Stayed at the Kent hotel for a couple of nights in late December 2011 with a family & friends group. The location in South Beach is great - right in the trendy Art Deco district. Having said that, we didn't really get what's supposed to be so great about South Beach in general and came away wondering what all the fuss is about. It's expensive too, especially parking, eating out, and the recliners on the beach. Bring plenty of cash if you're going. The Kent itself was one of the most expensive locations we stayed in on a two week tour of South Florida - but having said that it was a reasonable price for accommodation in South Beach.

Overall, we agreed that the hotel was just ok. Our room had clearly been refurbished, it's size was ok and it was in good condition. However, the wetroom-style bathroom was annoying - there was no shelf or storage anywhere in it to put toiletries etc., and the fixed shower head was only about 5 feet from the ground (so anyone over the age of 12 would need to duck while showering). Silly little things which'd be easy to put right. The others in our party had more old-fashioned rooms which were smaller but I think the general opinion was that they were ok too. The air-conditioning was fine and we didn't find things too noisy or anything (apart from some fellow guests). And the elevator is a good laugh.

And yes the staff at reception are friendly and service is indeed good etc., but we were asked several times to mention staff names if putting up a good review on tripadvisor and this got a bit tiresome (although it explains why so many reviews of this hotel mention specific staff). I don't really like to get the impression that the only reason someone is being nice to me is just to get a good review somewhere. Also, the Cuban restaurant (Havana, on the corner of Washington Ave and Espanola Way) mentioned in other reviews was recommended to us, and we liked it a lot, but again we got the usual 'I'm really good friends with the people there' and we got the 'I'm really good friends with xxx of the Kent hotel who sent you' from the waiter at the restaurant, but when we then mentioned his name to xxx later he didn't seem to know him (and we did get the name right). Maybe we're extra fussy, but our impression was that it was all just a bit false.

Finally, the bar adjoining the hotel is great and it's worth dropping in. Karen there is very friendly and makes great cocktails (she deserves a mention because she didn't keep asking for one :-).

So overall, the hotel was just ok, and South Beach was just ok, but we wouldn't be rushing back to either.

The Kent hotel is on Collins Street, which is one block off Ocean Avenue and the beach. It's a great location - lots of shopping and restaurants and again, just a block walk to the ocean. As I said in the title, very spartan, almost hostel-like. I actually arrived a day early on a busy weekend and they had to put me in a Queen room I think they don't use very often. It was definitely not that clean, but I appreciated them helping me out. I was moved to a King Deluxe the next day. Again, it's just not the level of cleanliness that I like, but it was fine. The room itself was big, but the bathroom small, again it was fine. They have a valet parking lot next door that charged me $20 per night for a 5 night stay - pretty typical. I heard from some other businesses that most of the hotels on Miami Beach are beautiful on the outside and not so great on the inside. I'm going to try a different hotel next time. The restaurant adjacent to the Kent is great - Mayame. I had breakfast there a couple of times, along with a perfectly cooked tuna steak one evening. Mark makes the most amazing mojitos!

As you can tell from the title, we had mixed feelings about this hotel. The location was great and the staff were very good. However the phone in the room had so much dust on it you could play x and o's on it. The rooms are very small and barren, almost like a local YMCA would have. Would stay here again if we had to, but would prefer to try somewhere else first.

We had a king size bed room (208) which had a bath tub with shower in it. The room was larger than I expected. I loved the minimal retro look. The bathroom was very small. In fact the door hit the commode, but that was of no concern for us. The water pressure was fine with plenty of hot water. During the day I heard the people next door talking while I was in the bathroom and could hear some voices while in the room proper. My husband said he heard people above us when they came in late at night but it lasted only a short while. I slept throught it. I had asked for a quiet room so we were on the side of the hotel away from Collins. Our view was the wall of the building next door. This was not really a problem but there was an exterior light on all night-like having a night light outside our window. The air conditioner worked well and with a steady sound. I also asked for a non-smoking room but was told that smoking was allowed in all the king bedrooms. The reservation person said he would put us in a room where the last guest did not smoke. The room smelled fine. I didn't smell any cigarette smoke in the halls. Jose was at the front desk both days we were there. He was very helpful and pleasant. He explained our options for parking our car. We decided to valet the car with the hotel for $20.00 for the night. The valet parks the car in a lot a few blocks away. We were told to allow 15 minutes for retrieval. We didn't need the car until we left. We loved the location of the hotel. We walked to the beach and Ocean Drive. It is in the heart of the Art Deco area.