Miami Hotel Recommendation??

[Moon Orchid]

Please help. Never been to Miami downtown,so I do have some questions.

 

Can someone please tell me which hotel is nicer, Intercontinental or Marriott Biscayne bay hotel? We booked direct with the Marriott for $95+ tax for October 2. And it is cancelable without penalty.

 

Lately, people keep talking about IC,how it is closer to Bayside bay ,close to all the stores and restaurants.That makes me wonder if I should switch to this hotel.I check with lastminutetravel.com,and it show $84 + tax for the same night.Will they alllow 2 adult and 2 children ( age 7 and 3 ) in one room.

If it is you,which one will you stay and why ! Thanks .

[clover4]

Hi, I am wondering if all that booked through lastminutetravel have ever used this company before? I along with everyone jumped at the low price for this hotel. Thing is we have a special filter for our credit card due to some past fraud with our card. The credit card company called me within the hour of my hotel purchase asking if I had incurred the charge billed to some obsure location in Israel. Now I am wondering if this is legit?? So just inquiring if anyone has used this internet company in the past? Thanks

 

Yes, it's legit. My credit card company also called me right away. We just got back staying for $87/night. It did take 48 hours for me to get my confirmation initially. I actually saw it on the website first (not via an e-mail)... that the reservation was "confirmed" not "pending" (or something like that). The hotel is nice and for $87 we would stay in a heartbeat. But we would never pay $200-300/night for it. It is a business hotel and kind of sterile and cold for my taste. The kids were a little disappointed in the size of the pool (which is outside on the 5th floor)but my husband and I loved the cushy lounge chairs. It was majorly WINDY though. They told us they were doing a soft opening on their pool side restaurant. It is enclosed with a great view so it offered some relief from the wind. The food was good (Indigo salad was fabulous!) but would have been nice if they had options for kids. My kids ended up splitting a pizza and the cheese and fruit tray. The drink they made was only so-so and tasted much more of juice than alcohol.

 

BTW - when I asked, they did offer us the Bay view for $20/night if we could wait an hour to check in. The kids didn't want to wait so while we were discussing it the clerk said he'd give it to us for free. I told the kids they'd have to suck it up and wait - we walked over to Bayside and when we returned it was ready. I'd recommend the view for sure!

[clover4]

Please help. Never been to Miami downtown,so I do have some questions.

 

Can someone please tell me which hotel is nicer, Intercontinental or Marriott Biscayne bay hotel? We booked direct with the Marriott for $95+ tax for October 2. And it is cancelable without penalty.

 

Lately, people keep talking about IC,how it is closer to Bayside bay ,close to all the stores and restaurants.That makes me wonder if I should switch to this hotel.I check with lastminutetravel.com,and it show $84 + tax for the same night.Will they alllow 2 adult and 2 children ( age 7 and 3 ) in one room.

If it is you,which one will you stay and why ! Thanks .

 

I almost forgot - we did have 4 (2 adults and 2 kids) in our room. HOWEVER, LMT initially had us in a king bed room (even though I entered 2 adults and 2 kids into the search boxes). I called the hotel and they had to change it for us so that there were 2 doubles instead. They did so with no hassle but I'd double check your reservation.

[Moon Orchid]

I almost forgot - we did have 4 (2 adults and 2 kids) in our room. HOWEVER, LMT initially had us in a king bed room (even though I entered 2 adults and 2 kids into the search boxes). I called the hotel and they had to change it for us so that there were 2 doubles instead. They did so with no hassle but I'd double check your reservation.

 

Thank you so much!

[Karroons]

I'm so glad I found this thread. I just changd my cruise reservation this morning and now booked the IC through www.lastminutetravel.com. We originally had booked hotel through the cruise line ($242 for one night) and now we are at the IC for $96 ($84 plus taxes).

