Four Seasons, Miami

I visited the Four Seasons in Miami in March 2006 after a somewhat frantic and frenetic trip to the theme parks in Orlando and was looking for a place to rest and relax and to be pampered as well as some nice places to explore and eat out. The 70 storey Four Seasons is located I the downtown financial district of Miami at Brickell Avenue and is home to not only the Four Seasons Hotel but also the HSBC bank headquarters and Four Seasons Residences; ...
...moment we arrived at the Four Seasons the service was implacable. The bell man who took our luggage even greeted myself and my companion by name having presumably sneaked a quick look at our luggage tags! We were greeted inside the door by a pleasant lady who took us to the seventh floor to check in (yes reception is the on seventh floor!)

The lobby is large, light and airy and it's on this level that you find the hotel bar, pool and ... more

I visited the Four Seasons in Miami in March 2006 after a somewhat frantic and frenetic trip to the theme parks in Orlando and was looking for a place to rest and relax and to be pampered as well as some nice places to explore and eat out. The 70 storey Four Seasons is located I the downtown financial district of Miami at Brickell Avenue and is home to not only the Four Seasons Hotel but also the HSBC bank headquarters and Four Seasons Residences; yes you can actually live in the Four Seasons Hotel for ever!

Arrival and check-in.

From the moment we arrived at the Four Seasons the service was implacable. The bell man who took our luggage even greeted myself and my companion by name having presumably sneaked a quick look at our luggage tags! We were greeted inside the door by a pleasant lady who took us to the seventh floor to check in (yes reception is the on seventh floor!)

The lobby is large, light and airy and it's on this level that you find the hotel bar, pool and restaurant as well as a small shop. The ambiance of this hotel definitely seems to be one of understated and modern elegance with modern yet tasteful and expensive looking furnishings juxtaposed against high ceilings and more classic art work. The attention to detail is great and the place is so, so clean and immaculate (and believe me I am such a clean freak that I really notice these things!) Check-in was remarkably fast and efficient with every detail of our reservation being correct. With 10 minutes of arriving at the hotel we were in our room and the luggage was literally two minutes behind us!

The room and reservations:
We had reserved a twin room directly via the Four Seasons website taking advantage of their buy two get one free rate. Without this deal then hotel rooms here will usually cost around $400/500 per night so any deals that you can find can make a real difference. We really looked all over Miami at hotels and varying websites and the best deals definitely seemed to be on the Four Seasons own website but it's always worth checking others just in case!

The room was a large corner room complete with bay-view window and window seat, two large, extremely comfy double beds, a large desk and two desk chairs and an over-sized arm chair. The room also featured a large mini bar area with goods that were varied as well as offering surprising value for a hotel of this calibre! The TV offered the usual range of channels etc. as well as a CD and DVD player, radio and electronic safe. The room was immaculate in every way and decorated in subtle and modern shades of cream. The bed linens were also white and crisp and changed daily.

There was lots of drawer and wardrobe space as well as an iron and ironing board in the wardrobe (even these were immaculate too!!)

The bathroom was large and luxurious with separate shower and bath tub as well as a separate toilet area. The bathroom was large with lots of complementary L'Occitane products as well as large, over sized towels and robes. I was even very impressed with how our toiletries were tidied each day for us!

Facilities:

We stayed here for three nights and I must admit that we ate in the hotel restaurant Aqua every night which is highly unusual for me to eat in a hotel restaurant let alone the same one three nights running! The two main reasons for this were that the hotel restaurant really was excellent and also that there weren't too many other choices of places to eat in the local area! (more later…)

The ambiance of the Aqua is one again of understated elegance where the service was, for the most part, very good. The restaurant is large with a series of areas meaning that even when the place is busy it is still quiet enough to enjoy a peaceful meal. The meals were a variety of local and international specialties including meat dishes, fish and pasta. The main courses start with lighter bites in the teens of dollars with main courses being $25+. The food is varied and imaginative and is nicely presented and I had lovely meat, fish and pasta dishes here. There is an extensive wine list that has some very expensive bottles and some far more reasonably priced offerings. If you can leave room for dessert as they have some of the most mouth watering temptations here including my favourite the chocolate napoleon. You are also offered mouth water bread to begin with, complementary canapé as well as the hotel's hand made chocolates after you have finished. It cost around $180 for two people including decent wine etc. for a two/three course meal which wasn't too bad considering the food was excellent, well presented and the lovely service and ambiance.

The hotel bar is next to the restaurant and rather strangely closes at 11pm each night and this would be my only real complain about this hotel as I have ever stayed anywhere where a hotel bar closes this early… Nevertheless the bar again is nice light and contemporary and offers the usual range of drinks and cocktails. Again service was excellent and prices comparable with other similar hotels.

Breakfast wasn't included in our room rate but the hotel restaurant offers a wide range of cooked and fresh breakfast items including a buffet for around $17 per person. Although the choice wasn't enormous all the food was very, very nice and included cereals, fruits, hot cooked and breads etc. Sunday brunch appears to be a very popular choice amongst locals here and very much worth checking out if you stay here over a weekend. Didn't see any actual celebrities but obviously one of the 'in' places for Miami movers and shakers to hang out at the weekend!

Again on the 7th floor you will find the pool as well as the outside café and bar. We didn't swim in the pool as it was a bit windy and cool when we were there but there is a nice adult swimming pool (i.e. one that you can actually swim lengths in) as well as a lounging pool that you can place a sun bed in and yes drinks will be served to you here! The café and bar offer enclosed style seating outside amidst some break taking views of the ocean and a trickling waterfall in the background…

Anything else?

The hotel also gas a café on the third floor which I think is aimed at the people working in the HSBC building but this does offer cheaper options for breakfast and lunch but it closes early evening.

The hotel also has extensive gym facilities although we didn't get chance to use them (probably should have done to work off all of the nice meals we ate…)

The shop on the 7th floor lobby stocks a nice range of expensive gifts but also some essential items such as snacks, drinks and toiletries all at very reasonable prices.

This hotel is located in the financial/business district of downtown and my main criticism really is that there isn't an awful to do in the immediate vicinity. There are a few restaurants (as well as other hotels) if you turn right outside of the hotel. You can also take nice walks down by the ocean front and a shopping centre is about 20 minutes walking right from the hotel. Other than that you can use taxis (always plenty of supply!) or the free Metro mover with a station located opposite the hotel. A taxi to and from the hotel is around $25 one way.

Overall, an exceptional hotel and if you could move it to a more vibrant part of town then it would be pretty hard to beat!
 

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