DoubleTree by Hilton Grand Hotel Biscayne Bay
Miami
Reviews
This hotel is in a good location with restaurants downstairs and a short walk to others. It also has beautiful views of Biscayne Bay and service at the front desk was 5 star, but i cant reccomend it due to the condition of the guest rooms and property. The building is now mostly apartments (or some kind of residences), so you enter a sort of glossy business lobby and have to walk past the 6 elevator bank to the small elevator that apparently serves the hotel (note we figured out that you can use the other elevators, they have different floor names). At times with all the cruise ship passengers there is a huge line waiting to go to the front desk (one floor up and oddly named "RG"). RG is also being leased to a botox doctor and a timeshare office so it feels like they are doing everything to squeeze money out of Thule building. I mistakenly booked two double beds (honestly assumed double meant two queens) so that was on me, but the room was too big for them and the furnishings seemed original - tile floors with no shine left that felt dirty and had an almost scary slope from the center, flimsy mirrored closet doors and a bathroom that had seen lots of wear (it was pretty clean and had good water pressure though). We had a balcony which i highly reccomend for the view, but it was dirty and the furniture was busted up. We wound up using the pullout couch (bc 4 people cant comfortably fit in 2 double beds) but had to call housekeeping bc the sheet was covered with crumbs and dirt. The gym was big, but old and everywhere you walked you get the sense they have given up on the hotel side of business. The pool deck appears to be under construction, so maybe they will eventually replace all the heavy red concrete tiles. It could be amazing with the views of the bay but despite the "bar" sign there are no amenities up there (you apparently have to bring towels from your room) except a very dinghy old bathroom. The building has stores on the 1st floor (coffee shop convenience store and some food options including a good Asian restaurant) but it gives off very 90s mall vibe. The valet is chaos, they dont seem to attempt to direct the Ubers and private cars to the lower level (which a sign could do) so you could see your car, but had to wait several minutes once it arrived in the queue, which was frustrating. I stay at a lot of Hilton properties for their consistency and while this had good sheets, towels and water pressure it felt like a much lower class.
I stayed here recently after being stranded in Miami during the ice storm that cancelled many flights. I suppose because I booked it the same day, the price was extremely high. But because it cost so much I assumed it would at least be pretty nice. There were several issues that wouldn't be acceptable at a hotel along the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere. The jacuzzi was nice so there's that. Issues: Initially put in room below pool that smelled strongly of chlorine, stained carpets and bulging ceilings in hallways, dust built-up on sprinklers, laundry requires you to buy $10 card even if you're doing one load, extremely slow/non-existent service to get pool towels and detergent, empty body wash and conditioner in shower (also slow to refill), didn't tend the room at all the last day even after asking, no breakfast, slouchy mattresses, makeshift front desk.