 

Then after I changed the hotel, I cancelled my airfare through the cruise line and booked my own (and saved money again). Plus, I'm travelling with my mom who is older so travelling on our own (via taxi) will be easier on her and easier on others (as we won't be holding anyone else up). :)

 

Thank you, Jo-Ann!!!

[Moon Orchid]

Can someone please tell me why on lastminutetravel.com, the price for IC changed from $84 to $117 when I tried to get a room for my sister-in-law,there will be 3 adults and 1 nine year old in her room. Maybe we should stay at Marriott Biscayne hotel :(

[jerseygirl3]

Can someone please tell me why on lastminutetravel.com, the price for IC changed from $84 to $117 when I tried to get a room for my sister-in-law,there will be 3 adults and 1 nine year old in her room. Maybe we should stay at Marriott Biscayne hotel :(

 

Try putting in just two guests and see what price comes up. I think putting in for more than 2 is why the price is coming up higher.

[Moon Orchid]

Try putting in just two guests and see what price comes up. I think putting in for more than 2 is why the price is coming up higher.

 

Hi Jo-Ann ,thank you for your reply. Actually when I put in 2 adults and 2 children for my brother, the price remained $84, but it changes to $117 when I tried to get one more room for my sister in-law (whose family has 3 adults and 1 nine year old). I wonder if I can put in 2 adults and 2 kids for her room to get that price.

 

Does the hotel check how many people you have when you check in? I can't remember if they did that last time when we stayed at the Radisson and Renaissance.

[lisaann]

Thanks from another happy forum participant! I just booked the IC for one night (10/23) through LMT and recieved an immediate confirmation for $84 + tax. I couldn't be happier! Well...I guess I could be happier if I could find some bargain airfare out of O'Hare! :)

 

Thanks for mentioning the site!

[stargate fan]

We are sailing out of Miami. We have stayed at the Marriott Biscayne Bay, which had great views of the port, but nothing close by for entrainment. We have stayed at Holiday Inn, Port of Miami, which is in a great location and has pretty good views of the port.

 

I have read a lot about the IC. I am willing to give LMT a shot. Is there a way to make sure we get a room overlooking the harbor and port? I am like a child when it comes to watching the ships come in. I am up at 0-dark hundred, much to the chagrin of my husband. I contemplated getting a hotel on South Beach, but he told me I'd be miserable not being able to see the ships.

 

Can anyone share your experiences with room views and booking with LMT?

 

Thanks.

[miamiyogi]

Can anyone share your experiences with room views and booking with LMT?

Not sure about the IC, but here is my experience with LastMinuteTravel.com as posted on another travel site at an Orlando hotel I just got back yesterday from:

 

Sorry for the long post!!!!!

I tried www.lastminutetravel.com, after some research I couldn't find many overtly negative reviews but no true endorsements either- I now see why. I hope this post will help someone in the future.

 

 

First off its very easy to figure out the hotel you are about to book by going to their sister site and playing with the urls, I can post greater detail on how to do this, but if you run some google searches you can find out on your own. I know the information is in this thread, this is a cut and copy from another post in a different travel forum

 

 

So, I was able to book the Crowne Plaza Hotel Universal for $70.00/night best deals I had found were $135.00 on the Priority Club website, and the same price (135) on travelocity and expedia.

 

 

I received instant confirmation via email after payment, but the reservation stated double beds, I emailed lastminutetravel, explaining a wanted a single bed and received a response within minutes (!!!) stating that "Double bed means King or Queen Size bed" When I confirmed the reservation with the hotel two days later I was told I had a wheelchair accessible room with two queen beds. (I did not want or request a wheelchair room). Two subsequent emails requesting this be changed to lastmintuetravel.com went unanswered. I spoke to the hotel manager who informed me the hotel was completely booked and I could not change the room.

This really wasn't a big deal other than there was only a shower with a bench and Mrs. Yogi prefers to take baths. That and I hope someone who needed this room wasn't stuck in a regular room.

 

 

So my guess is lastminutetravel.com books unattractive rooms that wouldn't fill unless the hotel was at complete capacity (which I also suspect it wasn't).

