I just loved the room - It was like my own little modern, upscale apartment. My son flew in from Phoenix where he works at an upscale hotel there and said this room was nicer than some of the regular rooms there. The beds were perfect - so comfortable and the rain shower was amazing. I loved this room because it was not a "typical" hotel room. It was spacious, had a Wolfgang Puck Coffee Pot with great coffee and flat screen TV in living room. Great view and large balcony from the upper floor. The only negative I could say was the elevators were not working and I had to take the service elevator alot or the stairs and the other drawback was the parking. The lot was a little far from the hotel and it was very dark at night and scary if you are by yourself. I would opt for the valet parking. Use the pool during the day it gets alot of shade in the afternoon and make sure to go to the little Italian restaurant across the bridge on the right side of the street. The food was amazing. If you are looking for a comfortable nice suite this is a great choice!

We stayed at this hotel after flying into Fort Lauderdale airport on our way driving to Key West. We had a 2 bedroom suite which consisted of one room with a king size bed/full bath and one room with 2 double beds and a bath with shower. In between the two bedrooms was a living area with pull-out sofabed, table, chairs and a huge flat screen tv ... and a kitchen. The kitchen is fully stocked (sans corkscrew!) and has a dishwasher. We had a balcony overlooking the pool (mostly -- it was also overlooking a construction debris dumpster -- room 809/811 so assume any suites with those types of numbers will be in this other wing of the hotel overlooking the dumpster and not the pool so much). The room itself was great. The balcony did give a good view of the pool and intercoastal; the ocean is quite in the distance (maybe 10 minutes walk).
They did give us a free breakfast buffet because the elevators are still an issue. We used the ugly service elevator almost every time because the wait for the main elevators is just ridiculous. The lobby was freezing to top it off, so coming and going to the pool , one does not want to wait around! We did the breakfast buffet around 9:30 and about an hour later, as the other reviews state, they were running out of food/long waits, etc. so beware of that.
The pool was just ok and the hot tub was only a "warm tub"...it was broken for the most part; not hot and no jets. The fitness center was small but good enough; probably "middle of the road" by most hotel fitness center standards. I saw a small business center but didn't use it.
The grounds were very nice with some big sandboxes and lounge chairs overlooking the intercoastal. They do play outside music *all the time* (and it is not good music) so you will hear that outside and in your room if you sleep with the balcony door open as we did.
The location next to the mall was very convenient and we ate at the "PF Changs". There are a lot of strip malls nearby too so if you are in need of a CVS or wine store, food store, etc. they are all very close by as well.
The water taxi runs quite often and is $7. I'm not sure where it goes but a lot of hotel patrons were using it.
Overall, this is a good hotel and if you use the service elevator and get the breakfast early, you probably won't feel compelled to give it a negative review. Enjoy!

My wife and I spent a night at this hotel alone and then went back again a night later with our three boys (9, 9 and 12). We had the same room for each stay on a high floor looking over the intracoastal. We used HHonors points for the stays at 30,000 per night. Our overall experience was very positive. We found the staff to be exceptionally friendly. The room was very nicely appointed with the bed extremely comfortable and the kids really enjoyed the big wall-mounted television in the living room.

The hotel is convenient to, but not right on, the Ft. Lauderdale beach. It is a "long two block" walk to the water. We made the trade off for this walk in exchange for a two room suite and a lower cost room.

Only two downsides to report. First, as others have reported, there were times when only 1out of 3 elevators were working, but this was alleviated by the service elevators being used for guests. Second, if you are going to avail yourself of the brunch, go early. We got there 30 minutes before it was supposed to close and they were out of a lot of things including egg whites and orange juice.

If you stay here and want a quick, inexpensive meal, the food court in the Galleria Mall next door. It is a few cuts above the typical mall food court.

Read reviews on this hotel prior to staying pre and post cruise on 13 & 28 November 2007. Reviews of hotel were generally accurate with good rooms and facilities - apart from road noise- and beds very comfortable and clean. But don't pay extra for waterview it's not worth it and doesn't guarantee a quiet room. Don't book this hotel until the problem with the elevators is resolved which won't be any time soon. We spent ages waiting for the elevator and eventually took to the stairs.We were travelling with a friend with mobility problems and he was confined to the room for 2 days! Also, 2 of our party were trapped in the service elevator and we had more than one "terror towers" experience in the elevators during our stay. Not worth the rates charged on the hotel website- if you get it for less than about $150 and can use the stairs go ahead.