Riu Florida Beach Hotel

Nice hotel right on beach. I would give it 3.5 stars. Beach has sufferred erosion and has rocks to try to retain sand thereby diminishing beauty. Boardwalk is nice and you can walk for miles. Heavily foreign clientelle, not a bad thing, but a lot of people smoke in the common areas outside. Pool is clean and well kept and cabana bar is nice. Unfortunately, pool closes at 7:30pm and there is no hot tub. Elevators are very slow. Staff is very attentive. Valet is $17/24 hours and staff is friendly, albiet a bit slow. Expect 5-10 minutes to get your car.

We have stayed at the Riu system before and were expecting more from this hotel. We were on a conference/fun trip. Location was perfect for us as the conference was just a 10 minute walk on the boardwalk. Need a taxi to get down into South Beach...but it was just a $6 ride or so. Pool is nice and the beach is just off the property. Water was warm in November. The rooms are nothing special...flat white walls, older looking bathrooms, and all rooms were double beds. Beds were comfortable though. Staff don't seem to know/share much info...even the concierge (which is the gifts shop person) Went to the breakfast buffet one morning and it wasn't that great. Better off going across the street and north one block to a little cafe called Pontos. Excellent food and prices. Lincoln Street has some great places to eat and a fun experience to just walk and hang out in at night. Slightly cheaper than Ocean Blvd.

The room was clean and comfortable, but a bit worn down. The carpet was old and stained, the bathroom could use some updating. The hotel was nice and right on the beach. It's in a quiet area. It was a great deal for the price compared to many other hotels on the beach. The concierge was a kid whose main job is to work the small hotel gift shop. She couldn't help us. The staff was friendly.

Good service, staff very helpful.

Good and friendship service. Pool area and lobby are OK Rooms need redecoration urgently. Housekeeping always forgot to leave towels, shampoo, etc, but if asked for them, they were delivered 5 min later In average it was a good stay, but I don't think the price is correct for the type of rooms

Not many places to eat close, so tried the restaurant in the Motel, bad service, cold food, cost $21.00 for 6 ice tea's in very small glasses and no ice, then purchased water for an additional $9.00. Never do that again.

The hotel is not too far from the artdeco district. You can take a cab for 8 dollars. They have valet parking but they charge 17 dollars a night....(should be less for customers). a big problem is with the elevators in the morning. They only have two and everyone is using them. So you have to wait a long time and see if youre able to squeeze in. Rooms are clean but they are a little cheap with their toilet paper. I had to ask for more. Otherwise it serves the purpose. You can get breakfast at a local rest..one block down the road if you dont want to pay the hefty breakfast amount.

I liked the hotel but i noticed that it was more a family hotel and we were a group of friends. The staff was really friendly and helpful. The prices of the food and drinks at the hotel were reasonable. I wished they provided chairs and towels for the beach.

Overall a great hotel. The staff was extremely friendly and accomodating. There are only 2 elevators for the entire hotel, which means you end up waiting awhile for an elevator, or had to pass one up because it is too full. The rooms were a bit out-dated, especially the bathroom and the tv in particular. The hotel was not as close to the heart of South Beach as I thought. We ended up having to drive or take a cab to go shopping, dining, drinking, etc. On the good side, the ocean view was beautiful and the hotel a nice bar/pool area.

The hotel was clean and affordable but the location was quite far from south beach. Only a $8 cab ride but about a 30 minute walk. Also, one staff member told us the airport shuttle was complimentary and then another said it was just a discounted rate ($2 less than a cab) so we weren't impressed with the service.