Safest parts of downtown? (Miami, Kendall: car rental, extended stay, rentals)

[NJDevil]

Hi, we need to book a hotel room for one night next January, and my husband would like to stay somewhere downtown. We'll be getting on a cruise the next day. I read another thread and saw recommendations for Hyatt Regency, Mariott, and Intercontinental. Ideally, we want to spend less than $200 for the night. Do most hotels downtown offer free parking? I'd like an area that is safe to walk thru at night, no panhandlers. I know that getting a quiet room is hit or miss, it all depends on the people around you, I normally have bad luck with that. I go to a hotel to sleep, and the people around me are usually rowdy most of the night. Any advice appreciated. (I guess I need a hotel with nighttime security)

[elchevere]

Hyatt Regency is fine and might be your best choice for under $200....no free parking....what I like about the Hyatt is that it is a seven minute walk to an Avis Car Rental--if you can return the car before 6PM, just turn in the car and avoid overnight parking charges at the hotel. Plenty of good eateries within walking distance in downtown or across the draw bridge in Brickell. Safety should not be a concern, though careful when you are walking and want to cross the street--even with the right of way.

[WisdomJ]

I would at least consider AirBnB. I stayed downtown with them and it wasn't bad, but the check-in process can be a bit dicey as many condo building don't technically allow short-term rentals. If you're ok with that, it can be a cost saver. Some have parking, but most don't and some may have a minimum 3-night stay requirement. As for safety, just use common sense like you would for any large city, especially at night. Try to avoid walking late at night alone, especially if drinking.

[ElGuito]

I've stayed at the River Park Hotel, next door to the Convention Center and Hyatt, it was like $100 per night. Didn't have any noise problems. There is a parking lot across the street at $20 for 24 hours.
You can walk up SE 1st Avenue and find plenty of restaurants, shops, services. 3 short blocks from Flagler Street. Or walk several steps to the Metro Mover. During my stay and several other times after, we've been there at night, there is pedestrian traffic still around midnight, restaurants close around 10-11pm, some fast food stay open til 12am.

[rnc2mbfl]

Originally Posted by NJDevil

Hi, we need to book a hotel room for one night next January, and my husband would like to stay somewhere downtown. We'll be getting on a cruise the next day. I read another thread and saw recommendations for Hyatt Regency, Mariott, and Intercontinental. Ideally, we want to spend less than $200 for the night. Do most hotels downtown offer free parking? I'd like an area that is safe to walk thru at night, no panhandlers. I know that getting a quiet room is hit or miss, it all depends on the people around you, I normally have bad luck with that. I go to a hotel to sleep, and the people around me are usually rowdy most of the night. Any advice appreciated. (I guess I need a hotel with nighttime security)

Why would you have a car to park? Are you driving down from TN? If you can avoid having a car, do it. If flying, it's not worth the cost of parking when you get downtown from the airport by metrorail for cheap, traverse much of DT by metromover for free and just walk otherwise.

[NJDevil]

Yes, we're driving down. Appreciate the replies. We enjoy visiting big cities but it's a little overwhelming when you don't know anything about the area...advice from locals is priceless. We used to live on the west coast of FL and I only visited the South Beach area once a long time ago. I am bummed we won't be able to stay longer, but hopefully we'll get to go again.

[AnnRyan]

NJ Devil, what you may want to do is stay further west, apparently some of the hotels in Doral will allow you to long term park if you stay there. It sounds like you're just looking for a bed and not to be much of a tourist that night. We have a ton of nice restaurants for dinner that night as well. You can then just easily Uber down to the port in the morning, and avoid the high parking rates at the terminal. My mom's friends from the west coast of Florida do this pretty routinely, and without any problems.

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by elchevere

Hyatt Regency is fine and might be your best choice for under $200....

I seriously doubt that the OP could get a room at the Hyatt for less than $200 on a Friday or Saturday night in January (since her cruise most likely departs on Sat or Sun). As an example, here are the standard rates for the next 4 Friday nights on Hyatt.com:

Feb. 10th: $299
Feb. 17th: $379
Feb. 24th: $299
March 3rd $259

And going out to January 2018:

Jan. 5th: $299 - (member discount: $279)
Jan. 12th $299 - (member discount: $279)
Jan. 19th: $299 - (member discount: $279)
Jan. 26th: $299 - (member discount: $279)

Moreover, state and occupancy taxes add another $38 to the $299 rate, making a one-night total $337 and change. And as you noted, parking is not free. That is another $37, so now we're up to $374.

