I suppose that if you definition of "hotel" is a room and and daily cleaning, then this place can be called a hotel. Everything else about this place is not a hotel.

The front desk is about 5 feet long and it is part of a restaurant dining room. Very confusing just finding it. Their are no bellmen, no belldesk, no valet, no parking, no consierge, no gym/exersize room, and practically no service. I don't remember any other time in my life where the front entrance of a hotel was not obvious. The elevator to the rooms is wedged between a restaurant bar and a kitchen. It is not that pleasant to get through there when the restaurant is operational. This restaurant is very popular and very busy, so the noise level in and around the hotel until 1AM, is staggering. Great people watching if you're interested in seeing the "in crowd" and a highly disproportionate share of Lamborghini's and Ferrari's perhaps anywhere this side of Dubai.

The rooms are new and modern. The beds are comfortable and the deco style, if you like that, is sparse but kinda hip - in a very "white" sort of a way. However, there is an abundance of technology overload and technology just for the sake of technology. Using the coffee maker, the lights, the heating/AC, and TV are all significant challenges ( inever managed to operate the phone or the coffee maker in a two night stay). This place must have been designed by a geek that does not understand the customer. I've worked my entire life in the consumer electronics business and my own home is fully loaded with electronics well beyond any norm. I've traveled for all of my business life and have stayed in countless hotel rooms around the planet. This is by far the worste use of technology I have seen in a new and modern place.

I paid $250/night at the end of April and think this was a rip-off by at least $100/night. If you like the people watching and want to be at this end of Ocean blvd, then try the Hilton or Marriott across the street. When I booked, they were a bit out of reach for my budget (over $400/night) but if you can get a decent price, do not even think about staying in this place.

This is the first time I have ever stayed at a boutique hotel and my first impression was not the greatest. When I arrived at the hotel it was dinner time and I soon discovered there is no lobby or real front desk to this place. The bottom floor of the hotel is a restaurant where they have a desk at which you can check-in. I was a little taken back by this because I had been traveling for hours and when I walked into this very crowded restaurant to check-in with my big suitcase it was a bit awkward. I can handle crowds and deal with chaos- I work in New York City so I know what it's like but this was just not my style. I am used to staying in a place that you clearly know is a hotel and when you walk in you know where to go.

Aside from my initial check-in experience the staff seemed very friendly and nice but often times when you went down to the "front desk" during the morning/day it was difficult to get someone to help. For breakfast they have a sister restaurant to Prime around the corner called Big Pink's. My boyfriend and I ate there three mornings in a row for breakfast, it was great! When we did speak to the girl at the front desk she suggested Big Pink's. When the front desk staff was there they were very nice.

The room itself was clean- a bit small compared to hotel rooms I am used to. The bed was very nice and super comfortable and the bathroom was very modern and cool but the anti-fog mirrors were not very anti-fog and the lighting was weird. The TV and stereo system were a pain to work though. We would try and turn the stereo off and lose sound on the TV, it was just a nightmare. We are also both pretty tech savvy but still had trouble with this. The sound on the TV would also randomly cut out. Also our floor had some sort of weird film on it that I did not like to be barefoot on and the closet mirror was very filthy.

Overall I feel like this hotel was just kind of annoying. I would stay here again only because aside from the filthy mirror it was clean and that is a number one priority for me when it comes to hotel stays.

I took a shot on this hotel after reading mixed reviews but the price was right and the location is excellent. A must if you are staying here is to get a room on the street side towards the front of the hotel. Otherwise, you will be smelling pizza or whatever they were cooking next door.

If you get over the fact you must enter the hotel through the restaurant entrance, you will most likely be pleased with this place. I was there for business during the busiest time of year - Spring Break and the music festival. Regardless, I often found that I was able to relax at the pool alone.

Let's break down the positives:

-great location South of Fifth, near good restaurants, clubs, etc
-modern rooms, comfortable beds
-nice, but small pool area for rehabilitating from night before
-reasonable prices

Negatives

-It's a boutique hotel, so during the day, service is limited
-I could never get the iPod doc to work and neither could the front desk. They did send a replacement. When I moved to another room, same problem. The doc was broken.
-They consistently took too long to bring my car up from valet

Overall, I would stay here again and actually look forward to returning. The price, location, modern rooms, and chic character are all you need when having a great time in South Beach.

Also, I ate at both Prime 112 and Prime Italian - they are pretty good restaurants and worth trying.

I didn't expect to be in such a hot spot when choosing a hotel booking online! This hotel is a 'hidden gem' located on the 2nd through 4th floors of the famous Prime 112 restaurant. We had a great amount of privacy and were extremely happy with the trendy, bright, and sunny rooms.

The entertainment system was a little tricky, but a very sweet front desk girl informed me they are planning a great new simpler upgrade! We're looking forward to this for our next trip. We will definitely be staying there again! The roof top pool was amazing with the candles lit at night. Very calming. We were able to look down from the roof top at all the VIP restaurant patrons arriving in their fancy cars!

The ONLY downfall was having to wait half an hour for our table at Prime 112, but the charisma of the hotel staff made up for this 100%!