Balfour Miami Beach a Registry Collection Hotel

I had a great stay at The Balfour Hotel. Sophie and Coolie (sorry if I misspelled) were extremely wonderful receptionists. They were very accommodating and the hotel staff overall were very pleasant. The room was nice and cozy and the beach was conveniently located. The on sight restaurant, plunge pool and rooftop were also a great bonus. I would definitely stay again!

The hotel location is excellent. The pictures online are a bit deceiving when they show that it is a resort. The rooms and specially the bathrooms are very tiny. Being a water facing hotel with beach access, there are no hooks in the room or and place to dry wet clothes. The worst is the restaurant billing. We stayed for 5 days and paid for breakfast ahead. We got one toast, coffee and and some cut fruit. And they were charging us service fee and hefty gratuity. We ordered some extra food and the bill had lot of extra charges. They reduced it a bit but never provided a final bill. So we don’t know what they charged us for. Be careful. If you eat at the restaurant, pay right there so they do t charge it to your room.accounting is very shady.

I’m not usually one to leave reviews but feel I need to as the high rating currently on this hotel is quite deceiving. I also hope that the hotel may be able to take on some of this feedback. Our stay was fine - we survived. However , there is a large gap for improvement in this hotel. Firstly , the first receptionist we met when checking in was quite rude. There is $42 mandatory resort fee per night that is not mentioned anywhere when booking. There is also a $100 deposit per night so just be aware when arriving. Other receptionists we met throughout our stay were not rude. The construction works outside the hotel are awful. They start extremely early in the morning and are so loud they might as well be in the room with you. If you plan on getting a decent sleep, this hotel is not for you. The hotel offers a welcome drink per guest. We were tired and didn’t want to sit at the bar where there was no atmosphere so asked to take our drinks back to our room. Firstly, the bar man said he was too busy to make our drinks as he had a large table (there was only one table with people at the restaurant). Then he said we couldn’t bring a glass back to our room. Maybe this is normal but we have never experienced this in another hotel. Lastly, the condition of the rooms and the hotel in general could be largely improved. The stains all over the ancient carpet is not a good look. The pool is the size of a bath and the pool water felt slimey. The coffee machine and shower were both broken in our room. And there was dust everywhere. Only positive about the hotel is the location.