Miami, Fountainbleau Hotel
 

My husband has a meeting in Miami next month at this hotel. Does anyone have information about it?

When it was built in the 1950's it was THE PLACE TO BE! It became a bit rundown and then in the 1980's when it looked like Miami was going to allow casino gambling, the Hilton bought it with images of roulette dollars spinning in their heads. That referendum never passed and Hilton never followed through with their plans to make it a top resort. They do bits and pieces from time to time, but overall it is just a big, rather poorly run, convention and tour group hotel.<BR>My favorite story about the place is when staying there for three days several years ago for a convention, we checked into the room to see a room service tray of half eaten food sitting on the floor in the hall by the room next to us. When we checked out three days later that same tray was still sitting there.<BR><BR>On the positive side though, it is right on the beach and it is a short hop to all the "glamour" and excitement of South Beach. It's not a "dump", just don't expect a real 5 star resort hotel.

Stayed there 2 years ago. Totally agree with Patrick. It isn't the nicest of the Hilton chain. When we checked into our room we found 2 people inside it already. Hotel had no idea how that happened so they moved us to another room. They had some sort of modeling function going on with a lot of teens and they made a lot of noise that evening. When we politely called down to the desk to have them take care of it, they told us they'd get right on it. About an hour later I called again. They had no record of my first one. IMO, this place is a dump although the only good thing about it is the pool. Stay somewhere else. Plenty of nicer places for less money.

Patrick:<BR>As a longtime reader of this board, I have always remembered your story about the room service tray at the Fontainebleau. Just a simple little tidbit which speaks volumes about the service and dedication to excellence (or lack thereof) at a hotel, and not at all unexpected in a large convention hotel.<BR>Well, I was attending a meeting at the Ritz Huntington in Pasadena recently, which is a very impressive looking property with gorgeous grounds and a truly elegant charm about it. Several Bentley/Rolls Royce/Ferrari types parked out front.<BR>Well we stayed in a large 1 BR suite, checked in very late on a Thursday, about 11 PM. Our room was severely lacking, with a large hole in the marble wall in the shower (!), lots of mildew in the grout, stains in the carpet anbd very worn furniture.....but interestingly a apir of room service trays with several food items was present next door to us at check-in.<BR>We checked out on Sunday and sure enough, same trays still sitting there. In fact, on Saturday I moved them to the hall entrance where they'd be more conspicuous (so I thought), but Sunday they were still there.<BR>I mentioned your story to my wife and we kidded how the Ritz and Hilton FB, while very different in appearance, weren't all too different beneath the surface. Hopefully our experience was an anomaly.<BR>

Hey, Jack, maybe they were the same trays. Perhaps Hilton decided to recycle them and sent them off to California, do you think?

A sort of gag/white elephant passed around within the hotel industry, is that it?<BR>Next month the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas will receive said trays (with 9 year old club sandwich crusts and fries) in a plain brown wrapped gift box via UPS express. They'll be expected to park them on the premises for a minimum of 72 hours and deflect the wrath of guests as deftly as possible. Then it's on to the next victim/hotel.

MC: Make sure you ask for a recently renovated room, those that have not been renovated can be grundgy, especially the bathrooms. The pool area is something to see, and I mean that in a good way. The lobby and shop arcade are real 50's and poke your head into the Club Tropigala during a show, it's a real hoot.

This hotel had the worst service of any hotel I have ever stayed in. We had the "pleasure" of having workmen right outside our window (working on the roof). We opened our curtains to find them sitting on our window ledge taking a break. When we called down to the front desk they couldn't understand why we wanted a new room. We had to fight to get moved. They kept putting us off.<BR>If you can find somewhere else to stay, change your reservations.

Well it sounds like the Fontainebleau is in rough shape. Question though, how is that new waterpark? Might it still be worth it to stay there with kids just for the pool area? I haven't heard from anyone who's been there since that was renovated.

When I visited Miami beach on business in the early 90's I stayed at the Eden Roc, next door to the Fountainbleu. It was much cheaper and I just walked over to the FB to use their pool area (which was fantastic back then and had a great Tiki bar - not sure what it's like today). Speaking of the lobby shops in the downstairs concourse... after walking by the perfume counter several times during the day and exchanging eye contact and pleasant smiles with the extremely attractive woman working there, it was only reasonable that I respond when she called me over to the counter (the hallway was absent of any other customer traffic at that moment). I stepped up to the counter whereupon she pulled open her crocheted sweater to show me one totally exposed breast... then covered it again and said "Tell me...do you see anything you like?". My affirmative response prompted a pitch to buy a $50 bottle of perfume. I figured that if she was working that...uhhh... hard to get a sale, I could afford $20 and got a nicer little bottle giftwrapped for my girlfriend. Transaction completed, she immediately asked where I was staying and suggested that she close the shop and "meet for a drink" in a few minutes. Hmmmm... I thought... I'm not a bad looking guy but she's about a 10 on a scale of 11... what's going on here? Just then I looked up and noticed a sign that said "Perfume delivieries available 24 hours a day". I'll remember that next time I need a bottle of Chanel in the hotel room at 3 AM. I mkae no representation as to what business was really being operated from the perfume counter and it's probably different now but it was a great travel story to bring home (to those few who may wonder... NO I did not take her up on the "offer"!).

Well Owen, your story is definitely more memorable than Patrick's!<BR>Unbelievable....quite the little enterpriser there at the desk.<BR>Do you recall, was her name Bonnie Lee Bakley or Jessica Hahn?

Maybe you can find my Saphire sake ring that I lost on thier beach 10 yrs ago,

Owen, after reading all the posts about this hotel I was going to look elsewhere but since reading yours I am going to book immediately. LOL. Well your right 3 years ago I stayed at the Eden Roc also, one night I went over to the bar at the FB and was chatting with a very nice looking latina. She wasn't selling perfume but she did proposition me, I enjoyed the conversation but there was no sale. Last year when I went back though I couldn't find her or anyone in her business, maybe due to maeket conditions or management put a stop to it.

What a well-travelled tray! We saw the same one @ the Marriott in Aruba @ Christmas! It was outside the room next door for 3 days despite many calls to room service to remove it!!

I wish I had read the posts on this site earlier. We had a wedding to go to in Feb and my husband was absolutely set on staying at the Fountainbleau. What a ripoff. We have stayed so many places that are much nicer and cheaper. The only good thing I can say was that the brunch we had on Sunday was fabulous

We stayed at the Fountainbleu right before last Christmas. The lobby was renovating that time. Besides that, we had a good time. Our 7-year-old and 2-year-old enjoyed the waterpark very much. The beach was nice too.