Essex House Hotel

Good location, service is very good, only problem is the toilet, water is not strong enough.

My cousins and I visit South Beach about five times a year, and we always stay at the Essex. Each visit keeps getting better, and the main reason is one person: Joel, the supervisor. Joel’s customer service is truly top-tier. He goes above and beyond every single time—whether it’s recommending great local restaurants, making sure I have water to stay hydrated , extending my stay to make things easier, or personally checking in at my door to ensure everything is perfect. His level of care and dedication is rare, and it’s the reason I’ll never consider staying anywhere else when I’m in South Beach. Joel is not only professional, but he also makes sure every guest feels valued and appreciated—and I know this because I’ve spoken to other guests who have stayed here, and they don’t have enough good words to say about Joel either. He has been with the Essex for a long time, and it shows in the way he represents the hotel with pride and consistency. Employees like Joel are the reason people keep coming back, and I sincerely hope management recognizes the tremendous impact he has on guests like me. Thank you again, Joel, for another outstanding stay. I look forward to seeing you and your team in November!

I've stayed at this hotel for over eight years.This week was the first bad experience with front desk person DEMETRIUS. .He charged me fifty dollars for early check-in, which has never happened before.I later learned that he is scamming me and other guests by taking the cash which is not hotel policy. When you stay here do not give Demetrius cash. The rest of my experience was wonderful.Front desk persons Charlene and BeauCe are very welcoming.They're very caring, and they're very honest, I've stayed at this hotel twice this month and BeauCe and Charlene made each experience the BEST. I APPRECIATE THEM BOTH. JoJo.

Good things: AC worked well, artwork was nice, strong toilet flush, employees polite Bad things: Flooring coming up in bathrm, mold smell in bathrm, dirty cotton swab on shelf in bathrm, 4 guests-only 2 towels, no pool at Essex-only @ Clevelander which is 18+ so we couldn’t use it, ice machine broken, one tiny elevator that was jerky and “droppy”, hot water came and went about every 45 seconds in shower (would continuously go from scalding to very cold), beach chairs-only 2 per room, and location is a hike-also not where they told us-it’s @15th not between 14th and 15th-grey chairs not brown-hut is white with grey stripe, 4 channels on TV, TV remote did not work, phone in rm did not work, hallway carpets filthy, HVAC vents filthy…the place is a dump, basically.

Unfortunately my review will not be a good one. I had booked 3 rooms for myself for my birthday. Upon arrival, there was some confusion about my reservation. However, the front desk person was able to find all three rooms when I gave the reservation numbers. Our rooms were close to each other, which was nice. When walking into my room we immediately noticed a musty smell and saw a large hairball on the floor that seemed to be left by the cleaners. We also noticed there was pee all over the toilet seat and a layer of dust on the entertainment shelves. We called down to the office to complain when I had the hot water running for 15 minutes and it still hadn't gotten warm. They told me they would send someone up. By the time they came, it started to get warm (around 30 mins since turned on). My friend then had to take a cold shower because we were on a time crunch and I had turned off the water. Later that night (2:00am) my friend and I got back to the hotel and I noticed the door was not able to close. I called down to the front desk and was told someone would be up soon. I realized the person told me the wrong room and called back down to make sure they came to the right room. The person that answered the phone was extremely rude asked me why I had not noticed it earlier and told me that I was unable to move rooms because there was no other rooms. I told her I was not asking for that unless my door would not close. The person that came up was more pleasant. They had difficulty closing it and eventually slammed it shut. I told them I was going to try, and continued to have difficulty unless I really slammed the door, but still could not lock it. I did not feel comfortable doing that because my friend was right next door trying to sleep. They eventually said this was a safety issue and they would go see if there was a room available and call back. We packed and they called shortly after to move us from 308 to 303. Before they left I thanked them for moving us and they said "well you wouldn't have been happy unless I did". We had settled in a little and we're falling asleep and we got a knock on the door (3:00am). I opened the door and the person asked me if I could "show what was wrong with the door" I told them I didn't think I needed to show them but proceeded to walk back to my old room. I pushed open the door and they said "wow that's not safe" I responded "yep" and told them I was going to bed and walked away. The room we got moved into didn't lock either. At that point I wasnt going to complain anymore. We tolerated it but didn't feel completely safe. I seriously considered leaving and booking at another hotel, but my other friends were there too, and I didn't want to inconvenience them. A hotels main concerns should be cleanliness and safety and I felt both of them were extremely lacking.