Stayed here June 28/29 and was pleasantly surprised with this place! This was my first trip to south beach and perusing tons of hotel reviews and pics online can be a pretty daunting task!

The room you get is actually a suite, since you have a full kitchen, small dining area, a lounging area (sofa, ipod deck, large flat screen tv) and a separate bedroom with yet another huge flat screen tv, a bathroom and a walk-in closet (which has a complimentary safe to store your valuables). There is also a hall closet when you first get into the room. So, considering the online pics of hotel rooms I saw in the same price range....this place seemed almost palatial! ; )

The location is great too! The beach is a short walk away and for all you ladies (and gentlemen) who like to shop: the hotel is beautifully situated on top of a Steve Madden store! Plus, you have a True Religion and MAC store across the street and a FYE, Aldo and Nine West as the hotel's neighbors!

The bad part: the lighting is pretty dim, the shower was not draining as quickly as I would've liked and the hotel hallways are quite dark and musty smelling.

Regardless, I would return here on my next visit!

Two more points of interest: the hotel offers a free airport shuttle (you just have to book it with the front desk the night before) and in spite of what another reviewer posted...the drinks and food stocked in the fridge and cupboards are NOT free (if you look at the back of the cupboard there is a price list)

Happy Travels!

I stayed at the Metropole for 2 nights. The good: kitchen w/ refrigerator, microwave, stove, received help with luggage from almost halfway down the block - The bad: dim lighting, toilet didn't work, slippery pavement (when wet), dirty carpet in hallway.

The brightest lights in the room were in the kitchen and in the bathroom. When I arrived at the hotel, I noticed there was a piece of tape on the toilet seat, as if it had not been used for a while. When the toilet didn't flush, I called the front desk to have someone come and fix it. Someone did come to fix the toilet. However, after the guy stuck his hands in the toilet tank, he then quickly used one of my unused wash clothes to wipe his fingers and left...GROSS!! (vast understatement) Needless to say I didn't use that wash cloth.

A portion of the carpet in the hallway looked as though there was some dry, white paint on it.

Unfortunately the room I had overlooked the roof from the bedroom. The view from the living room overlooked Collins Ave. If it rains, make sure you wear shoes with rubber soles because there's a very good chance you could slip and fall while walking on the property. The pavement can be slippery if you don't wear the right shoes. I almost did while I was wearing flip flops (more than once). When I wore shoes with rubber soles, I didn't have a problem with almost slipping and falling. I heard someone complaining about that to a hotel employee.

When I checked out, I was charged a $10/day resort fee, and I was only supposed to be charged $5/day. When I brought this to the attention of the guy behind the front desk, he basically asked me where I got that from. I told him that the hotel's website only charges $5/day and that I also called and spoke to a hotel employee before booking the room and was told that the resort fee was $5/day regardless of whether or not you booked the room on the hotel's website. The front desk guy then told me that sometimes the resort fee comes up $5/day and sometimes the resort fee comes up $10/day...WHAT???!!! (as if they have no control over that - I bet they count on people not knowing that the resort fee is supposed to be $5/day, so they charge $10/day for the resort fee.)

After telling this to the front desk guy, without argument or further discussion, he simply printed out a corrected bill which removed the $10/day resort fee, and I was charged the $5/day resort fee instead.

All in all I would not return to the Metropole. The rooms are dark and somewhat dreary as is the hallway. If you want to get some reading done in the bedroom, that might be a challenge, as the lighting is dim. The kitchen is a nice touch but not enough to make me want to go back.

This is one of the several South Beach Group hotels. It was an excellent price, especially considering the location. Its not on the beach, but its 1.5 blocks away from downtown South Beach. Unless you stay in a shady hotel, you are going to pay at LEAST $100 a night in South Beach. Heck, some of the shady hotels in Miami Beach are $120 ish, because because of their location.

Pros:
$99 for a Saturday night (direct booking from hotelwebsite)
(Note that after taxes $99 + taxes + $10 resort fee = $139 a night NOT including valet)
- Neat new age furniture
- Clean
- Numerous towels
- Spacious
- Great location
- Muffins in bag on your door in the morning
- Paper at your door
- Great kitchen (microwave, oven, stove, fridge)
- It was probably apartments that was converted to a hotel

Cons:
$10 resort fee (not mentioned till AFTER you check out)
$30 Valet Fee
- The hotel does not have its own parking garage
- Man at desk was terrible service. I had just checked out and he wouldn't let me use the bathroom while the Metropole valet took 30 minutes to get my car
- Not the greatest window view
- There is no conference room. Conference room is actually your very large living room space.

stayed here end of may til june 2, 2008
great luxury place in the heart of south beach. i loved staying here. i don;t know why there were any negative reviews for this hotel. the rooms are spectacular. you can't beat a flat screen in every room. if you are looking for room service then this is not the hotel for you. if you are like me and have been to south beach plenty of times and know your way around, then this is the place to be. the courtyard is absolutely gorgeous. if they were to add a jacuzzi it would be top 3 hotel in south beach.