The Elser Hotel Miami

Let’s start with the good. The room itself was nice and roomy and pretty clean for the most part. Although they do not give you enough towels and washcloths for all of your guests (which is why we travel with our own) neither do they offer linen for the sofa beds again because we are well traveled. I bring my own bedding with me so that I could overlook. Now on to the bad. I am a firm believer in reading reviews before I stay at a hotel and I am glad I did. Do not stay at this hotel because they will charge you for things that you did not use. They have a refrigerator that it’s supposed to be used by the guest, but it is full of their stuff that they charge you for which leaves little room for anything that you may bring. They also use most of the counter space for their “basic” snacks which is nothing we eat anyway. So because we were made aware of the “mini bar” when the reservations were made, we bought our own bottles of Waters, Powerade as well as Soft drinks and Beer. We had only one shelf in the refrigerator available to put our stuff. They have these reusable aluminum water bottles that are $7 each, which is insane for anyone to have to pay for water and I could care less about the bottle. This is the first hotel I have ever stayed in that does not even offer their guests water. I am glad I read the reviews about taking pictures of the “mini bar” upon arrival and also when you leave to checkout. Which the pictures show we never use anything that they had FOR SALE. We checked out and originally the lady at the front desk didn’t even want to give me a printed receipt which was a clear red flag. A few hours later because of the reviews. I checked my account and sure enough we were charged an additional charge. We called the hotel and was told it was for items used on the “mini bar” but no one could tell us what we supposedly had used, it just said “mini bar”. We were told that a manager would call us back in 10 minutes, which never happened. We called back 30 minutes later and this time we we were told that they have a “mini bar” team, which of course at that time they were not available. I have never heard of a “mini bar” team, again another red flag. No one at the front desk was able to help because of course the “minibar team” was gone for the day. We will try and call management tomorrow and come back with a update. But just an FYI do not stay at this hotel and use their refrigerator because there’s not enough room for your stuff because it is full of their overpriced items. Also bring your own towels and linen if you are planning to use the sofa beds. For this to be our first time, it was very disappointing. We will never patronize this hotel again and we are frequent travelers to the Miami area. Photos below are pictures of the “mini bar”. The first 4 photos are upon arrival and the last 3 are when we went to check out. Please tell me what we used. It all looks accounted for to me. Do not recommend. Rooms: They were nice for the most part.

Our recent stay was truly disappointing due to a series of unacceptable events. At midnight, hotel maintenance entered our room while I was in the shower. They made no attempt to step back upon seeing me, instead choosing to inspect the room despite my obvious discomfort. This invasion of privacy was deeply unsettling. When we reported this to the front desk at check-out, the response was minimal—no apology, no effort to acknowledge the severity of the situation, just a casual “you’re right.” Additionally, the valet service was abysmal. It took a full hour to retrieve our car, despite the fact it was parked in an open lot across the street. When we asked if we could get the key to retrieve it ourselves, they refused, citing a narrow garage as the issue, which made no sense given the open lot. Overall, this experience was unprofessional, and the lack of responsiveness from the staff only added to our frustration. We expected a higher level of respect, privacy, and service and were left disappointed at every turn. We would not recommend staying here unless significant changes are made to staff training and guest relations.

This hotel is stunning, but it does have some problems. The facilities (the room, the pool, the gym) are all amazing – you even get a fridge and a washer/ dryer in your room. But our stay was far from seamless: we had to ask for basic items like hangers, additional sheets, to have the sofa bed made up for us (as per our booking), laundry detergent multiple times and it took genuinely hours to come and often never did. The coffee machine didn’t work, and the door to our room was broken which made it hard to shut. They also tried to charge $100 for early checkin but waived it when we said we’d be happy to wait, which given the amount we were already paying felt eye-watering. The room was only cleaned once during our five-day stay, when we asked for it to be, and the poolside cocktails were insanely priced too. That said, we loved the gym class with Shay (she’s so great!) and the staff were really lovely, especially Nicholas who helped us with our bags, and Rohan who sent up a birthday card and bottle of wine. All in all, not quite worth the price you pay in my opinion, but an okay base for a stay in downtown Miami.