My review, reposted here for posterity:

The Hotel? THE place NOT to stay
In a word, TERRIBLE!
The pool, which just got a "Best of" award from the Travel Channel...well, in short, it's HORRIBLE. It's small, but the size isn't the problem. It's just plain DIRTY up there. The floor hasn't been mopped - so it looks like 400 kindergartners have been riding their big wheels up there. And the smell - OH MY GOD - the exhaust from the nearby grill shoots directly onto the pool deck - so you're constantly breathing blue grill smoke. When you're done 'enjoying' this pool, you smell like a plate of seasoned garlic fries. Disgusting.

The room was small. Again, I don't care about the size of the room, but it was NOISY. We could hear, word for word, the conversations of our neighbors. And the sink was very "chich" and small, but one use of the thing creates so much oversplash - it looks like a typhoon has hit your bathroom after only one use. And the "walk in shower" - please! I wish hotels would stop trying to make their showers "walk in" when they really shouldn't be. Water was all over the place after one short shower.

The hallways were - well - dirty too! It looked like a herd of goats had paraded through.

The only good thing about the place is the lobby. Very nicely designed. But the rooms and the pool are horrible. Stay somewhere else while in South Beach.

-Darvy, the travel gal

I went to South Beach in May, and I also carefully researched where to stay. I stayed at the Hotel Astor, which was a very nice place, but my overall feeling was that it would be better to be down by the beach at a full service resort. There is a row of these at the north end of town. There are also tons of little boutique hotels all over - some better than others from what I understand. Of the resorts, the Delano was my favorite. The Doubletree Surfrider also seemed nice and a little less expensive. Then you also have the Sagamore and National, which I heard lots of mixed things about, and the Raleigh, which was very cool but seemed to need a face lift. Of the boutiques, the Tides is overpriced, at over $500.00 per night, but it is hip. I wouldn't recommend the Kent or the Marlin - too edgy. The Cardozo is a great budget choice - only about $150.00 per night, very clean and stylish - right on the beach, but no pool or resort amenities. The Hotel is in a row with a bunch of other similar places, like the Pelican, etc. which seemed ok, but are right on the main drag. Not sure how romantic that would be. If I were going back with him, I'd take my husband to the Delano (he wasn't with me on this trip.) If you can swing it, I think you'd be happy there.

For Betsyp-
We are arriving on November 13th so we wont be seeing each other but I would love to hear from you on your experience at The Hotel.