This is a fabulous hotel. At least my wife and I think so but when I read reviews on Trip Advisor I wonder whether I have anything in common with the reviewer. So first of all - we are both 50ish, me professional, her full time mother, married (to each other), 3 kids at high school/university, English expats who have lived in various countries and travelled widely and generally prefer smaller boutique hotels. If you think you have anything in common with us then let me save you the time and effort of researching the dozens of other hotels in Miami Beach as we did -this is the place to stay.

The hotel has only 49 rooms which gives it an intimate feeling. Soho House have managed to create the atmosphere of a club. We stayed in a Beachside 3 which we thought was the best value for money before we booked. We were right. The room was large and comfortable with an open bathroom, walk in shower and separate loo. We had a view of the ocean - no balcony but we didn't miss having one. You'll pay a few hundred dollars more for the privilege but it's too hot and humid to open the doors and anyway there is the pool, bar or beach. The bar is great - inside/outside space. The restaurant (Italian) is staffed by Italian waiters who know what they are doing. Food and ambience great. If you enjoy wine, ask for the longer wine list.

We enjoyed the things people do on holiday at South Beach (OK the hotel is North Beach but it doesn't matter) but found ourselves scurrying back to the hotel as a refuge from the "scene". We ventured out one evening for sundowners on Ocean Drive. It's part of the Miami Beach experience but, unless you like drinking lurid pink cocktails out of goldfish bowls, my tip is to return, as we did, to the SBH bar and enjoy a proper cocktail.

Not for seasoned travellers - avoid! Shabby and dirty, service slower than slow, waiting for breakfast became a joke - at $900 per night one expects - clean, TV to work and loo to flush properly - but I guess that's chic? The bar had water running from the kitchen but most didn't notice or care - but I did and was expecting 5 star it doesn't deliver. My view spend your money elsewhere - Fontainebleau next door was selling at half this price. This place need a re think and a re fit. Majority of people in the hotel are club members just using the facilities, I guess they don't see the finer points and are not spending the 900 dollars a night.

Let me start with the good news, the room was lovely.

Now let me give you the bad.

1. This doesn't reflect the etho's of the soho house world. Anyone who frequents Soho house London or NY should expect to be horrified, the service is Poor at best. It's not that anyone is rude, simply incompetent. As an example,

1. you can ask the concierge where is the best pool party, they might say Nikki Beach, then after a minute or two you might ask, what about the Delano, at which point you might get the response, that's the best beach party in town. Not wishing to be funny, but why didn't they say that to start with.

2. My girlfriend asked where should we go for dinner, concierge says De Rodriquez and states its his favourite., My girlfriend asks, where is it, and does it have a pool scene, the concierge says he doesn't know where it is or whether it has a pool.

3, We ask the concierge where to have early evening drinks tonight, they say Nikki beach club or SLS. We go to both, and both are closed for a private party.

4. When we ask where should we eat dinner, we frequently get told sushi samba. I have to say that if they (concierge) thinks this is fun they clearly don't get what a really good restaurant is like.

Last but not least, imagine the horror when we walk in to see a bankers convention has descended on the hotel. I mean bankers in suits. This is meant to be non corporate, times have changed and so has Soho House.

Anyway as I said the rooms were nice, oh I almost forgot to mention, there's more atmosphere in my kids playground that in this "trendy" hotel.

Everybody feels quite pleased with themselves for being at this trendy Miami hotel. Perhaps it's too trendy for its own good without enough substance.
Whilst our room was pleasant (great mini bar) the service we encountered during our stay was certainly lacking. Poor housekeeping to say the least. The body lotion in the room had gone off ('smelly cow' being an apt name for it!) The bath robes smelling of the last guests massage (yuk!) and turn down staff helping themselves to the sweets we had bought and left in our room. Made us wonder what else they were helping themselves to? When we told the management what had happened, the issue was poorly handled. Front of house staff need to be trained. Booking a site seeing tour with a hotel concierge can't be that an unusual request?! Whilst Cecconi's was excellent, Ocho on the 8th floor is certainly one to avoid.
For the money, you can do better than stay here.