Holiday Inn Port of Miami-Downtown by IHG — Hotel in Miami

DO NOT STAY HERE!

We stayed here for 4 nights & regretted that decision each night. Ridiculously overpriced for the quality of hotel, better off staying down the road (about 2 blocks away) for the same price per night in a modern hotel (smaller rooms but clean & trendy) & still walking distance to the Bayside Marketplace & the Kaseya Center! I am in awe that this an IHG property as I’ve been staying in IHG properties for over 10 years & have never had an experience like this until now! I would say that this is only a 1-night type hotel if you are in Miami to board a cruise but the rudeness of the staff makes it not even worth the 1 night! The main issues were these (not in order of importance):

NO SIGNAGE: We drove past the hotel TWICE because there is no signage at all, not on the building, not on the awning at the entrance or the entry doors! If it wasn’t for the address numbers on the building we probably would’ve missed it a 3rd time. The pics on the website are not at all what it looks like, no bright green lighting or bright green signage in sight! In fact, the pics seem to be missing the homeless people sleeping outside every single night right at the front doors of the building. Valet was not worth it for this location @ $45/day for a tiny accessible parking lot where we could easily have self-parked (not sure if that was even an option).

EXTREMELY OUTDATED: Had the hardest time rolling our luggage through the hallways due to the loose carpet. Door handle to the room had it’s own combination it seemed like, handle had to lifted up, then down & then push door with so much force that my husband had to open it each time since I never seemed to be able to. Room smelled like old carpet & MILDEW & was so overpowered by a SEWER-LIKE SMELL that came from the bathroom & remained that way the entire stay. The bathroom was so outdated, no counterspace & the shower fixture just kept falling off. The room was so HOT & never seemed to cool down, even though we set it at 60 degrees, it never moved from 70 degrees in the 4 nights we were there & definitely didn’t even feel like it was actually 70 degrees. The outlets on the lamps did not work and the outlet in the bathroom overheated our chargers. There is a lack of outlets. Not sure if this one is due to the “outdated-ness” but our keys stopped working each & every day we were there. We had to go down to the receptionist to get them re-activated every day & to make matters worse they never once asked for ID when asked for the room #, we easily could’ve got keys to any room we desired. Also, room didn’t have a mini fridge much less a microwave. Phone buttons didn't work so we had the hardest time calling down for items.

TERRIBLE SERVICE (most important for me): After an afternoon at the beach, we came back to our room to shower & were in need of towels, I called down to request some & after 30 min of having requested them I decided to head down to the receptionist to make it easier. I spoke to the young man at the front desk, he wrote down my room number & stated he would let housekeeping know. I offered to wait there to make it easier & he then stated in a very rude & condescending way “so you want me to leave the front by itself to go get you your towels?” I reiterated to him that I wasn’t expecting him to do that but that I didn’t mind waiting for housekeeping to bring them since I had already waited 30 min from the initial call & he stated he wasn’t sure how long it would take, there was nothing he could do & I just needed to wait in my room! In addition, the next day we decided to have our room cleaned after not having it cleaned for 2 days (by choice) and we were surprised to have left at 930am and returned at 5pm to a room not cleaned yet. Then when we asked if it was possible they proceeded to “clean” it only for there to still be trash left and some sand from the previous day which was obvious it wasn’t vacuumed.

We will never stay at this hotel again & DO NOT...

