My wife and I celebrated our anniversary at the Palms and overall we were pretty satisfied. On the positive side (aside from a good location)
- really nice and attentive staff
- nice ambiance at the pool and beach
- nice public spaces
- cool washcloths brought to you at poolside (and drink samples!)
- nice breakfast buffet
- complimentary newspapers and included wifi
- reasonable price
On the negative side:
- no early check in (not a minute early, regardless of what time you got there)
- small guestroom with noise from hallway and adjacent room heard (I did try to shut off an alarm clocjk that was in an adjacent room)
- Construction at next door property
Overall, I would recommend this hotel with the caveats listed above.

Friendly because this hotel service is so really nice . They have got the right balance between friendliness and top professional service
Set among many new developments, this is a real classic .
I loved the fact that they really understood the importance of a good location for the breakfast buffet . You could just seat there enjoying the meal ( very good, by the way ) while wachting the palm trees move . A truly relaxing experience to start the day with the right mood .
Its location is fantastic as well, as it is - really - very near Miami beach restaurants and shops, but not " there" . This means tranquility .

The Good: (included in the $14 per day service fee is.... Free beach towels, chairs and umbrellas, free melon infused ice water, free high speed internet and newspaper, cool washcloths brought to you on the beach, frozen margarita samples brought to you on the beach, robes and slippers in the room, turn down service at night with Godiva chocolates on the pillow, keurig coffee maker in-room, and Aveda bath products.

Beautiful room decor and pretty public spaces.

Great for families, away from all the craziness.

Beatiful beach area.

Even the city view rooms offer a view (at night).

The maid service, valet service, and beach/poolside food and drink service were excellent. We especially enjoyed being served lunch and frozen drinks right on the beach. Tranquil spa-like music is piped into the poolside area through Bose speakers in the landscaping. It is a tropical setting with pool-side tiki bar, thatched roof shaded areas, hammocks, palm trees, sandy areas surrounding the pool, and parrots.

The bad: No early check in or upgrades were available.

Food and drinks are very pricey.

A Marriott is under construction next door (we did hear some distant sounding construction noise most of the day by the pool, but not enough to bother us, and even less was heard while on the beach).

Walls are thin. If you have noisy neighbors late at night, this could interfere with your sleep.

A beautiful half hour ocean view walk along the boardwalk will take you to South Beach, but there are homeless people found on the boardwalk along the way. We rented a car...$30 per day to park.

The pool area is very nice, but the pool itself is simple, no waterfalls, etc.

On November 8th, my birthday, my husband and I spent a half day at the Palms Hotel & Spa. We booked spa services and planned to use the amenities, have lunch there and simply relax. We found the hotel to be beautiful, the staff to be very friendly and accomodating and the spa to provide excellent services. We loved our lunch at Essencia and the views from the pool and the condition of the beach area was spectacular. We will surely visit again to enjoy the wonderful services the hotel and spa have to offer. Thank you Karla, Sandra, Cardel and Amy!