i39249
TUG Member
I am currently staying at the HGVC at South Beach (Miami Beach, FL). I checked in for the Fourth of July week and took a taxi to the location from Miami International Airport. It was fixed rate of $32 from the airport to South Beach. The cab ride took about 25 minutes. The location is right on Ocean Drive, which is across the street from the beach. The beach is about 100 yards from the hotel. Sitting in the front patio, you can’t see the ocean because of the small berm adjoining the beach and the grass area, but you sure can check out the sea of people walking by. The action is non stop.
For those visiting in July, keep in mind that there are frequent showers and thunder storms. It is mostly clear in the morning and raining in the afternoon with the sky’s clearing up at night. Make sure you bring your umbrellas.
Ok let’s talk about the facility itself. It is the smallest of the HGVC’s that I have seen. The hotel is comprise of two art deco buildings. One the Ocean Plaza and the other McAlpin. The Ocean Plaza is where the guest check in and there are four floors in both buildings. We stayed at the Ocean Plaza in a 2 bedroom suite. The unit was clean, however it was a little dated. When we came back in from sightseeing one day, there were workers in our rooms getting measurements. I was told that they were getting ready to remodel the rooms. Apparently they are putting in complete new interiors. The work is supposed to start this fall. They are going to do two floors at a time.
In the bedrooms, there are small 13 inch CRT televisions. In the living room, there is a 21 inch TV. There are a variety of cable channels to choose from. Out of the HGVC’s that I have been to, they have the best Cable TV, except their TV’s are small. Hopefully when they remodel, they will put in bigger LCD flat panels. The 2 bedrooms each had a small queen sized bed. To me, they felt like they were full size beds. The bedrooms were kind of small, however the bathrooms were huge in comparison.
The unit does not have a full kitchen. There is a combo microwave/convection oven on top of the stove. There are only 2 burners. There is a dishwasher and full size refrigerator. There are some small neighborhood markets nearby where you walk to and buy some groceries or take the 25cents local bus to a Publix (grocery store) 15 minutes away and stock up on supplies. There is no dishwashing liquid, except for the powder you put in the dishwasher. The hotel uses water softeners, so your hands will still feel slippery after you have rinsed your hands. At the Ocean Plaza, there were two free washer and dryers in the basement, however detergent is extra and can be purchased at the front desk. The workout room (consisting of 5 pieces of equipment) and the Jacuzzi are located on the fourth floor. At the McAlpin building the washer and dryers are located on the fourth floor as well as another Jacuzzi. On the fourth floors, there are balconies on the front of the building with ocean views. At the McAlpin building there are 2 patio tables on the fourth floor balcony where you can dine outdoors, however there are no outdoor grills.
Noise can be of concern if your noise sensitive. The floors are kind of thin and you will hear toilets flushing and showers above you.
For a week stay, there are two cleanings. We checked in on Saturday and they cleaned the rooms on Monday and then again on Thursday. This was nice as most places only clean it once midweek.
The service ranged from okay to excellent. Upon check in, the clerk didn’t seem too friendly. There was no body else checking in and it seemed like I was a bother to him. Having stayed at numerous other (5) HGVC’s I have always received a warm welcome upon check in. The other guy sitting next to him behind the small counter also didn’t seem too interested.
On the other hand, I ran across several employees that were very friendly and went out of their way to greet my family. The previous guest didn’t leave the safe open and I called the next day to have the safe code reset. The maintenance person came within 5 minutes of my call. This was prompt service.
If you are interest in doing some sightseeing, the front desk can book tours for you through www.safaritours-miami.com. We did the Miami City Tour, Biscayne Bay by Boat Tour as well as the Everglades Tour. The tour bus/shuttle picks you up in front of the hotel everyday at 9:50 AM and takes you to a transfer place near Bayside Marketplace where you get on other shuttles to take you to your destinations. One thing you need to know is that the hotel charges you a “deposit,” which you can charge to your room and when you get on the bus, you pay the bus driver the rest of the amount, preferably in cash or pay an added ‘fee’ for using your credit card. My guess is that the “deposit” is what the hotel makes off of your tour.
