Every January, a group of friends and I run the Ragnar Relay from Miami to Key West. The past two years (2012 & 2013), we have stayed at the Hampton Inn Coconut Grove. They have been very accommodating with the reservations, room selection, happy hour, and even putting out an early breakfast since our team had to be at the start line at 4 a.m. this year. We plan to be back next year for Ragnar FLK 2014!

We stayed here for five nights in August 2012 while moving our daughter in for her freshman year at University of Miami. This was a very popular hotel during freshman orientation week - the university had even arranged a visit by Sebastian (who came with several handlers to keep the big bird on schedule) for photo-ops during breakfast one morning and the lobby was decorated with balloons and streamers in the []_[]'s colors.

Breakfast was excellent with lots of hot and cold options; every morning during our stay the hot dishes were different. Since we flew in from Illinois we had lots of shopping to do to get everything our daughter needed for her dorm room so we weren't in the hotel much; we really just slept there every night and headed out for the day after breakfast so we didn't see the pool, etc. There is a Pollo Tropical right across the street which we stopped at several times. "Berries" is just around the corner and highly recommended - we ate dinner there twice.

There isn't much else in the immediate area - it's not situated on one of those streets lined with hotels surrounded by restaurants that you typically see; it's just kind of sitting there by itself a block from Dixie Highway with a residential area behind it. There are a few random businesses nearby but this is not the kind of area where you walk out the front door and stroll around the neighborhood checking out shops and restaurants. As a result the Hampton is a real bargain in the context of the other choices close to the university - $99 a night during our off-season stay! Parking in the secure lot was free, which is very unusual in the area. We had previously stayed at two Courtyards in the area neither of which had free breakfast or parking. There is a metrorail stop nearby - the Coconut Grove station - we didn't use the metrorail during this trip since we had a car but with the recent extension of the metrorail to MIA that would make this location very convenient for air travelers who don't want to rent a vehicle.

We'd shopped Amazon for some bulky college essentials just prior to our trip and had those items shipped directly to the Hampton. Love that Amazon Student Prime! We called in advance to ask the hotel to be on the lookout for our boxes and the front desk staff was very helpful with receiving and storing the packages which arrived a few days before we did and were waiting for us when we checked in.

Our room was just fine - nothing fancy, though I believe I read they are in the process of redecorating. It was large enough to allow a rollaway bed (at no charge - which our daughter used the first night of our stay before she moved into her dorm room) without feeling totally cramped. The room had a microwave and mini-frig but we didn't use these since we really weren't in the room at all except to sleep, spending our days hitting TGT and BBB, picking up more boxes full of items we'd shipped from home to a local Fed Ex Office that were waiting for us when we arrived in town, and then unpacking it all into a tiny dorm room. It was really surprising to see all that stuff disappear into such a small space - thankfully there are generously sized closets in the []_[]'s freshman dorms.

We did have a glitch with the hotel's internet access. I'd read in reviews here on tripadvisor that the hotel's wi-fi was slow, especially on upper floors, but then forgot to request a low floor at check-in and the internet was indeed very very slow. I saw a hotel manager's response to another review here that mentioned the same problem around the time of our stay - it sounded like the hotel was working on the issue so I'm assuming that problem has been resolved by now. The only other shortcoming I noticed was garbage piling up on top of overloaded trash receptacles outside the elevators on our floor the first few evenings. We did hear that the hotel was completely full that week though - the crowds just got ahead of the maintenance staff's ability to keep up.

We stayed here on Dec 25 and 26. The hotel is very well managed, clean and only a short drive to South Beach. We went to South Beach both days and had no problem at all with the drive. When you add up a short drive, the cost of a beach chair rental and parking, you still have an excellent value here compared to anything else in the area - like way less than half price! They have a manager s reception and a good breakfast (better than many Hampton's we've stayed at) with staff always present and helpful.
Would stay here again and recommend to friends.

The hotel is in a weird location. It is the only hotel there surrounded by apartments, gas station, some odd restaurants and businesses that tourists would likely not visit, fortunately, it is close enough to Coco Walk, roughly 1 mile by walking. If you don't feel comfortable walking in the neighborhood then you might as well drive and park in the residential area. The walk at night can be very dark and dogs do poop on the residential grass & sidewalk and dog owners don't pick-up after their dogs, so bring a flash light. The latter doesn't really reflect on the hotel but just be aware.

They do have free breakfast every morning which can be a plus to save money. I did not interact much with the staff so I would not know if they are friendly, it seemed like they were always doing something. There is free ample parking in the garage if the street level is full. People do smoke in front of the hotel entrance so beware for non-smokers, the smoker's "ash tray" is conveniently located by the entrance (I don't smoke so this bothered my a lot).

The room was up to par, clean & quiet hallways.