Considering this was my first trip to South Beach (and not my last), I'm not sure how to Benchmark this hotel to its competitors. The entrance is nice, as well as the lobby. That's about it.

First, the rooms were good size however they were not cleaned. Our first room was in dire need of a paint job as the walls were scuffed and the bathroom dirty. We later left that room as the neighboors were up very late. The next room was better, but the bathroom was dirty and the blinds were rusted and filled with mildew. I would think for what they charge they could have put more effort into this. Also, there were no "privacy" door cards, so you were at the mercy of the housekeeping staff.

As other people have commented, I find their "resort fee" laughable. You get to pay an additional $20/day to get a newspaper, unlimited WiFi, lounge chairs at the beach, and use of the gym. Most of these "fees" are complementary at a Best Western or Courtyard, which are considerably cheaper and cleaner. We didn't get a newspaper one morning, and I didn't bring a laptop...oh well.

In general, you're paying for the location and that's about it. I would pay a little more and go to the Loews next door.

Stayed here for 2 nights. This hotel, or at least the suite we had was a dump. The bed was sinking in the middle, the bathroom was dirty, and the carpeting was stained all over. Also be advised that you have to pay a $19 fee for every night that you stay. It covers a few things including a newspaper, which we never received. It is a 2.5 star hotel at best. One positive is the location.

Stayed at the Royal Palms at the end of June and had a great experience. When we arrived at the hotel we asked for a larger room (3 of us staying together) and we were immediately upgraded for free to a suite with an ocean view - completely remodeled with everything from a beautiful bathroom, pull out couch, balcony and fridge within mini - kitchen.

Staff is accommodating as long as you ask nicely. I was skeptical before we arrived due to a lot of bad press this place gets but we were pleasantly surprised with our room and staff. They had a nice pool area with towels and lounges but you cant beat the beach. The bar and outdoor service is over priced and within a 2 minute walk you can find lots of happy hour hot spots along the beach.

Great place for young singles / couples. Great location to access nightlife, shopping and restaurants.

Overall a great price - and a good place to stay at the beach

We stayed at the Royal Palm from June 25-29th. We were there for my cousins batchlorette party. When we first walk in the lobby is very pretty, the elevator was pretty, but when we get to our floor which was the 16th floor, there were men painting!!! The whole place smelt like paint! There were hand made signs! So we get the room, the key didn't work, after trying 4 times, it finally worked. So we get inside the room and it was the smaller than a walk-in closet, with two double beds. It smelt like there was a dog in there. The sheets were dirty, the carpet was filthy, the bed skirt on both beds were REALLY DIRTY! So we go and check out the bathroom and i have never seen anything so discusting in my life!! There was mold on the ceiling, of the shower. The toilet was broken. So we went down stairs to complain at the front desk. We started off by complaining about the painting, the manager said he didn't even know that there was painting go on! Then we were talking about the other problems, he was looking at us like we had six heads. He then said that he would upgrade us to another room, with a king size bed, (there were four of us). i asked if he could bring in a cot or something for the other two, but he said that the room would not fit it. i suggested that they give us a suit, The manager said that one was not available at the time, but that there would be one in about an hours, well 5 hours later, he called us, and told us that a bellman was coming to get us, and our bags, to bring us to our "suite". It took him one hour to get there. We finally get to the suit and that too was dirty, but it was a little better. There was no refrigator, no safe. There were two sinks, but one did not work. There were two plasma T.V.'s but one did not have a remote. Overall this place sucked and i would not recomend it to any one!!!!!!