South Beach. What can I say……. It is an adult playground. There are many restaurants to try and numerous clubs to go to. Too bad with a young child, we didn’t get to experience most of it. We however still managed to have a good time just hanging out at the beach and going on tours. The beach is a lot better than Southern California’s beaches, however it isn’t as good as the beaches in Hawaii. The sand near the shore is mostly coral like and not very soft. It is kind of coarse. Right after the storms, there are a lot of seaweed in the water. At the beach in front of the hotel, there is a section about 25 yards from the shore, where there is a small sand bar, where you can hang out. The sand is nice here and it is fairly shallow at about 3 to 4 feet of water. The water was clear and warm and the waves were gentle.
Fourth of July fireworks were great at the beach. Everybody was shooting off fireworks at the beach. You can see for miles down the shores. The fireworks show at South Beach (Miami Beach - Ocean Drive and 10th) was okay. It was four blocks from the hotel. There was a flurry of fireworks in the sky, however it lasted only about 10 minutes. There was no music to the fireworks show and no particular theme to the fireworks going off. It just seemed like they were in a hurry to shoot off all the fireworks.
A travel tip for future tourist. Majority of the restaurants we ate at automatically added 15 to 18% tip to the bill, so make sure you look at your bill and don’t double tip. Service at most businesses seems to be missing. Just my personal opinion, it seems that most of their philosophy is that they will never see you again, so they don’t care.
This along with the fact that many of the travelers including foreign tourist smoke a lot and no one seems to care about where they dispose of their cigarette butts and trash. The cigarette butts litter the streets and we even found several on the sand and in the water. These aren’t the kinds of butts I came to Miami to look at, at the beach
Another thing to be aware of are the many characters (homeless people) in town. Several of them were sleeping in doorways and many of them appeared to have mental issues. Several were yelling and talking to themselves. Their presence however did not deter me from going out at night. If you stay on the major streets and stay in well lit areas, you should be fine. I saw many police cars in the area.
In closing, South Beach / Miami is a fun town. There are lots of things to do. If you have never been to South Beach, you have to come check it out. However it will be a while before I’ll come back. I just think Hawaii is a better vacation place and is probably more relaxing, which is what I need on a vacation.
For those visiting in July, keep in mind that there are frequent showers and thunder storms. It is mostly clear in the morning and raining in the afternoon with the sky’s clearing up at night. Make sure you bring your umbrellas.
Ok let’s talk about the facility itself. It is the smallest of the HGVC’s that I have seen. The hotel is comprise of two art deco buildings. One the Ocean Plaza and the other McAlpin. The Ocean Plaza is where the guest check in and there are four floors in both buildings. We stayed at the Ocean Plaza in a 2 bedroom suite. The unit was clean, however it was a little dated. When we came back in from sightseeing one day, there were workers in our rooms getting measurements. I was told that they were getting ready to remodel the rooms. Apparently they are putting in complete new interiors. The work is supposed to start this fall. They are going to do two floors at a time.
In the bedrooms, there are small 13 inch CRT televisions. In the living room, there is a 21 inch TV. There are a variety of cable channels to choose from. Out of the HGVC’s that I have been to, they have the best Cable TV, except their TV’s are small. Hopefully when they remodel, they will put in bigger LCD flat panels. The 2 bedrooms each had a small queen sized bed. To me, they felt like they were full size beds. The bedrooms were kind of small, however the bathrooms were huge in comparison.
The unit does not have a full kitchen. There is a combo microwave/convection oven on top of the stove. There are only 2 burners. There is a dishwasher and full size refrigerator. There are some small neighborhood markets nearby where you walk to and buy some groceries or take the 25cents local bus to a Publix (grocery store) 15 minutes away and stock up on supplies. There is no dishwashing liquid, except for the powder you put in the dishwasher. The hotel uses water softeners, so your hands will still feel slippery after you have rinsed your hands. At the Ocean Plaza, there were two free washer and dryers in the basement, however detergent is extra and can be purchased at the front desk. The workout room (consisting of 5 pieces of equipment) and the Jacuzzi are located on the fourth floor. At the McAlpin building the washer and dryers are located on the fourth floor as well as another Jacuzzi. On the fourth floors, there are balconies on the front of the building with ocean views. At the McAlpin building there are 2 patio tables on the fourth floor balcony where you can dine outdoors, however there are no outdoor grills.
