Freebie in South Beach for 24 Hours

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It’s quite evident that Matt and I thrive off of vacations. The vacation could be 10 days or 24 hours, thousands of miles away or 30 minutes down the road, being pampered on a beach or zipping down a snow covered mountain. Regardless of the type and duration of the trip, we always come back relaxed and refreshed. It’s safe to say that we live for the days away from work and the saying “work to live, not live to work” couldn’t be more accurate in our case.

Our most recent getaway was a rather unique situation. As I had mentioned in blogs past, featured a promotion where if you booked 10 nights through their company, you had 1 night (as long as the cost was under $400) free on them. Matt and I had acquired our 10 nights by the end of the NYC trip and were just waiting for the perfect time to use the freebie night. About a month or so ago, I received an email from Hotels.com saying that they were changing their policy starting March 9, 2010. Probably realizing that guests were opting to choose the most expensive hotel under $400 they could find, Hotels.com would change the freebie night to the average cost of the 10 stays. In our case, this would fall right around $100. That being said, we wanted to take advantage of the $400 offer while we still could! Way to work the system. 😉

During the planning stages for this freebie night, we tossed around ideas on Palm Beach, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach and Key West. After weighing the pros and cons and viewing the available hotels for the weekend of our choosing, we decided on a day trip to Miami Beach. Since this was more likely than not a once in a lifetime opportunity, we wanted to make sure that we found the perfect hotel. We spent hours reading reviews on hotels from Hotels.com and , analyzing maps of locations and viewing photographs of each property. Finally, we booked The Hotel of South Beach and couldn’t be more pleased with our decision. As promised, Hotels.com covered the $365 a night charge and we were only responsible for the $44.00 in taxes. Although short lived, our experience at this hotel was splendid. The location was ideally located on Collins and 7th right in the heart of South Beach . Access to and from the hotel was incredibly easy as 5th lead directly to I-95. As with most hotels in South Beach, parking is an issue and typically valet ($30.00 a night before tip) is the norm. After learning of this from multiple reviews, we opted for the parking garage route located on 5th and Collins (again, perfect location since 5th leads to I-95) for $20.00 a night. The garage was fully automated and we pre paid with our ticket in a machine before retrieving our vehicle. One tip I would suggest is make sure you have cash, Mastercard or Visa. I personally am an Amex user, but typical of several vendors, Amex is not always accepted and I did have issues with it in the parking garage as well. Other credit cards worked just fine.

Upon arrival to The Hotel of South Beach, everyone was very accommodating. We only had small bags since our stay was just one night, but the bell boy immediately asked us if we needed assistance and the check in process was quick and easy. Our room was on the first floor which was still only accessible through a door using the room key for added security and privacy. The rooms were definitely small, but clean and freshly decorated. Typical of most SOBE hotels, the décor was very modern/art deco . The bathroom was our favorite part and the shower was fabulous. The bed was comfortable, although it was only a double. The room also offered a mini bar and a whole slew of extra snacks and drinks (for an added cost of course). I especially liked the bath products in this hotel, including the tie-dyed bath robes, very creative! Although a very nice bathroom, it was also pretty small so just note that there’s not much room to place brushes, makeup, etc… On the 4th floor was the pool that overlooked the ocean. I’m not sure if the pool was officially “clothing optional” or not, but there was at least one woman who opted to ditch her top. Otherwise, everyone was appropriately clothed in full swim wear and the pool area was gorgeous. I should also note that The Hotel of South Beach offers a restaurant, Wish , which did receive great reviews. We were too cheap to try it! As I stated earlier, the location of this hotel was one of the best parts. We were able to walk everywhere at all hours of the day and night. In regards to shopping, Banana Republic, Barneys and other popular stores were all just steps away. The beach was also just a block or so east of our hotel. If the price were right, we would definitely stay here again!

