Ft. Lauderdale overnight hotel and local advice needed for next week!
 

Need to be in Ft. Lauderdale next week on Thursday night, landing about 10 pm. Leaving the next day at 5 pm. Know nothing about the city or the layout.

Can anyone suggest a hotel or an area that easy (i.e. shuttle or inexpensive cab ride) to get to at that hour, but a place where I would not mind waking up and walking around for a few hours before I leave, so with some things near by to do or not far from beach/interesting streets etc. Not enough time to do anything very complex!

Since such a short trip will probably use hotel points (Starwood, Marriott, Hilton etc.) so any of the major brands would be fine. Trip too short to fuss with much, so just would like to land someplace decently nice and convenient for a few hours of exploration on Friday.

Thanks for any advice.

If you stayed somewhere such as the Marriott Courtyard or the Marriott Harbor Beach you would be in a fairly decent position to explore that area. However, the Courtyard would be a bit more central and it is across the street from the beach; the HB is on the beach itself.

Be aware that that the so-called "commercial" section of Fort Lauderdale Beach isn't all that long; a few blocks along with the area next to the Swimming Hall of Fame. At the other end (from the Harbor Beach) would be the Hilton, Ritz, as well as the Atlantic Hotel. The beach itself, of course, is much longer.

There are other chain places, Hyatt, Hilton, Renaissance in the general area; some closer to Port Everglades than to the beach.

"Downtown" along the New River and on Las Olas Blvd itself and near the Museum of Art is the Riverside Hotel.

It turns out that the hotels wanted a lot of points relative to the $$ costs i.e when the Burbank CA Courtyard is going for $139 it is 10,000 points. The $139 Courtyard here cost 25,000 points. So I ended up getting the Hilton Marina for $55 on Priceline! Am very happy with hotel, location and price.

Well, Fort Lauderdale and a beach in December are not quite the same as being in Burbank so I'm sure you can understand the difference. The Hilton Marina will be fine and since you are saving so much money you can actually afford to take a couple of taxi rides. Enjoy your stay.

the Hilton Marina is a nice hotel. and very close to both airport and cruise terminal. taxi to airport should be less than 20 bucks

Certainly true Dukey1, although my experience with hotels and points is that generally the point value corresponds much more closely with the $$ amount -- which together correlate with desirability.

In other words, given that Ft. Lauderdale is a desirable place in December, and that the hotel is 25,000 points, I would expect the $$ price to be $199, or $219. That is usually how it works. I don't usually see such a mismatch.