 

 

VERDICT: If you know how to manipulate the site to get the hotel you want and don't care what kind of room you will get then I would use them (it really was a good deal). If you need to pick the style of room, then stay away from these guys.

 

 

 

Also - I would have preferred an answer to my email in the negative than to just be ignored and lied to.

[snausman]

I just wanted to add my thank you. I got this wonderful hotel for 96.00 total for Oct. 2, 2010. This is our favorite hotel in Miami and I had it booked thru the hotel for 290.00 for the night. So thank you very much for saving me money!!!

 

Laura

[CruisnLolo]

JerseyGirl - I just booked 4 rooms at the IC for December 17th at a rate of 96.31. The immediate status states confirmed (not pending or anything else) on the voucher. I will check again to make sure (before cancelling the hotel we had booked through NCL). Thanks again!

 

KikkyCat - thank you for the explanation on how to see what hotel is what. It totally worked for the South Beach hotels. I was able to identify four different hotels in our price range!! :D

[cruiseat50]

Go to www.lastminutetravel.com. Put in Miami downtown and ask for a 5 star hotel. It doesn't name the hotel, but it should come up as the Intercontinental Hotel (a wonderful hotel 1/2 mile from the port and if you request a bayside room when you check-in you'll be able to actually see the ships in port). If you click on "more info" it will list that it's across from Bayside Market...that way you'll know it's Intercontinental Hotel. It's going for $87/night, which is an absolute steal (the hotel typically goes for $250-$500/night). I just booked a friend of mine for mid October for that rate.

 

Jo-Ann

 

While I knew about LMT and have used them before and have offered info. on how to use them to get the best price I always posted that I would send them the info if they e-mailed me. I didn't want to make any waves with the CC police as I have already broke one of the rules and got a warning. I am glad to know that you can mention LMT without getting into trouble.:eek:

 

This is great info. for people to get a great price at the IC as you can see from all the posts of appreciation. The only thing I would add is that when I tried about a year ago I got 2 or 3 downtown 5* hotels and I wanted to make absolutely sure that I got the IC so was told by another CC member that the key was 66,000 –sq ft of event space for business meetings, conferences , and special occasions in the description. Just an added thing that made me feel completely sure that I had the IC. :D Ok, I admit I am a little overly cautious.

 

There's an easy way to figure out exactly what you're getting on LMT. They have a sister site, Tourico Holidays, which lists the hotels with the same descriptions and ID numbers. You have to be a travel agent to use Tourico from the initial page, so use this one: http://www.touricoholidays.com/en/PageHotelDetail.aspx?hotelId=2155&provider=localTgsProvider

 

Where the above link says hotelId=2155 is where you look in Last Minute Travel's URL (run your cursor over it to see the URL come up on your screen) for the number of the hotel you want to find out about. Cut & paste (or remember) the ID number and put it in the above tourico link (replacing the existing number) and voila! You can find out what the hotel is.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you... I love this! This is a huge help for locating great prices - I already checked it out and it works for IC! I really wish I would have known this before we went to Vegas in April... maybe would have saved me some more $$ there although I'm not sure as I got a great price for being a club member. This will be great to use when we go on our next cruise as I really would like to find a good hotel in South Beach but was leery of trying without this. We did stay in SB in Jan/09 but we wouldn't want to end up in the same hotel... the Riviera... really was a dump.

 

Thanks again to both... I just love this site! :D

[Whereto?]

