Not the cheapest hotel for the area and the location is great Just one block from the beach. The lobby is nice, cool little bar and comfortable seating, etc. The pictures you see of the modern contemporary furniture and accessories must have been taken 10 years ago... The stuff is worn out, but its still ok.
Now, get on the elevator and go to the room - walk down the hall and there are gross stains on the carpet, looks like blood. Time to clean carpets at least.
The room, the carpets were so stained, they were sticky! very gross and I was glad I had flip flops. Also, the room has an individual AC unit that felt more like just a fan. It was warm and very humid in the room. The halls were fine, so I had to keep the door open just to keep it bearable in the room. The wifi did not work. I connected but it kept disconnecting me. They reset it twice and still no go. I had to use my phones wifi for 4 days.
Nice TV, but no cable, hotel network or anything. Just 10 local channels or so.
I see bad comments about the staff. The staff there treated me fine. They were very helpful.
Valet - well kinda! Left the car for the valet and 3 hours later it was still up front. I believe they just hire someone to go park the car somewhere down the street... wasn't terrible but had to call 15 minutes ahead to get the car. Glad I didn't have an emergency!
Anyway, not too impressed. I'd say it was a couple steps up from camping. :)

The room smelled like old mold and smoke, most of the outlets did not work, the bathroom sink was falling off the wall and was being held by some caulking stuff, the beds were hard, the painted square on the wall with the test tubes and flower inserts were tacky, and the outlandish resort fee for getting really nothing in return was ridiculous. To top it all off, the desk staff was rude. I will NOT BE staying here ever again. Permanently boycotting...

just returning from Miami Beach - I accidentally booked the wrong days for Carlton. The hotel at that time was overbooked, so they put me up in another property. Well, for the 3.5 days I was there (im used to staying in the 5 star places) room was very clean BUT the Customer Service was over the moon....with all the issues I was encountering (by my own doing) the owner of all the properties was around and I was introduced to him (Mike) by one of the bartenders. I told him my problem and he took the situation into his own hands.....booked me at Lords - not only did Mike personally handle this, the pregnant bartender drove me there in her own car and Mike put my luggage in her car!!! Who does that?????
At Lords - very deco and the staff there was just as friendly and accommodating. One of the staff members gave me a hug as I was getting in my car to go to airport - again, who does that! They have an outdoor rest. I could not get over the prices and the quality of the food!

All in all, I would HIGHLY recommend a visit to either the Carlton or Lords on South Beach !! Tell them Christine sent you!!

I don't normally feel compelled to review hotels that I stay in, but this was so awful, I just had to warn others. The AC in our room wasn't working from the time we got there, so I went down to the front desk to have them address the problem (since the phone in the room wasn't working either!), and the woman came up to look at it, but essentially did nothing. She said the hotel manager couldn't be reached and there was nothing she could do. Then, I noticed the mini-fridge wasn't working either, so I went back downstairs. The woman at the desk was UNBELIEVABLY RUDE so I gave her a piece of my mind and made it my mission to talk to the owner of the hotel. Turns out she wasn't unavailable after all, although I had to call the Carlton's sister hotel Clifton Hotel to get her number since obviously the rude lady probably didn't want to lose her job. After I laid out my complaints, the owner and I worked out an agreement and she allowed us to move to Hotel Clifton which was much better! But please, AVOID Hotel Carlton!!! AWFUL!!!