A friend & I booked a weekend at the Loews for her 40th birthday.

Pros:
- Lobby had an amazing scent - felt like you were at a spa.

- Comforter/bedding was new & good thread count

- Good location if you want the true tourist experience -- be sure to walk to Gansevort Hotel for a drink at sunset on the roof

- Nice that you can order food/drinks from the pool or beach.

Cons:
-Maybe this is just policy in South Beach, but I hate the idea of having to pay $25/day for a beach chair and umbrella! Note: If you plan on renting a beach chair, get there early! You pay the same price regardless of when you get there (they close at 6pm) AND all the good chairs get taken early.

-We had a noisy, screaming child in the room next to us. We were woken early every morning because the walls are very thin.

-Pool was nice, but very very crowded. And, the water was warm (ie. not refreshing in August).

We have recently returned from the Loew's--we knew what to expect, having stayed at Loew's in other cities and this one had all the bells and whistles one would expect. However, we were booked on a floor with a LOT of repair work going on in adjacent rooms at ALL hours--we had to call the desk at midnight on a Saturday to complain about the hammering, sawing, and banging before it would stop. This went on for all six nights that we stayed, starting at about 9 am and going on well into the night. Our bill was only adjusted about $300--this was really not acceptable. However, on the plus side, the service was excellent and helpful, the food in Preston's, the sushi bar (even though there is not a big variety) and over in Emeril's absolutely delicious! The bathrobe was the plushest I've EVER felt, and with the exception of spotted sheets, the last night, the room looked to be clean. We had to accept double beds even though booking several weeks in advance and that was a pain. The room seemed to never really get cool even though set on 65 degrees. Be prepared to tip, tip, and tip some more. If you want a refrigerator, that is an extra $30 but that is for the length of your stay. Room service is superb if pricey, of course. The concierge directed us to fabulous eating places. The elevator wait is very short--would probably stay again --with some guarantees!

We have just returned from staying at the Lowes Hotel, South Beach.

Upon arrival we walked into the lobby area and was very impressed - marble flooring, nice floral arrangements etc. Checking in was not so impressive! We booked a standard room requesting a balcony, king size bed and rolloway bed for my daughter. We were advised that not every standard room has a balcony or king size bed. However we booked this 6 months in advance, our travel agents requested this, I sent two e-mails requesting this and made two telephone calls to ensure that our request was met. We were told on arrival that no balcony rooms were available nor king size beds! After seeing a third "manager" and was constantly told nothing was available - miraculously a room with our requests suddenly appeared! The room was o.k., however the bathroom needed modernising.

The breakfast area was nice and the waiting staff were charming and couldn't do enough for you.

The swimming pool area was another issue! Their policy is that once you got a bed by the pool if you decided to leave it (for whatever reason) the pool staff would leave a note on the bed with the time you left stating that you have one hour to return or the bed would be given to someone else! So without realising this policy, we had lunch at the pool restaurant, which took longer than an hour, came back and our beds were given to someone else! Having eaten in the hotel's restaurant! Another incident was we were swimming in the pool, when we got back to our beds the pool staff had left one of those notes! This ridiculous policy left us feeling quite unrelaxed as when we left our beds we were clock watching the whole time!

When on holiday relaxation by the swimming pool is very important to us and for this reason we will not be returning to the Lowes South Beach.

Just to mention the Lobby Bar. Wonderful service and the best Mohitos in South Beach. Jose really takes care of you. Ask him for his special 10 Cane Mohito.