sadly we only stayed one night on a florida dolphin tour break last week but we are already planning to go back there. A fabulously chic hip and cool hotel that's exciting and vibrant. The staff are friendly and laid back, the room was not small as said in previous reviews. They should stay at one of my previous reviews hotels for small. The room was ace, white and red. Brilliant rain forest type shower. Mini bar that was described by the rep as expensive (it wasn't) and had a fab range of food and drink. The swedish bed was luxury. Absolutely loved it, We had the most expensive breakfast ever in the maxine's but it was also the best ever in my life... and we did have 4 mimosa's miss it and miss out... The hotel is three diff hotels in a line and each has it's own charm, the pool in the maxine is a bamboo cool one very pretty but the rooftop pool in the Dorset was lush! Happy hour really is happy with free drinks and shots. The barmaid with the supercool hair is so adorable. Don't forget to tip her, she deserves it. We sat outside watching southbeach walk by on hip sofas drinking free drinks and thinking we were dreaming. Loved it so much, it has such character and I will book this myself in the next year or so when we go to Miami for a more extended stay. ps can I say thankyou to all the hotels for their excellent choice of vegetarian foods. The best we found in florida.

The location is great - very close to Ocean Drive and the hotel offers rides to different parts of Collins Ave, so that's nice. However, the hotel itself was not nice at all. There's an odor to the place -- on the way to the rooms (through the Japanese restaurant). Then when you get off the elevator, there's also a smell to the halls - like old, funky smell, as though the carpets have been there for 50 years and have gone through spillage of different types. It's just gross. Then our room is decent, but the bathrooms were nasty - not the kind of place you'd go barefoot. The music from the rooftop was insanely loud. Walls are super thin - as in you can hear other people from other rooms. I suppose if you're there to party, then you wouldn't mind the noise, but we needed some quiet to rest and didn't like the thin walls. One of the days we were there our room was not cleaned at all. Just not a pleasant place to be.

We stopped as part of a overnight tour from Orlando. I was very pleased with the location, although not quite on South Beach, it was easily accessable with a 5 minute walk. In fact I think the location is perfect if you want to use it as a base to go and explore. Most things are on the doorstep or within a 10 minute walk.

The rooms are basic but clean and have everything you need, I wouldn't use it as a hotel for more than a couple of nights. The bar is well stocked and they have a happy hour where certain drinks are free!!!

Would definately recommend...

The Catalina Hotel & Beach Club is a cluster of three hotels, the Maxine, the Catalina, and the Dorset. They have a GREAT setup with each hotel having its own unique and different types of restaurants. You walk right through the restaurants to get to your room! You would think this were a burden, but it's actually very quaint and gives you a sense of "belonging". The staff is SUPER friendly, though it takes them a LLOONNGGG time to get your room cleaned! Our delightful room was somewhat dark, despite having windows on 2 walls (but we faced the alleyways). We are STILL perplexed as to WHY there was an electrical outlet on the ceiling ~hhhmmm~. They have nightly FREE OPEN BAR for guests, hence, their motto. BIG UPS TO LEVANT, our wonderful bartender in the Kung Fu kitchen & sushi for his tasty libations. Oh, and the rooftop pool is a MECCA for sun worshipers! Just get there EARLY to get a day bed on the sunny side of the deck. Even BIGGER UPS to Keith, the rooftop bartender, for making it his one and sole goal to make sure we had a GOOD TIME! He always greeted us with a smile and "bro hug" and just made us feel welcomed. THANK YOU!