Hilton Miami Hotel in Sunny Isles Beach

Review: Miami Hotel Aventura

The hotel itself is very nice — modern, clean, and with large, comfortable rooms. The staff we interacted with were friendly and polite. Unfortunately, our stay was marked by a series of issues that made the experience frustrating, especially considering my Diamond status.

On the day of check-in, I received an email while I was in flight stating that my credit card had been declined and that I needed to update it by 4:00 PM to keep my reservation. This caused immediate panic, as we were already traveling and had limited ability to resolve the issue mid-flight. We spent part of the flight trying to figure out what went wrong and worrying that our reservation would be canceled before we even landed. When we arrived at the hotel, the front desk confirmed my card was fine and could not explain why the email was sent in the first place.

When we checked in around 5:30 PM, we were informed that no King Deluxe rooms were available and that we would need to downgrade to a regular King in order to check in. We were on a tight schedule, so we had no choice but to accept the downgrade.

The next day, after spending about four hours in the sun at the Orange Bowl, we were unable to access our room due to a dead door lock battery. It took approximately 45 minutes to get back into the room, during which time we had to go down to the lobby just to use the restroom.

The following day, we requested room service and were left with pool towels instead of bathroom towels. We called the front desk and were told towels would be sent up, but they never arrived.

While the hotel itself is attractive and the staff was consistently friendly, it truly felt like one thing after another. I’ve been a Diamond member for six years, and I expect a smoother, more reliable experience at this level.

Unfortunately the room had an odd smell upon entry. A humidity, dirty laundry scent which was not welcoming at all.