DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL!

This was our first trip to South Beach and everything was great EXCEPT the hotel ... the Royal Palm ... AKA The Royal Pain!

First of all they get you in with a decent rate up front but then nickle and dime you for every possible charge they can ... $40 per day to park ... $20 per day for a "resort fee" ... minimum charges to get internet access ... you name it, they charged for it.

Second the rooms smelled like mold / mildew and had bugs. The shower itself was very odd! It was not enclosed on the bottom so the water would run all over the bathroom floor ... no joke! We stayed in a "suite" that overlooked the pool area. The size and set up was fine (except for the shower / bathroom previously mentioned) but it was very dingy and rundown...like the hotel overall.

The final problem was there were guests smoking funny stuff in the rooms around us so our room smelled like smoke...despite the no smoking rule...let alone those kind of "cigaretts" (and I am not talking about cloves). Also, the hotel itself had music with heavy base pumping loudly until 3 AM on the FRI and SAT nights we stayed there. I called each night to complain starting at 1AM and they just told me it would stop soon.

When I expressed my concern at check out I was told with a smile "that's South Beach". So needless to say I was not happy with the service from the hotel staff either. The only exception was the valets who were extremely nice. I can't say that the hotel staff was rude but I can say they were very laid back about everything! Not very service oriented.

Do yourself a favor and stay somewhere else ... especially if you go with kids or plan to sleep at night!

The Royal Palm told us 359.00 a night was a great deal! When we tried to check in we were told the room was almost ready. We then waited for over 4 hours for our room. We were told it was going to be worth the wait because it was 6 upgrades from the standard room. The nightmare begins... While we waited we had terrible service at the hotel pool. Guests held lounge chairs while they went shopping or to lunch. The bartender was rude and was upset with having to make a cuban coffee and refused to put sugar in it since another guest told him he had put too much in hers. When we finally got our room it was anything but 6 upgrades. Maybe the guy at the desk meant up 6 floors. The room was dirty, stained carpet, filthy bathroom, broken furniture. There were guests doing drugs in other rooms as the hallways took on the smell! The manager said the room was not 6 upgrades and said he would do something for us but when he told us to come see him, he seemed to have finished his shift. The other manager then said it was too late and we should have said something when we checked in, which we tried but since there were so many other complaining guests in the lobby checking out we waited and came back to the desk a couple of hours later. There was also topless sunbathers at the hotel pool and we were told that it was against hotel policy however that rule changed as well with the next manager, who was useless in dealing with our issues and our satisfaction was not met. This hotel set the disappointing tone for a vacation at South Beach. 359.00 a night - NO WAY !

Mold, filth, hard aging bed, smelly pillows and stained furniture will greet you when you enter your Royal Palm room for that special vacation. The front desk told us that 10% of the rooms have been renovated but the rest of us are out of luck. What amazes me is that management has not learned that customers are going to post their bad experiences on the internet.

There is a $19 per day "resort fee" added to your bill. (You are also taxed on the resort fee; I'm not making this up). Parking is $39 per day. But don't worry, rude front desk was free.

The first room we were given was disgusting. It was run down and the toilet was broken. The toilet would flush itself 12 times a hour....got to count because I couldn't sleep with so much noise. After complaining, they put us in a suite next to the pool which at first seemed like a better room until the sun went down and the party never stopped. The toilet seat had burned marks on it from cigarettes (we were supposed to be in a non-smoking room) and the pull-out couch was so dilapidated I could barely pull it out and it was bent to one side. The plasma broke twice and the refrigerator had been ripped out.

The second morning the maid knocked on the door and then immediately let herself in before I could stop her (no do not disturb sign) at 9:00am, then 30 minutes later, and 30 minutes later.....then had the audacity to get MAD because we were still in the room. This happened 3 out of 4 mornings!!!!! I finally devised my own sign and put it on the door!

We brought two of our children and that was a huge mistake. Our 14 year-old got an eye-full at the pool with excessive PDA and inappropriate behavior as well as witnessing people becoming so intoxicated, they could barely stand. I finally had to pull our 7-yr old out of the pool before she got injured with the drunk antics. One morning when we went to breakfast, our children saw drunk people passed out all around the pool, some laying flat on the pavement, and one woman's bottom bare and very visible with her dress pulled up around her waist.

Not a place to bring children, plan to sleep late or undisturbed, but the location is good.