Great Hotel to stay. The style is Asiatic influenced and the staff is so nice and helpful !

We stayed in the Hotel rooms street side and these are very comfortable and stylisch, thow at night it can sometimes be a bit noisy...whilst it did not affect our sleep in very comfortable beds....!

The Breakfast is great with all one can dream of from fresh juices, to eggs/bacon, ...nuts, whatever, very nice. The restaurant at the pool is very convenient. And when you want to lay near the Pool you will be taken care of a team that makes sure you feel well !

In the evening we went to the restaurant : delicious, no other possible qualification. Try the curries...and the chocolate soufflé....you will not regret.

Beware of your valuables! This hotel is known for theft at the pool area. The week of November 19th I was the victim of theft of approximately 13k at the pool; in a matter of minutes my IPhone, IPad, and Cartier watch were stolen. The police "stated it is not uncommon at this hotel". The hotels security at the back entrance off the Boardwalk is NOT ACCEPTABLE! It is virtually non existent! They claim they have cameras, security, truth be told nothing is safe here. It should be a responsibility of a hotel to provide top security for guests. They do not! I was told that they had security at the back gate, i found that not to be true. I entered without ever being checked to see if I was a guest. The Mgr on duty stated they allowed non guests to their public restaurant, and people to access and view the hotel! And in another breath stated they had security at this entry point....

I’m writing this review whilst on my way back to London after a week stay in the Setai Miami. The experience is still fresh therefore it’s easy to summarise the pros and cons of this hotel.

Positives:

1. The hotel is quiet in terms of footfall, particularly in comparison to the W or SLS next door which host various pool parties…etc.

2. The Iranian bartender is an absolute genius mixologist.

3. The room furniture and decoration look nice, the lighting across the hotel creates a nice ‘mood’. The bed is amazingly comfortable with high thread count linen.

4. Possibility of a very flexible late check-out (i.e. 4pm) at no extra charge.

5. Very helpful and pro-active concierge – this is important to ensure access to good venues.

Negatives:

1. The standard rooms are not well designed – the bathroom is semi-open plan, immediately as you walk in, there is a tiny cubicle on the left with a shower, and a tiny cubicle on the right with a toilet. Vanity areas are on either side and a bathtub is in the centre of the room in front of the bed. I hated this tremendously. The suites of course have a bathroom and come at a cost of $1500 per night (I asked).

2. The lighting across the hotel is too dim with no option of brightening things up in the room. We felt like we were living in a basement and got changed in the dark for a week straight.

3. The standard rooms face an extremely busy road with direct view of another building. Over the time of our stay, there were major road works all day – pneumonic drills, trucks reversing beeps, builders shouting at each other...Not relaxing at all but also no attempt by the hotel to warn us or even remotely acknowledge and try to respond.

4. Poor quality/flimsy fixtures. During the time of our stay, the black-out blind broke, the TV remote didn’t work properly, and the rain shower head was not sealed correctly and therefore sprayed water everywhere.

5. Room service/restaurant prices are borderline ridiculous. Even for Miami Beach.

Just reflecting on all of this, it’s clear that the negative far outweighs the positive. It pains me to give this place a 'poor' rating but this is only because it highlights how stupid I am for spending all the money to stay here. Unfortunately, the Setai will continue to survive with no need to change due to it's ‘trendy vibe’ and the many visitors who are clearly happy to pay for a little bit of Miami cool. That’s a shame in my opinion.

South beach by nature is not a great service oriented place. The Setai does it best. Instead of the usual high turnover staff that plagues most south beach hotels and restuarants - they seem to have some stability and hence quality.