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The Viceroy offers Luxury, location and lots of amenities. The perfect spot for a weekend getaway!

After a long tumultuous work week I opted to unwind in Miami and attend an annual festival. The Viceroy was one of my several options in the downtown Miami area so I decided to book my stay there.

There are a lot of things about this hotel that makes it great, however there were a few minor issues that could have made my stay even more pleasant. With that said, this place is truly exquisite and I would certainly recommend it and go out of my way to return.

First off, let me state that the hotel staff were really professional, cordial, and welcoming. The general manager went out of his way to upgrade my room for my stay once I told him the line of work I was in. I wasn’t expecting that but it sure was refreshing.

Pros
There are so many I can’t even mention them all but the staff  and hotel decor are definitely at the top of my list:

Staff: absolutely wonderful – they are friendly, courteous, and are very helpful.

Amenities: The Bose sound dock is a nice touch! The Illy coffee machine is wonderful, and I’m not much of a coffee drinker. What a great offering! The roof-top pool, simply AMAZING! The spa is five star luxury and should not be missed. The roof-top gym is state of the art with all new equipment. It was great working out while enjoying the water view and  downtown Miami scenery.

Value: I must say for the price I paid for this hotel, I’d say it was a pretty good deal. It was in the same price range(if not lower) than some of the other hotels in the area like the Epic, Mandarin, JW Marriott, Four Seasons, Intercontinental, etc…

Cleanliness: the room, hotel, pool, etc. were all very clean and well presented.

The Room:  nicely appointed with its own edginess and elegance. And while I got an upgrade, I was able to peep in a few other rooms to check out the ambiance and they were just as great as mine.

Service: service at the pool was fabulous, prompt, and the staff was more than willing to accommodate me while I crammed in a few hours of sunshine and cocktails. Cocktails were to die for by the way.

Location: close to the AA arena and in the heart of downtown. What makes the location accommodating is the fact that its literally 3 mins from the highway which makes going to the beach a lot less of a headache!

Nightclub: there is a very popular nightclub connected to the Viceroy that a lot of celebrities go to. This may not be a pro to some people because of the heavy traffic, however, I thought I would list it in this section because it was more of a pro than a con in my opinion.

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Cons
Unfortunately, there are some minor issues with the hotel, some of which can be rectified pretty quickly.

Malfunctions: at times the TV had bad signals and was not working properly – However, after 10 minutes or so, it worked fine. I assume this was a satellite issue and was out of the hotel’s control. The next day, it stopped working again, I opted to spend more time on the internet at the pool.

Basics: getting ready, I realized that the room did not have an iron, no issue – in all fairness, perhaps the prior guest took it. A call to room service and someone quickly came up with an iron. Again, great staff!

Ice: there are no ice machines in the hotel so in order to get ice you have to call down to room service. They are pretty quick with bringing it up.

Towels: wow, the cheap towels I bought when I was in my 20’s to save a few dollars were richer and better. The thin towels offered by the Viceroy is on par, in my opinion, with that of a budget hotel. The pool towels, – HORRIBLE, ripped and raggedy. I was not impressed.

Desk Chair: I’ve stayed at a $85 night three star hotel that had a better desk chair; The chair looks great but is really uncomfortable. I found a good use for the cheap towels!

Parking / Valet / Location: – OMG! The traffic and flow to the valet is just HORRIBLE! Now, this is not all of the hotel’s fault because its connected to a highly popular night club. So be warned that if you are leaving the hotel make sure you call down to the valet 15-30 mins before getting to the lobby.

Noise: perhaps this is a more difficult challenge that is beyond the control of the hotel considering its in the heart of downtown and it’s located next to a night club.– so for those of you needing some sleep, keep this in mind. Brickell is noisy and staying on the 9th floor – I can’t get past the traffic noise. Sound insulation is not all that good, I kept the music on all night to drown out the traffic. After a day or so the noise fades away in the background and is no longer that big of an issue.

Language Barrier: for the most part, the staff spoke English well but every now and then there were a handful of them that had a hard time comprehending. I know it’s Miami but come on now, the native language here is English. The staff should be required to speak and comprehend English if they are going to be working with guests who do not know Spanish.

Overall the Viceroy is a cool, hip, trendy hotel – but it is suffering from some very basic quality challenges, some easily addressable. In my opinion, there is a lot of style – but substance can be improved. I would still stay at this hotel again in a heartbeat.