This place was the cat's pajamas. I'm not sure what the hotel proper was like, but we booked a two-room suite and ended up with a magnificent penthouse apartment overlooking Biscayne Bay. Two huge bedrooms, three bathrooms, a fully-equipped kitchen, enormous sitting room and two big balconies where you could sit out and eat - all on the 41st floor. We had an amazing time.

Internet is free in the apartments and the lobby and works really well. And you can use the large pool and fully-equipped gym too. The apartments appear to be in the residential block adjoining the rest of the hotel. There's also a shopping plaza right there and a stylish Italian restaurant. (And there's a big Publix supermarket across the street too.)

Staff were really friendly and everything was perfect. It was more than I'd usually pay for a hotel, but definitely worth every cent.

I am in and out of Miami several times per year and have always wanted to stay at the Hilton Grand Hotel Biscayne Bay. Due to the so-so reviews I've always passed. I have to say that my trip was wonderful! I booked a Grand Suite Balcony and loved it!

We stayed here the night before leaving on our cruise and it was a great place to stay and about a mile away from the Port of Miami (about an $8 cab ride). We stayed there mostly for the price as it was one of the few hotels that were under $200 per night. The front desk staff at this hotel was fabulous and they couldn't be more helpful and friendly. We found out upon check-in that we were upgraded to a bay view room, which was a nice surprise. They also offered us acomplimentary snack of warm cookies. I would stay here again for the cookies alone. Those were delicious!
When we got to our room, it was clean, however, the housekeeping staff had left a few dirty rags on the desk. We notified the front desk and they sent someone from housekeeping right away.
I agree with the other reviewers that the decor was a little outdated, but to me that doesn't take away from the hotel at all. We had a balcony that offered a nice view of the bay, the patio furniture was a little old, but I kept reminding myself that I was in hot sunny weather and wearing shorts in November, so I could deal with the old furniture.
There isn't much around this hotel in terms of restaurants, things to do, etc. but there was a free trolley service that was in walking distance and took us to Bayside, which is a neaby shopping area that has stores, restaurants, bars, entertainment etc. if you don't want to go down to South Beach.
The beds were very comfortable and had lots of pillows. The bathroom area had two sinks, one inside the bathroom and outside, so that was nice, as I could get ready when my friend was in the shower and vice versa.
The hotel had lots of shops in the lobby, more on the high end side, but, I was able to get a pre-cruise pedicure, and the staff there were excellent and friendly as well.
We also ate breakfast in one of the hotel's restaurants. I don't remember the name off-hand, but it was cafeteria style as they made your breakfast and put it in styrofoam containers. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. I had eggs benedict and they were very good.
We didn't get to take advantage of the pool since we were only there half a day, but it did look nice and there were lots of seats. Maybe next time.
When we left to go to the Port, it was very easy to get a taxi and it was a short ride.
Over all, this was a great hotel, and we would stay there again.

We stayed here for a week just for fun. Customer service is excellent; the staff is very professional and eager to please. The concierge service is top-notch as well; they go out of their way to make sure you know all the options available for what you're looking for.

The hotel is a 5-minute walk from a brand new Publix grocery store, which was nice because we wanted to keep food in the room so that we didn't have to spend a lot for every meal since dining out is expensive in that part of Miami. The rooms have little refrigerators (not mini-bars, so there's more storage room) which make it possible to store fresh, healthy snacks.

There's a free trolley that covers a good part of the sightseeing district and maps are available at the concierge desk. Public transportation is cheap and easy to use for areas not covered by the free trolley. The hotel is about a 6-7 minute ride by car to South Beach or an hour to walk (South Beach looked a lot closer on the map!)

Things I wasn't real happy with: the hotel is old and although the rooms are very clean, it's badly in need of rehabbing. The windows in our room were really dirty as were the elevators. (I've become accustomed to the immaculate standards at Mexican resorts.) I've stayed at a number of Doubletree hotels elsewhere and this one needs to come up to standard with the others. Doubletree advertises the quality of the beds and usually I find this to be true, but one of the beds in our room had a mattress that was so worn that it created a cavernous ditch as soon as you put weight on it. The wallpaper is dated and our room was very dark for my taste, even in the daylight hours with the sun shining brightly outside.

There are only a handful of restaurants (most are pricey) within walking distance of the hotel. Other options are to ride the trolley to a more populated area or go to South Beach. You have to take a trolley or a car/taxi to get to retail areas that are of interest to tourists/vacationers.

Daylight savings time had ended over 3 weeks prior to our stay, but the time stamp on the TV had not been rolled back an hour and the electronic TV guide was virtually worthless because it showed selections starting an hour later than it actually was (e.g. if it's 1pm, the TV guide showed shows starting at 2pm or later). This was known to be an issue, but the response I received was that the service provider was responsible for changing the time. I escalated the issue up the chain of command and the time stamp was changed the day before we left. This issue was annoying to me because the staff knew about it but was passively waiting for the service provider to change it (when would that be? It had been almost a month since clocks were rolled back) instead of proactively contacting them to fix it.

If you want a final invoice for your stay, you have to physically go to the front desk, which is a little outdated in terms of technology available that precludes the need to do this. Upon checking out, I noticed a charge to a room for a phone call that we didn't make. The front desk person assured me the charge would be reversed. After a week and half, I noticed my credit card had still not been credited. I called again; it's been 2 weeks since I left the hotel and the charge has not yet been credited.

Would I stay here again? Probably not - I would rather stay in South Beach where there is close proximity to restaurants and shops. If the rooms were updated, allowed more sunlight and had clean windows I might reconsider.