My initial reaction to this hotel was positive. Yes, it is a little quirky that you enter through the restaurant, but the location is great (close to Delano, Shore Club, etc) and on a quiet street. While the entrance to the hotel area is a little dark and a tad grungy (a trend that continues throughout), the room itself is quite large. I liked that it one large flat screen TV (though no HD programming) and other smaller TV in the bedroom. The living area also included a fairly functions mini kitchen where we were able to keep our drinks cold.

What you will quickly notice upon inspecting the rooms (and property throughout) is that this hotel is not just dated but tired - - clearly in need of TLC. The grout in the bathrooms are moldy, the windows are covered in paint spatter, the TP holder was hanging on for dear life and the list goes on.

A few things that really moved this hotel form "Questionable" to "Avoid" were:

- Our hotel room was skipped by room service. Upon check-out, the Ast. Manager suggested that maybe we had told them not to clear or had put the DND signup. Total BS.
- The pillow was over stuffed and hard, too much so for me to sleep on and I actually just slept with my head on the mattress. My request for a replacement was never addressed, not even a phone call to let me know there were no other options.
- Service: While one Ast. GM really did try to help, was apologetic and did try to compensate us for our problems, our experience with the rest of the statf was anything but helpful / friendly.
- When checking out, another couple came down to complain of a "massive leak" (it was a rainstorm). The Ast. GM immediately offered to discount one of their nights, as they had done with us. It became clear that this hotel's M.O. is to provide a discount when things go wrong (which I can assume is frequent) as opposed to just dealing with the root problems.

Overall: This hotel could be a fantastic destination hotel with some TLC and staff training/replacements. But, under the current circumstances, I suggest avoiding this one.

We got a suit for just over 120/night, which was good, the room was clean and lots of space. It was handy to have a small kitchen and sitting area. The shower was clean and everything worked. It was somewhat strange the set up of the hotel, all the doors to the hall way are glass so it doesn't feel as private as I would have liked and too many people staying there left their blinds open yuck. The resturant looked nice although we didn't eat there. The roof top pool is not really welcoming as they offer pool side dinning, so didn't really want to jump into the pool while a table of 8 was enjoying their meal. The location was nice and although there is a lot of construction going on around the hotel it was quite and we felt safe. I would stay and recommand to friends, but warn them.

We went down to SOBE for a girls trip, thinking that we'd get a bargain hotel for the low price. We arrived to find a swanky boutique hotel that offered us a spacious clean suite. Only a block away from the beach and two blocks from shopping, what a perfect location.

I went down to get breakfast, and wanted to bring some back up to the room. Without having to ask, I was offered a tray and the clerk jumped up to get the elevator for me. The breakfast was what I'd expect for continental. Coffee, juice, pastries, fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, etc. All of it was very fresh.

On our second night, we called down to get a taxi and not only were we taken care of on that front, we were given tips on where to go off the beach area. Ivan even made sure (two days in advance) that we'd have a ride to the airport when we left.

When the time came to head home, our ride was there right on schedule, didn't even have to call.

Definitely felt like we got the VIP treatment without the VIP price. I will definitely be going back!

Juan Gomez & the rest of the staff were very helpful, the location is great, the food was excellent & the suites are perfect to rest, relax, do work! I will stay there as long as they have vacancies!