I stayed in five different hotels in Miami recently, and this was by far the "most Miami" and wonderful of them all. Stark, white, crisp and luxurious. The location is perfect. The pool is refreshingly quiet and low key compared to elsewhere on South Beach. It's a very grown up operation, with service to match. The peanut butter sorbet in 1220 is a phenomenon. I understand they are making changes to layout and refurbishing soon - I hope they don't make it too radical.

Many of the art deco hotels in SoBe require extensive renovation and the Tides is no exception. The hotel rooms fail to approach the rooms pictured on the website. The website advertises a calming see of white with unobstructed ocean views, and a telescope to boot. The view in my room was obstructed b/c of the Tides facade and there was no telescope. I was left to look at exposed ceiling pipes, exposed cabling b/n plasma n DVD player, stained furniture, a cheap rattan desk chair, and office-like carpet. The desk furniture is not a clean red but rather cream and chipped. The bathroom is poorly caulked, also do yourself a favor and dont look behind the chipped mirrors into the rusted medicine cabinets. The overall decor was sparse (See pictures). In sum, the rooms were poorly finished out and set a dreary rather than a comforting mood.

The hotel is conveniently located on Ocean drive, but do note that the beach is a short hike away (i.e., not beach front like Delano or Shore Club) and the pool is behind the hotel overlooking an alley.

I was looking forward to staying here after reading the reviews here and was somewhat disappointed (we paid $571/nite). I will say that the manager was accomadating and upgraded us to a Jr suite w/ a great view, but the bad taste from the 1st room remained, and the suite still suffered the same issues to some degree.

My wife and I are professional beach bums and love luxury beach resorts. Sadly, the Tides is not in this category. The hotel lacks the small touches like nitely bottled water w/ turn down. The fake orchids placed throughout the hotel pretty much say it all.

On a positive note, the bed was great and the staff was friendly and tried to be accomadating. Further, SoBe luxury is expensive and the other hotels such as the Delano n ShoreClub have rooms starting in the $700s and the Tide's rooms are spacious by SoBe standards. The mgr also said the hotel would be renovated extensively in May. Not soon enough...

I have stayed at the Tides four times over about 10 years, and it is still a terrific hotel. This time, I stayed in Jr. Suite 501 and then 9th floor suite 902. The first was a north corner suite with one very large and bright room. The only shortcoming was a bathtub that had been inadequately cleaned and had a broken drain mechanism -- no bath for me that night! The bathrooms at the Tides are somewhat minimalist, and suffer from fluorescent lighting, but the rooms make up for it.
I moved into a 1BR suite the second night, #902. The bedroom was smaller, but had a 50" plasma TV at the foot. However, the attached bath/sitting room was spectacular, with a large terrace overlooking the beach and city to the east, south and west. This is the sexiest room in South Beach. It has a big soaking tub in the middle of the room, and a lounge at the windows overlooking the ocean. There is a powder room off this room as well. I was onoly sorry my wife was not with me for the trip - she would have loved the room!
The room is expensive, but worth it. Why would you stay anywhere else if you can get this room, which costs no more than a boring suite at the Ritz, Setai or Four Seasons?

My spouse and I make it a point to stay here at least once a year. We make numerous trips to South Beach each year and like to sample a different hotel on each visit. The Tides is the only hotel we've ever wanted to stay in more than once. The Delano, Shore Club, and Hotel Victor don't hold a candle to the elegance and hospitality of the Tides. Other hotels come close, but always fall short for one reason or another. The staff knows how to treat guests so they feel like a member of the Tides family, going the extra step to make sure guests want for nothing. The rooms are spacious, clean, and ALL are suite size with direct ocean views. There isn't a room with a bad view in the entire hotel. Nothing else in South Beach can compare to the Tides, it's in a class by itself.