The building is elegant. The lobby totally different - lovely in an austere way. The pool area is also very attractive, though a bit worn.

Our party of 6 middle age adults arrived at the poolside bar late one weekday evening to enjoy a drink and snack by the famous pool. What a disappointment. The area was understaffed and service was painfully slow and sloppy. The margarita I ordered arrived in a tiny, thin plastic cup. Not even the sturdy plastic cups you would purchase at Wal-Mart, but one so thin you could hardly grasp the thing without it collapsing. But that was the good news. The drink itself was basically as sweet green bottled mix with not even a hint of tequilla. Absolutely awful. The snack pizzas were average.

After that experience, I'm gratefull not to have booked my vacation in this hotel. Again, beautiful to look at from a distance. Hopefully they will get their act together because there is great potential here.

The design of the public areas is amazing, very cool and elegant. The food is very good, the garden beautiful, the staff generally very nice, but not always professional. The design of the rooms is great, but they are not very big. The hotel is not well built, so you hear your neighbours. Beware of the "city view" rooms, which are unbearably noisy, and of the rooms with a view to the courtyards, which are noisy and smelly (hotel kitchen). The sea view rooms are very nice. The rooms are clean, but some details would require better maintenance. The TV set and radio are outdated. In general, a most beautiful place, great for an elegant and stylish weekend.

Every time we come to south florida we have been staying at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, but this time we wanted to be closer to south beach. Well... what a mistake. South beach is not the same anymore and specially the hotels that used to be the best of the best (not anymore). I will strongly recomend just to go a few miles up north to hollywood and stay at the Diplomat. Much better service and friendly staff.
We rather pay a cab to drive down than to stay anywhere in south beach

I cancelled a reservation at the Tides and booked the Delano for the weekend upon recommendation of a friend. Woken up at 4 am Friday by a "herd of elephants" staying in room above (loud drunk guy yelling at his friend did not help) and the next morning at 7 am by screaming brat children in room next door. Service was poor (and in the case of the beach, non-existent), the attitude of the staff was snotty (unless you were Ice-T, that is, who was there being fawned over by everyone). I did love the restaurant, though - the service there was impeccable and food was amazing. Sorry Tides! I know better now.