Noise can be of concern if your noise sensitive. The floors are kind of thin and you will hear toilets flushing and showers above you.
For a week stay, there are two cleanings. We checked in on Saturday and they cleaned the rooms on Monday and then again on Thursday. This was nice as most places only clean it once midweek.
The service ranged from okay to excellent. Upon check in, the clerk didn’t seem too friendly. There was no body else checking in and it seemed like I was a bother to him. Having stayed at numerous other (5) HGVC’s I have always received a warm welcome upon check in. The other guy sitting next to him behind the small counter also didn’t seem too interested.
On the other hand, I ran across several employees that were very friendly and went out of their way to greet my family. The previous guest didn’t leave the safe open and I called the next day to have the safe code reset. The maintenance person came within 5 minutes of my call. This was prompt service.
If you are interest in doing some sightseeing, the front desk can book tours for you through www.safaritours-miami.com. We did the Miami City Tour, Biscayne Bay by Boat Tour as well as the Everglades Tour. The tour bus/shuttle picks you up in front of the hotel everyday at 9:50 AM and takes you to a transfer place near Bayside Marketplace where you get on other shuttles to take you to your destinations. One thing you need to know is that the hotel charges you a “deposit,” which you can charge to your room and when you get on the bus, you pay the bus driver the rest of the amount, preferably in cash or pay an added ‘fee’ for using your credit card. My guess is that the “deposit” is what the hotel makes off of your tour.
South Beach. What can I say……. It is an adult playground. There are many restaurants to try and numerous clubs to go to. Too bad with a young child, we didn’t get to experience most of it. We however still managed to have a good time just hanging out at the beach and going on tours. The beach is a lot better than Southern California’s beaches, however it isn’t as good as the beaches in Hawaii. The sand near the shore is mostly coral like and not very soft. It is kind of coarse. Right after the storms, there are a lot of seaweed in the water. At the beach in front of the hotel, there is a section about 25 yards from the shore, where there is a small sand bar, where you can hang out. The sand is nice here and it is fairly shallow at about 3 to 4 feet of water. The water was clear and warm and the waves were gentle.
Fourth of July fireworks were great at the beach. Everybody was shooting off fireworks at the beach. You can see for miles down the shores. The fireworks show at South Beach (Miami Beach - Ocean Drive and 10th) was okay. It was four blocks from the hotel. There was a flurry of fireworks in the sky, however it lasted only about 10 minutes. There was no music to the fireworks show and no particular theme to the fireworks going off. It just seemed like they were in a hurry to shoot off all the fireworks.
A travel tip for future tourist. Majority of the restaurants we ate at automatically added 15 to 18% tip to the bill, so make sure you look at your bill and don’t double tip. Service at most businesses seems to be missing. Just my personal opinion, it seems that most of their philosophy is that they will never see you again, so they don’t care.
This along with the fact that many of the travelers including foreign tourist smoke a lot and no one seems to care about where they dispose of their cigarette butts and trash. The cigarette butts litter the streets and we even found several on the sand and in the water. These aren’t the kinds of butts I came to Miami to look at, at the beach
Another thing to be aware of are the many characters (homeless people) in town. Several of them were sleeping in doorways and many of them appeared to have mental issues. Several were yelling and talking to themselves. Their presence however did not deter me from going out at night. If you stay on the major streets and stay in well lit areas, you should be fine. I saw many police cars in the area.
In closing, South Beach / Miami is a fun town. There are lots of things to do. If you have never been to South Beach, you have to come check it out. However it will be a while before I’ll come back. I just think Hawaii is a better vacation place and is probably more relaxing, which is what I need on a vacation.