Our family of 10 members stayed at Loews at South Beach, Miami in mid-November 2012. We arrived early since we had just gotten off a cruise. I had asked for early check in (if possible) and a complementary treat sent to one of the rooms since we were celebrating a birthday.

We were in our rooms by the noon hour. The staff were real good at letting us know that the rooms were ready. I have stayed at hotels that tell you that they will call you when the room is ready and you never hear from them.

The complementary treat was sent up after we arrived. They sent a cheese and bread plate along with a bottle of wine.

The pool was warm and wonderful.

My complaints is that the food is expensive (and quality is OK), and the drinks are expensive. Also there is no "free" business center. You have to pay to use it. Finally, they have only 1 computer that they offer to allow guests to download their plane boarding pass. They need to have more than 1 computer, especially if they charge you for the use of the business center. The computer used to download your boarding pass sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This is a problem that I have noticed both times that I have stayed there. I have noted this problem on the hotel review that they sent me. We will see if it gets fixed.

This is my 2nd stay at Loews in the past 2 years. I have loved each stay and I highly recommend it to others. It is so close to the beach and the downtown area of South Beach. Even though I think some small improvements could be made, we truly received 5 star service.

Mary

I stayed in Loews for 5 nights in March of this year. Having stayed ina variety of hotels along Collins Avenue over the past number of years, Loews was always held up as "the" hotel to stay in. I have to say, I was somewhat disappointed. For a strat it was £500 per night. That's a lot but it is South Beach. The hotel entrance is very private - you do feel removed from the noise and general brashness of South Beach once you walk up the entrance. It is a nice lobby area, well staffed with lots of people milling around opening doors, ordering taxis etc. The room was all right. Nothing special. Quite dated in fact. Bed was very comfortable and the bathroom was adequtely clean. It always strikes me as odd that the more expensive the hotel, generally the less hard they try in the rooms. The room was ok - i can't fault much about it but there is nothing really special enough to make me want to sing it's praises.
The bar is an uncomfortable place. There is a bar on the ground floor and it is expensive. There is a live band on the Saturday night belting out 80's classic rock but the bar is very open and you somehow feel like you are sitting in the middle of the lobby.
For me I will probably spend my £500 per night further up Collins and pay the taxis or else I will go back to Z Ocean for half the price and twice the level of comfort and style.

We stayed for four nights and the Rommel was nice, but not worth 500 dollars a night. Coffee for the in room machine was not replenished without asking on three occasions and wifi was an extra 15 dollars. Add in the 108 dollars mistakenly added to my bill for a spa trip that I did not use and which I had to argue with reception to have removed, and you will probably get some idea as to my view of the place. The hotel needs to realise that it charges enough anyway, without resorting to ripping people off. A nice enough place in a great position near south beach and Lincoln avenue, but overpriced and best avoided

We chose Loews to find out how the other-half lives...but we found ourselves reaching for our wallet, again and again. Everything is an extra charge; this is confounding when you consider the amount we paid per night. From the $6 bottles of water to the $24 comb (the brush was $240 in the lobby store, no exaggeration), staying at Loews is an expensive proposition. There is a charge to use a lounge chair on their section of the beach, and every time we wanted to use our rental car it was a 15 minute wait and a tip to the valet. No one informed my husband when he inquired that internet service was free -but only in the lobby- and he incurred a $14.95 charge for the day using the laptop in the room. Doormen rushing to open the doors did not make me feel privileged, or compensate for the constant cost of amenities.
The room was 2 double beds, not even queens for the price, and although the decor was pretty it was nothing special. In fact, the rooms appeared a bit on the small side compared with the other 2 hotels we stayed at during our sojourn through the Keys. The room, however, was very clean.
The best thing about the Loews was the fabulous location: access to the beach from the back of the hotel beyond the elaborate pool area, and close to Lincoln Mall and Ocean Drive. The staff appeared friendly with a particularly helpful concierge.
One note to the discerning traveler: we ate our first breakfast out of the hotel to avoid the hotel-outrageous prices, but wound up paying just as much at a restaurant on Ocean Drive. If only we had walked one more block, we would have come across a vast selection of lovely restaurants all competing for the tourist dollars with excellent breakfast specials.
As for staying at high-priced hotels again, we felt more vindicated with the bigger rooms and complimentary breakfasts at the moderately-priced hotels. Overall, this a very nice hotel if you don't mind the extra expenses.