OP: You're not going to find a cheap hotel downtown with free parking on a weekend night in Miami in the winter. At least not one that you'd be comfortable staying at. My question to you is why do you want to stay downtown in the first place if all you are looking for is an inexpensive and safe place to sleep before your cruise? Just stay in the suburbs and drive over to the cruise port in the morning. For example, you could stay at the Courtyard on Bayshore Drive in Coconut Grove next Jan 5th for $161 + taxes and parking, and still have a vibrant urban area to walk around that evening. Or you could stay a little farther out in Kendall at the Marriott near the Dadeland Mall for $159 (or $136 advance purchase member rate) + $21 for valet parking. Even cheaper would be the nearby Courtyard for $149 ($127 advance purchase member rate) and only $13 for valet parking.

And those probably aren't even your best options; I just did a quick little search to show you some alternatives to downtown that are still within about a 15 minute (Coconut Grove) to 20 minute (Dadeland) drive to the cruise port on a Saturday morning. I'm sure that with a little research you could find even cheaper hotels in a nice area away from downtown that even have free parking.

[elchevere]

Depends when you book....having actually recently stayed at the Hyatt Regency for 2 weeks and over a holiday period (from December 13 - 29), I got a rate of $ 141.37/night for all of those nights that included all taxes booked from the hotel's website. (and, no, I did not get this special rate because of an extended stay--when I looked at shorter stays, the rates were similar...I did get a slight discount for being a Hyatt Gold Passport member).

Couple of options for the OP--book a non-cancellable rate now if you find one you like but then check back starting in early November (and continuing to check back throughout the end of the month) to see what rate you can get at that time. Booking now makes little sense as we are in the middle of high season...very often in November, the hotels begin offering special rates--such as the one I got. No guarantee you will get the same price I did but it could be worth pursuing this strategy. You might even check on a weekly basis in August.

Are you comfortable booking non-cancellable, non-refundable rates?....if so, many reputable discount travel sites frequently offer special deals on Miami hotels....keep on checking or sign up for alerts from Jetsetter.com, Tablet.com, Kiwi.com, Vacationist.com and others in the late October - late November time frame if you are comfortable going this route.

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

I seriously doubt that the OP could get a room at the Hyatt for less than $200 on a Friday or Saturday night in January (since her cruise most likely departs on Sat or Sun). As an example, here are the standard rates for the next 4 Friday nights on Hyatt.com:

Feb. 10th: $299
Feb. 17th: $379
Feb. 24th: $299
March 3rd $259

And going out to January 2018:

Jan. 5th: $299 - (member discount: $279)
Jan. 12th $299 - (member discount: $279)
Jan. 19th: $299 - (member discount: $279)
Jan. 26th: $299 - (member discount: $279)

Moreover, state and occupancy taxes add another $38 to the $299 rate, making a one-night total $337 and change. And as you noted, parking is not free. That is another $37, so now we're up to $374.

OP: You're not going to find a cheap hotel downtown with free parking on a weekend night in Miami in the winter. At least not one that you'd be comfortable staying at. My question to you is why do you want to stay downtown in the first place if all you are looking for is an inexpensive and safe place to sleep before your cruise? Just stay in the suburbs and drive over to the cruise port in the morning. For example, you could stay at the Courtyard on Bayshore Drive in Coconut Grove next Jan 5th for $161 + taxes and parking, and still have a vibrant urban area to walk around that evening. Or you could stay a little farther out in Kendall at the Marriott near the Dadeland Mall for $159 (or $136 advance purchase member rate) + $21 for valet parking. Even cheaper would be the nearby Courtyard for $149 ($127 advance purchase member rate) and only $13 for valet parking.

And those probably aren't even your best options; I just did a quick little search to show you some alternatives to downtown that are still within about a 15 minute (Coconut Grove) to 20 minute (Dadeland) drive to the cruise port on a Saturday morning. I'm sure that with a little research you could find even cheaper hotels in a nice area away from downtown that even have free parking.

[NJDevil]

Well, my husband wants to stay downtown because we DO want to be tourists...we like walking to things (stores, meals) right from our room. This will be a Thursday night...normally cruises do leave on the weekend but this one leaves on a Friday.
The Langford Hotel is $199 on booking and the reviews are incredible...also I am surprised how fast places are filling up for January already.

So yeah I like quiet neighbors in the hotel, but I'll forfeit a decent night's sleep for one night if need be.