Both of you had good advice about where I should stay on Miami Beach during my husband's conference at The Fountainebleau. I have checked the Eden Roc and it's booked. I need another choice. It's a conference, not a vacation, so we don't want to pay top dollar but we are willing to pay as much as we'd have paid for FB ($270 a night). Less if possible. We need a nice hotel, better than average. The FB gets mixed reviews and we really want to keep out of the conference as much as possible except for educational sessions. The FB also gets mixed reviews--a little worried about staying there.

I found a couple of other possibilities on TripAdvisor and posted them on another thread for advice. That thread got a little off-base since I included one hotel on South Beach (following your advice, trying to keep the option open for renting a car).

A car rental is $200. GoTravel, you mentioned the parking hassle and fees if we rent a car. I am now thinking that staying near the FB is the best option. The ideal situation would be that we could walk over to the conference from where we are staying.

I've found these possibilities in Miami Beach:
Courtyard Oceanfront
Riu Miami Beach
New Circa 39 Hotel

Do you know about any of these hotels? Or do you have a better recommendation for a nice hotel for the same price as the FB (or maybe even less)?

Should we rent the car or not?

Your advice is much appreciated. I apologize for the third thread, but I thought my 2nd thread was more specific than the first, and it still did not generate anything helpful.

There have been lots of threads lately on South Beach hotels; I think mine is getting lost in the shuffle!

Please help!

kelly, I'm not sure if you understood my point.

If you stay in Mid Beach, were the FB and ER are located, you MUST have a car. You cannot walk anywhere including across the street.

On top of the car rental fee, plan on $20-$40 per day for parking.

As far as hotels, I've given you my recommendations for the area.

The Wyndham, The Fountainbleu, and The Eden Roc are all about the same and right next to each other.

The Ramada and Four Points are dumps.

The Mid Beach area or Millionaire's Row as it is referred to is mostly condos not hotels. It is a mosty residental area.

Even if you could find a decent hotel a couple of blocks away, you couldn't pay me good money to walk to The Fountainbleu because traffic is so heavy in that area of Collins Avenue. It would be like walking next to a busy highway.

Just north of the Fountainbleu, Collins Avenue merges with AIA so trying to find a hotel north is completely impractical.

Either stay on site at The Fountainbleu and rent a car or stay in South Beach, don't rent a car, and have your husband take a cab or bus to the Fountainbleu every day.

My honest opinion, and I spend a lot of time in Miami, is to stay in South Beach. Traffic in Miami sucks and I'd rather spend 10 hours in the dentists chair than drive in it.

Thank you; very helpful. I understood your point about the traffic in Mid-beach. However, the conference is hosting a run/walk event just outside the hotel during the conference, so I was thinking that maybe the traffic was bad, but it was walkable. Sounds like they will have a hard time running and walking there (or will likely give everyone else headaches by making the traffic even more congested as they run and walk through the cars! Haha!) No biggie--I don't want my husband to fight a hassle. I guess he needs to decide exactly how much time he plans to spend at the conference each day to see if it's worth the drive back and forth or if we need to just suck it up and stay in the FB. I checked the Wyndham and it's booked too (ugh). Also, I might look into renting a condo...

Thanks for your help.

Unless they stop traffic on Collins Avenue, and I find that highly unlikely, the run/walk will be held on the beach.

If you stay in South Beach, while your husband is at the FB, you can shop, dine, go to the beach or pool. If you stay in Mid Beach, you are stuck at your hotel unless you want to drive around.

One last thing, there is a sidewalk in front of the hotels and sort of a short frontage road but it doesn't help.

Kelly, I am mistaken. The Fountainbleu's location is beyond the point where Collins Avenue and A1A/Indian somethingorother intersect.

Being such a busy four lane road, they will definitely not stop traffic for a run/walk.

Good info. So...I am thinking we should find a place on South Beach and I can drive him into the conference so that he does not have to park...aha! Now there's an option...

We will put our heads together with this info and figure out a plan. This sheds light on things--thank you.