The duration of this trip was literally 24 hours. We arrived Friday afternoon a little after 3 PM and left Saturday around the same time. I would highly suggest taking the I-95 Express Lanes, especially when traveling on a week day with rush hour. After exploring the beach area and multiple shops, the time came to choose where to eat dinner. South Beach offers a wide array of restaurants. We simply walked on Ocean Dr for several blocks and every restaurant had a greeter, in addition to a delicious looking display of their specials. Finally, we decided on a place called On Ocean 7 . Matt ordered the Chicken Parmesan and I had a Chicken sandwich with fries. We also ordered fried calamari as an appetizer and mango/strawberry daquaris for me, Peach Mint Mojitos for him. For starters, 2 for 1 drinks were featured for Happy Hour. Since this is South Beach and everything is expensive, each drink cost $20.00, so essentially we paid $40.00 alone in drinks, $10.00 per drink. Although a bit pricey, they were delicious and rather strong, so worth it in my book. I wouldn’t suggest ordering the calamari. This is a pretty common appetizer for us and the calamari here was chewy and not as crispy as we would like. Matt’s chicken parmesan on the other hand was phenomenal. They made it exactly how he likes it which is a bit on the crispy side. My chicken sandwich and fries were also very good. Our waitress was very attentive and cheerful. As a warning, 18%!g(MISSING)ratuity is already included in the bill. Total, our meal came to a little over $100.00. Although a good experience here overall, we’d probably try somewhere new next trip simply because there are so many options!

After dinner, we headed towards the Shops on Lincoln which were suggested to us by our waitress. This was a pretty easy walk beginning at Collins between 16th and 17th. The strip itself was pretty long lasting several blocks and each block of shops was nicer than the last. There were restaurants, dessert places, shops, etc... all over Lincoln. It truly was the perfect place to take a nice leisurely after dinner walk. We did manage to visit The Swiss Maker and pick up some fabulous chocolate covered strawberries. Each stick had roughly 5-6 strawberries and cost $8.00. The bottoms on the chocolate covered strawberries were coated in sugar which added an extra sweet touch. I would definitely recommend checking out this area upon visiting South Beach. We especially liked the All Saints store for its minimalistic (alas expensive) and deconstructed attire.

Saturday morning we were on the prowl for food again, this time for breakfast. We were lured into a restaurant called Breakfast at the Clinton XO at the Clinton Hotel on Collins , due to a sign outside featuring breakfast specials. The prices were reasonable (our bill was under $30 for everything) but I was not blown away by the experience. Maybe it’s because these places already include gratuity so the service is sub par, but upon sitting down, it took at least 10 minutes for a waitress to approach us…despite being the only ones in the entire place. Secondly, the Orange Juice was from concentrate. This was highly disappointing for a place like South Beach. Our eggs and toast were decent. Matt ordered bacon, which they forgot initially. When they finally brought out the bacon, it was soggy and not done at all making it inedible. To say the least, we would not recommend and would not eat here again for breakfast.

After breakfast, we were back to our normal exploring routine. It was suggested that we check out the Park on 1st and Ocean. The beaches here are beautiful and the area did offer a nice walking trail along the beach for pedestrians, bikers, etc. If we had more time and if the weather were warmer, we would probably have spent more time around this area to sun bathe. One of the things that amazed me the most about South Beach was everywhere we went - from 1st to 17th+, Ocean, Collins and Washington - was clean and offered a wide array of shops and restaurants. Unlike other cities which tend to have concentrated areas, this whole section of South Beach was tourist friendly and quite walkable. One of our favorite shops was a bit hidden behind a restaurant and called the Webster located at 1220 Collins Ave. Everything in here was very high end with brands such as Vince, Band of Outsiders, Lanvin, etc… We’ll definitely go back there again, to window shop of course. 😊

After our stomachs were full and legs exhausted from walking, we decided it was time to head back home. We both agreed that it was a wonderful little getaway and we looked forward to planning our next trip to South Beach, hopefully staying again at The Hotel of South Beach! Oh, and one more thing to note about this trip was the Food and Wine Festival going on around us. Unfortunately, we were unaware and tickets had sold out weeks prior. Nonetheless, I want to make it a point to look into this next year around January if we are still in FL.

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[AZuzo]

News Cafe
An added side note: Just spoke with my mom who suggested eating breakfast at the News Cafe on Ocean next trip. She and several friends dined there for breakfast a few years back and had an incredible experience.