SLS Hotel South Beach

This was my second stay at this hotel and a real disappointment. My first stay a few years ago was very good, but unfortunately, I think that the hotel is suffering from poor management and a careless attitude towards guests. We had booked two rooms at a STEP rate which includes upgrades subject to availability, and were ALL Platinum guests which also gives upgrades subject to availability. When we arrived, no upgrade provided - more specifically, we were told that the hotel does not provide complimentary upgrades (despite selling a rate that explicitly lists them as a perk!) but that there were rooms available in all categories if we cared to pay. No thanks, we already had in that the STEP rate is the equivalent of full fare that one pays precisely to get certain benefits. Let's start with the positives. - The hotel is very well located in South Beach by the sea and about 4 blocks the Art Deco district. - The hotel also has a nice and reasonably long swimming pool and a small private beach area with loungers and towels (but no free water!) - Both the Colombian restaurant and the Japanese restaurant are good (though expensive) - Cocktails are also very good though expensive too Now the negatives. - The hotel is really about style over substance. The rooms have "cool" decor, but they are actually fairly small, show their age with a lot of wear and tear, and despite the decorative efforts are actually fairly basic in many ways. For instance, the rooms have open racks rather than cupboards, a bit like what you would get in Motel One hotels, the shower rooms are very small and shower only (double head but frankly, that makes little difference) - The resort fee is completely ludicrous. I think it was $52 + tax. For that, you don't even get water. The only substantive benefits are a coffee machine in the room (4 pods per day) and access to the private beach but not much else. - The hotel cheekily automatically add 20% service on all bills. You are not told about it so if you don't pay attention, you'll just add a tip and end up paying 40% service or whatever! - Inclusive breakfast is a silly system where you can only choose among 4 or 5 options plus coffee and juice. No possibility to choose anything else even with a supplement, and not possible to choose dishes of equal value either. Any time you go "off piste" you'll just be charged the whole amount as though you had no breakfast inclusion at all. - Staff invariably seem to believe in a "couldn't care less attitude". - There is zero loyalty recognition apart from the standard ALL drink vouchers (which are actually very nice) - Lots of smoking in the restaurant and bar terrace including at breakfast. Yikes. The worst part though was that the hotel was just endless noise, noise all the time and noise everywhere: Doors are thin and there are drunk guests speaking loud in the early hours of the morning after an evening out. The hotel next door is a massive building site and it is noisy drilling and lift moving, the music is loud, there was drilling on the hotel terrace during breakfast. When after 20 minutes of nonstop drilling, we asked the waiter if it was likely to last long we were told: "not sure" with no effort to find out. We just gave up and left. But then there was also drilling in both our corridors including in the early morning. Finally, we still haven't received our ALL points for the (eligible) stay. All in all, despite some clear qualities and excellent potential, this hotel proved a real disappointment. The wear and tear or hardware limitations are one thing, but the very poor standards of service and constant noise are another and a lot more difficult to just ignore for a hotel of that standing. Read less