We are looking for a value priced gem of a hotel in the South Beach area for two nights following a cruise out of Miami. Would like a small art deco type with clean well maintained rooms - preferable on the beach and/or with a pool. Priced under $200 a night.

Any ideas?

I was surprised when I booked a hotel room on the Hilton website. The "hotel" was listed as one of their vacation sites, but it was actually three renovated art deco hotels side-by-side. A very discreet Hilton logo on the door was the only indication - in fact, without the address I would not have found it. Loved my room overlooking the ocean.

sj, WHEN?

South Beach hotels fluctuate in price by sometimes more than 100% depending on time of year.

starrsville, where? I've looked and looked on the Hilton website and have been unable to located anything in South Beach that you are describing. Are you sure it was South Beach? Do you have a link?

The reason I ask is that I know the area and the hotels pretty well and do not know of any hotels that "overlook" the ocean. The hotels in South Beach are too far away from the ocean.

Starrsville/GoTravel, could you be talking about the Hilton Vacations Club on Ocean Drive? It's across the street from the beach but you can see the ocean really well from some of the rooms. We have stayed there before and like it a lot. Not sure about the season price, but we got a pretty reasonable deal when we stayed there in May.

Okay, now I know exactly what hotels you are talking about. If you want to see the ocean (overlook can be misleading) get accommodations on the third floor and hopefully above the treeline. Even though there is nothing but land between the hotel and the ocean, it is a long way off and hard to see.

I agree--overlook means "on the beach" to me! If I remember correctly we stayed in the 4th floor (?) and had a nice view. I guess this is the hotel Starrsville was referring to. I think it goes by another name too, but the name escapes me.

I just got back from South Beach on Tuesday and we stayed at the Whitelaw on Collins. It was in the perfect location. Next door to Banana Republic and Armani Exchange, middle of shopping heaven, about 8 blocks from Lincoln Road, one block from News Cafe and the beach. Everything is within walking distance. The parking is $20 per day for valet but there are a couple public lots nearby. The hotel is part of the boutique hotels group and we got a rate of $89 per night. The rooms are very small but nicely decorated in all white. The lobby is all white as well and they offer free drinks daily from 7-8pm. I love the location but you may find that it's often understaffed since there was only one person at the front desk throughout our stay.

We stayed at the Richmond last year. Smallish bedrooms but perfect, in art decor style. Out the back is a good size pool with a (very)hot water spa next to it. Through the garden gate and you are on the beach

I have stayed at the Breakwater. Right on the strip, so kinda noisy, but has a neat restaurant/bar attached. You can check rates for when you are going and you MAY find the Tides at around $200, it is unreal. Gorgeous!!

Lorrie, I don't think the Tides has ever been $200. The cheapest I've seen the Tides was $400 in August.

The Royal Palm Crowne Plaza is an art deco hotel on the beach, but it's not small. 2 pools Although we won rooms for this hotel via Priceline I believe you can get rooms around $189 closer to check in.

THanks - I lost this thread and reposted the question. Sorry.

We need a place for 3/19-3/21. These sound like some great ideas. We may also try priceline today. Not sure if there will be small hotels releasing inventory to them (or however that is done). We are going to try for 4 star and above and low ball the price.. Wish us luck!

Glad you got it figured out. Do let us know how it turns out with the hotel!

I don't think you'll have luck low balling for a weekend during the height of the tourist season. We also won the Clinton Hotel using Priceline, it's a block from the beach. Biddingfortravel.com has a list of winning hotels and bids. South beach is hard to get during the spring, you may have better luck on the Miami beach zone. Otherwise you can bid all the way up to 200 for Sobe, you may have success. Good luck.

The Clinton hotel is showing availibility through Hotwire... that may be a possibility to come up, and possibly the Royal Palm. Whatever Hotwire has, Priceline will have for less. Be sure to understand the free rebidding process, it's the most important thing to know when using Priceline.

We got the Clinton Hotel the week after Christmas for $165 by calling them the week before Christmas. They were quoting $200 to people who were walking in the door while we were there and for all I know we might have gotten a bad rate or good rate, have no idea. But that might be a good gauge for anyone who's looking to stay there. I liked the Clinton's rooms and their pool area. I read that some notable French designers did the work there and it has a decidedly European look and European bathroom, very nice. The lobby was weird with this strange structure in the middle that looked like a mistake but lots of happy people staying there and good up-beat staff. Funky smell in the hallways. Housekeeping could have been better (one day I don't think they vacuumed). No washclothes or bathmats so we used extra towels. Great location (the pizza place a few doors down was yummy). All in all recommendable.