I recently stayed in the W South Beach for a work conference and was very disappointed with facilities. Wifi signal which you have to pay for was vey weak, there is no cell phone coverage in the rooms and my handset phone in the room did not work. The gym is poor and the spa was also disappointing. Art in the lobby impressive much more so than the clientel that frequents it at night!

To start, the hotel is beautiful. Very well appointed, great design, great feel. Unfortunately, that is about the extent of what went well at the hotel during my visit. The service, from check-in, thoughout my stay, and departure was bar none the worst I have encountered. I was shocked. Even worse, such service is delivered under the constant reminder of “Whatever, Whenever” (the hotel motto). I guess I incorrectly assumed that was from the guests point of view…not the insolent staff.

- Check-in. I arrived early (12-12:30 range), and I recognize stated check-in is not until 4pm. However, front desk staff did a horrible job of expectation management. “You’re gold, so we’ll give you priority…it won’t be much longer”. We got strung along *all* afternoon. I had to check with the front desk numerous times. I finally (~3:30pm) talked to a concierge who was helpful and relayed that our room had been ready, but they were waiting on it to be signed off on by a manager. “They are going up stairs right now and you’ll have your room in the next 5 minutes.” 30 minutes later (now after the 4pm guaranteed check-in time), I go back to the front desk. Once again more empty apologies, but the room isn’t ready. Just have a seat and we’ll call you. I pushed to the point to speak to Christopher (Front Desk Manager). He said he’d personally take care of it. Which he did. I was in my room around 4:30 pm. He said he would credit my account with 5000 starpoints for the inconvenience, which to date has not arrived. Yes, I’m still waiting.

- Also, I was not alone in this experience. I saw several other people get the same run around.

- Housekeeping. I left my room around noon on Monday (1/30) for the day and did not return until 5pm range. The room was *never* cleaned. However the staff was “nice” enough to come into the room (which I could tell because the room service tray was gone) and then leave my door unlocked (not fully closed) without doing another thing. Really? Next time, if they don’t plan on cleaning the room, do me a favor and don’t just come by to unlock my door for the rest of the hotel.

- Pool. (although this extends beyond the pool). Clearly the W hotel is a condo building first, and the hotel guests are an afterthought. That was made clear many times over. However the pool was the most striking. For a hotel of that size, there really is not that much pool seating, and given the trees, even fewer that have any sun exposure. It’s shocking the number of chairs than remained reserved and empty (all day long) for the “hotel owners”. Really? That much of the seating is left untouched the majority of the time, while you stick your guests in random (shady) corners?

- Living Room Bar. Minor in comparison, but again another bad experience. I had some drinks and food on Tuesday afternoon. The “food” (popcorn!) took almost 30 minutes. I had to interrupt the bartenders form their chit chat twice to make anything happen.

- Check out. Asked for a late check out (as a gold member). Was told no chance, as the hotel was full and they need to have the rooms turned for the next guests to check in. However I was told the exact opposite when I checked in. I couldn’t check-in because so many guests had late check out. Which is it??? Apparently neither for me.

Overall a very bad experience. You even failed on the one concession made by the Front Desk Manager to award some starwood points in return for our inconvenience.

The W South Beach has a ways to go to be of the caliber of what I have experienced at other W Hotels.

I went here with a group of about 12 women with 3 suites for a bachelorette party weekend. It was the perfect place for us to stay. First of all, the rooms were amazing and had enough room for all of us to sleep comfortably and the two bathrooms in a suite was a very nice touch. We went out to dinner at Mr. Chow which was so elegant and delicious and partied every night at the Wall nightclub inside the hotel. My only advice is to try to get a room on an upper floor or you will be in for some noisy nights--well especially if you pass out without closing your sliding glass door first. The pool was really nice but getting chairs all together was a big struggle, but i guess we were a big group. HIghly recommend, i loved my stay there and everyone who worked there was so nice and accomodating to our group. They even called us because the bachelorette forgot her scrap book in the room. :)

This hotel is simply amazing in every way.Everything was first class:service,rooms,pool and location.Design of this hotel give WOW factor,all areas is so beautifull.Great experience :-)))