Visiting Miami for Spring Break. Luxury hotel in downtown or Art Deco hotel in South Beach? (condo, good hotel)

[HeatFanatic]

Guess I'm bringing up the whole amenities vs location debate. No idea which hotel to stay at though or if staying in downtown is as boring as people say it is (relative to South Beach at least).

So what do you guys recommend?

FWIW... we're talking about the Viceroy in downtown vs Park Central in South Beach.

[WrongStreet]

South Beach, always...Park Central is a good hotel, you might want to check out some of the ones on the other side of 5th along Ocean Dr. more of those are right on the beach which is always a plus.

[HeatFanatic]

Will do. Also, is it worth staying in South Beach even if you aren't staying directly on the beach?

[doggiebus]

South Beach.

[Coconut1]

You can do both- luxury and South Beach. The Viceroy is nicer than the Park Central but the location of the Park Central for a vacation is better.

With regard to luxury and South Beach check out The Tides, The Betsy, The Setai, W South Beach, Loews, Delano, Ritz Carlton (this isn't as nice as other RC properties, though,) James Royal Palm, Surfcomber, and Z Ocean, just to name a few.

[FlyMIA]

South Beach is much easier especially if you are planning on going to clubs and the beach. Don't need to take cabs, drive or transit.

Downtown especially that hotel is certainly not boring though. The viceroy has an awesome pool deck and a world class spa. It also has a club on the 50th floor. You are also close to plenty of bars lounges and restaurants.

[HeatFanatic]

Bleh. Thanks for making the decision that much harder, FlyMIA!

Anymore opinions? Was leaning towards Park Central, but now I'm back to being closer to the middle. Luckily I still have about two weeks to decide.

I appreciate everything you guys have to say and would love more input.

[WrongStreet]

If you're staying on Ocean Dr it really doesn't matter if you're right on the beach or not since you are just a few steps from it anyway. If I was having to choose between the two hotels you named I would pick Park Central, nothing against The Viceroy, it's an amazing property, just that South Beach prevails over downtown no matter how nice the hotel.

[Coconut1]

Viceroy isn't THAT great of a hotel. Nice, yes, luxury? Not really. The last time I stayed I had lighting falling out of the ceiling, broken furniture, crumbs from the previous guest, cracks in the ceiling, graffiti on the walls and dirty dishware just to name a few things. I posted about it on Trip Advisor, got a management response, did what Laurence told me to do for my next visit, never got a reply from her, posted about it again on Trip Advisor, she replied again assuring me her team was working on it and would contact me herself, and once again never heard a peep from her. While the decor is hip the service is not luxury and the rooms need to be kept up.

But the pool is fantastic... when it's open. It has ambiguous hours and often has private functions going on next to it which makes guests and condo residents feel like intruders.

So like I said, nicer than the Park Central but certainly not exceptionally luxuries. I'm sure at the price they're charging it is not worth it.

Consider Epic or JW Marriott Marquis (also Hotel Beaux Arts which is located within JW Marriott Marquis) if you're going to be torn between Downtown and South Beach. There is only one other JW Marriott Marquis in the world (Dubai) besides the Miami location.

[xS☺B☺s]

I'd say stay at a hotel near the airport. It's cheaper and you'll beat the traffic on the return flight. Really, SoBe is hardly worth the aggravating traffic on 836.