up- with the very grumpy bell guy- to our room-

We got our kids ready very fast to go to the pool

7:03pm TWO managers in suits come in and kick everyone out “pool is closed at 7” get out—- Yelling at the kids IN the pool to “wrap it up” we are closing”

Everyone around the pool asked why- as the sun was VERY bright and it was hot and it says “closes at dusk” one other guest asked why- the tall black guy in the suit said “I have no idea why we are closing this early”….

Fine - kids are upset but life goes on- Get unpacked here- Both rooms

Come back at 1030 this evening to my inlaws in the hallway, being changed rooms Their toilet didn’t work, water was backing up and the front desk had the nerve to ask “ can you wait until tomorrow morning”!! NO running OR working water and asking us to wait???

Their TV signal in the room also went out totally They were told to pack up and move floors- my youngest child was IN bed sleeping at this time 100% a disruption to his sleep-

Then they said they were going down to a new floor- then Jose the bell guy - said NOPE, wait- we don’t even have a ROOM for you! He was instructed over the walkie Talkie!!

11:50pm they get moved to a new room finally 3 floors up away from us when we booked joining rooms! This place is very run down, Customer service does not exist No one takes accountability for the customer experience BRUTAL!...

Oh, where to begin..stayed here for work/pleasure for 8 days. I did not check reviews before my stay because work chose this place initially and I just extended my stay. It looked nice in the pictures. The elevator situation is completely ridiculous. Not only are there 2 separate elevators to get to the lobby then rooms but they operate with ipads, not buttons. The wait was insane for an elevator, they were often over stuffed with people and luggage and you cannot simply push a "down" button and catch another elevator. Then when someone cannot get on the elevator that comes for them it proceeds to stop at all the floors regardless of whether the person got on or not. Holy moly, folks! The elevator system did not need upgrading, why on earth overcomplicate a very basic thing?? You actually made using an elevator a huge hassle and then added an extra set of them to your hotel!! Upon checking in at about 4pm (exactly check in time) was told there were no king rooms. We asked if there was any way during our stay we could switch to the king room we reserved and was told no- they needed those rooms for other reservations!?! Okay. Then the front desk clerk had the nerve to say oh just push the beds together and he and another man started laughing. I don't find it funny. I was quite pissed. The lobby area itself is clean & nice looking but the minute you get to the dark dingy hallways all the hope disappears. The walls are banged up, there was a pile of crumbling plaster in the hall near our room that remained for our entire stay. The room was in very serious need of an update. The carpet had huge cigarette burns, the floors were disgusting, the beds old and uncomfortable. I think our room was missing a chair or table or something as there was a huge open space that seemed unintentional. The room door did not close by itself. This is very dangerous - most hotel room doors are heavy and close by themselves. The door to my room was very light and stayed open unless i physically closed it. I am truly praying for the people who said this hotel is nice...what is your life if this is nice?? All the towels smelled of food/grease or some bizarre odor, none of them were the same. They were all white but some were different styles and had stains and rips in them. We had no hot water for at least 3 of the mornings we were trying to shower. The house keeping ladies were very kind but I don't think they really clean much. Also concerning to me- one day while I was working from the room there was a knock on my door. I got up to go see who it was and a lady began opening the room door. She was startled by me (?it's my room) then fumbled around saying she was making sure housekeeping had come to my room. What the actual f@#$? They had indeed already come to my room so why was she entering when she thought I was not there? Bizarre. There are lots of things she could have been doing to improve this hotel not helping herself into my room. On day 2 of my stay there was a loud, constant hammering noise. I had to work so I went to a nearby restaurant with wifi so I could do some work, hoping it would stop by my 2 pm meeting. Nope. Upon my return I realized now it's hammering AND drilling. I called guest services. Told them my room # and issue and the lady said "hold on" that's it- just hold on, put me on hold and then the hold eventually hung up. So rude!! I visited the pool area once and it does not look like the pictures. It was also in desperate need of an update and the pool reeked of straight bleach. I used the pool at my daughter's condo instead. This place seems to be a hub for huge groups of cruise people, they seem to stay one day and leave. This is not their vacation but a launching pad for their vacation. If you plan to visit/enjoy Miami I recommend you do...