I am trying to book the IC thru lastminutetravel.com for our upcoming cruise on Carnival Liberty. Trying to get one night pre-cruise on Nov. 12, 2010. Put in request yesterday lunch time and still showing Request status now (30 hours and counting). Anybody else had to wait this long but was still successful? Tried to see if maybe something was going on that week-end but didn't find anything. And hotel site still show full-price vacancies. Should I start looking for a 2nd choice or maybe I'm just hurrying the system? :confused:

 

Just a quick follow-up on my above post from a couple of days ago. Original request for IC thru LMT was put in on Tues, July 20th. As of Friday, still showed "Request" status. Called LMT and spoke to a lady who wasn't rude, but wasn't overly-helpful. She said since the reservation was for November I should wait a few more days for the hotel to answer the request. Knew this was probably bad info -- but whatcha gonna do?? So today, (6 days after initial request) I called LMT again. The young man I spoke with this time was very helpful and immediately said that I should have gotten an email from them with the hotel's reply within 48 hours. He asked me to hold while he called the hotel directly. After holding for a couple of minutes he came back on the line, apologized again for the confusion, and told me that the hotel did indeed receive my request and had already confirmed my reservation. They just failed to send the reply back. Within 5 minutes I had an email with the confirmed status and the confirmation number. :D All well that ends well. (At least for the reservation portion:eek:) Total price with tax and fees $96.31. Price thru the hotel for 1 night, Nov. 12, 2010 would have been $234 before taxes! Thanks to all who posted this helpful info!

[beachgal]

Thanks to Jo-Ann's recommendation, I booked the IC through lastminutetravel for October pre-cruise in October. I got immediate e-mail confirmation. I called the hotel directly a few days later just to confirm my reservation. They had it. I asked for 2 double beds and harbor view. They said they couldn't guarantee that but they would put it on my booking and the harbor view would be $20 - fine.

 

I have booked hotel rooms many times where the beds weren't guaranteed, etc. and I've called to ask for the specific beds I wanted. When I have checked in, I have always gotten my request. If I don't get the harbor view, no big deal. It's a 5-star hotel, how bad can the rooms be?? I'm sure it will be great and I'm very happy with this deal!!

[lozzie]

Thanks for the info on the Intercontinental. Do they charge your card immediately when you use this website (lastminutetravel)? Curious if I should reserve for everyone or just do it separately.

[snausman]

Thanks for the info on the Intercontinental. Do they charge your card immediately when you use this website (lastminutetravel)? Curious if I should reserve for everyone or just do it separately.

 

If I am not mistaken it will charge your card right away. So that could be very expensive for you if there are alot of rooms to book.

 

Laura

[beachgal]

Yes, the IC charged the room the day I reserved it.

[snausman]

Yes, the IC charged the room the day I reserved it.

 

 

Thanks, I thought so but was not for sure.

[Cuizer2]

We are cruising out of Miami in mid October with a large group of people and looking for a hotel near the port. Does anyone have any suggestions? The last time we cruised out of Miami we stayed in South Beach, but since there are alot coming this time we were looking to get a little closer to the port. I have read about the bayside marketplace...maybe somewhere near there??? Does anyone know how far that is from the actual beach? Thanx for any help here!!

 

I like the Intercontinental Hotel ...

 

 

About three blocks behind the camera is the Bayside Marketplace. To the right is the free Metromover ...

 

 

The pool ...

 

 

One of the rooms ...

 

 

The view ...

 

 

And my favorite view, from the deck of the ship ...

 

[kimmers63]

Reading the info about booking for the IC on lastminutetravel. Thanks for all the tips, etc. Question: The site shows Parking - $34. Does anyone know how long this is for? Would it include parking throughout duration of cruise? Assume also would have to taxi to ship. Thanks again for any and all information.

[snausman]

Reading the info about booking for the IC on lastminutetravel. Thanks for all the tips, etc. Question: The site shows Parking - $34. Does anyone know how long this is for? Would it include parking throughout duration of cruise? Assume also would have to taxi to ship. Thanks again for any and all information.

 

 

It is valet parking and it is per night. And yes you take a taxi to the ship.

 

Laura

[snausman]

Cuizer 2 love your pictures!!! Thanks for posting them for us all.

 

Laura

[kimmers63]

That's what I was afraid of, need to find a place to park the car during - was hoping not at port for $20 a day which could pay for a hotel night prior :(

Thank you Snausman!