Believe the other reviewers—2 -3 stars - they’re telling the truth. I’m actually surprised this property is still part of the IHG brand. I booked two nights here, three days apart, and would’ve canceled the second night if I hadn’t prepaid for it. The lobby is nice, but that’s where it ends. The front desk staff were curt and behaved like they are doing you a favor. There’s only one exception: the gentleman who works during the day at the IHG members desk was pleasant. The others were borderline rude. I came down to the lobby three times to ask when they’d refill the main water dispenser in the lobby for drinking water. They kept saying they were waiting for the restaurant to fill it. When I went to the restaurant, they said it wasn’t their job. The dispenser never got filled. I then asked if, as a Platinum Elite member, I could get complimentary water bottles (as many Holiday Inns allow), especially since it was hot and my AC wasn’t working well. They told me bottles would be $3 each - (these aren’t premium bottles, just the 25-50-cent ones you can buy in bulk at warehouse stores). I reminded them that hotels are required to provide potable water for guests per health code. They didn't care. Luckily, there’s a CVS on the same block. So I took a walk to buy drinking water. They also don’t provide complimentary coffee or breakfast, which many Holiday Inns do. As for the room: the carpets are grimy and desperately need to go. The hallways are dark. Removing the carpet would do wonders for this hotel. The first room I was assigned (423) had a broken door lock, a broken smoke alarm with wires hanging off the wall, and smelled like sewage. I requested to be relocated. The second room was only slightly better—everything seemed to work except the AC, which was still iffy and wouldn’t drop below a certain temperature. I also coughed a lot so I assume the vents are dirty. Or maybe it was the carpet. Another issue: the checkout time behind the desk in the lobby says 11 AM, but the sign on the door in the room says 12 noon. I have no idea which one is correct, so double-check before you plan your departure. That's if you still plan to stay there.

The redeeming qualities: they offer an $8 shuttle to the cruise port, which is fair and reasonable. Though the next day I just used a ride share app as it was the same price with no wait time. The location is good with shopping all around. However, there’s construction next door, so expect loud banging and a view of a worksite from your window. Needless to say, I won’t be returning to this Holiday Inn. In fact, I’d be surprised if it remains part of the IHG brand. I’m a Platinum Elite member, but that made no difference here. You won't get acknowledged you won't get an upgrade you won't get free water or even any free drinking water, no breakfast, no morning coffee available in lobby, restaurant is over priced and to get any perks you'll need to ask for them as they'll not be offered.

I asked for my perks and was offered a free wine or beer coupon for the bar. Needless to say I won't be back unless this place gets a much needed make over/ upgrade.

Room Photos I attached were of the better room of the 3 I saw and was on the 9th floor next door to janitors room/closet so it was a little loud when they were...

First, let’s talk about the parking—or should I say the complete lack of proper parking service. It’s tucked away in the back of the property, and when I pulled in, there was no one to greet us, no signage, and no clear instructions on where to go or what to do.

I walked into an office and found a staff member who didn’t seem eager to help. I had to go all the way inside just to ask how the parking worked. He casually mentioned it was "valet parking," pointed to a bell cart I could use to unload my family’s bags, and told me to just leave the keys in the center console. That was it—no help, no explanation, nothing. He acted like doing the bare minimum was doing us a favor.

Still unsure of what to do next or even how to enter the building, he simply pointed toward a sidewalk and said, “Take this way to the front of the building.” When we finally made it to the front desk, we were asked, “Did you valet your car today?” I was shocked they’d even call that a valet service—and even more surprised to see a $55 charge for it.

Honestly, the whole experience was disorganized and disappointing.

I would recommend having a trained and motivated attendant who can properly receive guests and their vehicles at the valet. Ideally, the valet should be located at the front of the property, or there should be a rear entrance to the building so guests aren’t forced to roll their luggage the full length of the building down a sidewalk just to reach the front desk.

There should also be a bellboy or staff member available to assist with luggage. Instead, we found ourselves juggling everything on our own while navigating a narrow, uneven sidewalk with no guidance.

If you're going to charge $55 and call it a valet service, then it should function like one—not just a guy in the back lot who parks the car 15 feet away while the guest handles everything else. Either provide a full valet experience, or offer self-parking at a much lower cost, because what we received felt like self-parking in all but name.

The room had an old, musty smell and felt very outdated. There was no mini fridge, which we were initially okay with since we brought a cooler and had seen an ice machine on our way in. Unfortunately, that ice machine wasn’t working. We were on the 5th floor, so I checked the 4th and 3rd floors—those machines were also out of service. I finally found a working ice machine on the 6th floor.

You can imagine the frustration of not having a fridge to keep our things cool and having to go up and down four different floors just to find a single functioning ice machine.

The location is convenient—right on the bayfront near the port and stadium—but overall, I do not...