I came with my family a few times in the past year, but this time the experience at the westin diplomat was extremely difficult.
1-rooms were not clean
2-the saff at front desk was not helpful and made us feel very frustated
After taking a late flight, we arrived at the hotel at 2AM with my family and my parents. My father was extremely tired and being hospitalized a few months during the past year, he needed a good vacation. Unfortunatly, we stayed until 5Am trying to get rooms that we had booked but the manager did not want to help us at all even if he saw that my father was completely exausted.
we spent everyday at reception trying to get the rooms that we expected. the communication between the staff at the font desk is very bad. They promess something and when you come back you don't get what they promessed. we stayed 2 weeks and we had problems everyday until the last 4days. the worst problem in this hotel is the service at the front desk that is completely inacceptable. we have never experienced anything like this in any other hotel around the world.

I had a great experienced with this hotel during my stated end of August. General speaking, the front desk update my SPG account and automatically put us on the SPG floor. This hotel is clean and updated, yet very well organised and informative to the guests during the hurricane time. Staffs were very helpful with no attitudes only smiles on their faces. What we liked the most is the hotel sense is always fresh, you can always smell it once you walk-in.

We stayed at the Westin the night before our Christmas Bahamas cruise. It is a very large hotel/resort. The pools were very nice and the beachfront was kept spotless. There is an abundance of lounge chairs (though saving by one person for a group is allowed). The rooms were very clean and well appointed. They had a grab and go coffee shop within the hotel where you could also get pastries etc. which was nice to have. The only downside is that the restaurants in the hotel were quite expensive and there are no others within walking distance, and it was tough to get concierge assistance due to the large volume of people. Overall it was a very nice place to stay.

I stayed at the Diplomat for one night using SPG points and cash -- an amazing price of only 4800 points + 90 dollars. I stayed during the peak Xmas week so a regular room was listed at over $250 night.

The front desk check in would have been insane but for the fact that I am SPG Gold. They have a dedicated line for SPG Gold/Platinum holders which made check in way faster. The check in staff were very friendly and explained all of the amenities of the hotel -- and provided me with a bracelet that needed to be worn in the pool and gym areas.

As others have noted, self parking is available across the street for $20 a day. Kind of expensive but there really is no free parking available in the area. Note that there are two garage buildings... the one you enter requires you to drive to the top floor and then drive over a connecting bridge to the other garage which will then let you drive down to the exit. So, if you want to get out of the garage easily, the best option is to drive right through the entire garage as if you were going to exit and park near the last level of the exit. This will allow you to exit the garage rather easily.

I took a look at the gym (I am a gym rat so my requirements are very discerning) and it actually was not a bad gym -- for a hotel. The free weights did not go to high enough weights (but they rarely do at a hotel gym) but they had all the machines you'd need, a smith machine, and plenty of cardio equipment. There is a Crunch gym (recently under new management) at 163rd and Collins for those who are more hard core gym goers.

The room itself -- I had an "issue" with my first room. The front desk staff was very helpful in moving me to a new/upgraded room with a full ocean view room with a balcony. My original room had a partial view without a balcony. I would highly recommend spending the extra $$ (if you can) to get the full ocean view with a balcony. The view is spectacular and having a balcony to read on is amazing.

The room is very comfortable ... free starbucks coffee and a bottle of water too. The bathroom had a great stand alone shower (my favorite because it avoids the need for that nasty shower curtain) and a separate jacuzzi tub. The bathroom had massive shutters that opened to overlook the bedroom and/or the ocean.

As my 'SPG Gold' amenity, I chose free Wifi which worked very well during my stay.

Over all, this definitely a great hotel. Well worth the SPG Points + Cash I paid. Also, as a frequent traveller, no hotel is perfect -- the secret to their success has to be how they handle things when something goes wrong. At the Diplomat, they are clearly focused on guest satisfaction -- exactly what I would expect from a Westin hotel. The "issue" I had with the hotel was handled immediately and professionally -- exactly how I would expect a 5* hotel to deal with a guest complaint.