Need hotel/motel recommendation for South Florida

[Guest lieut_kije]

I'll be in South Florida at the end of April (Miami and Ft Lauderdal). Can someone recommend an economical place to stay that would be good for inviting an escort? You know, good insulation in the walls, easy, discrete access. Thanks.

[tropikal_knight]

DRfromFL

 

 

For Guesthouses in the area go to http://www.hotspotsmagazine.com (primarily Ft Lauderdale). There is also the Jefferson House in South Beach or you could try the Dorchester 1850 Collins in South Beach, suites have kitchens for extended stays. There are numerous Motel 6's, Best Westerns etc. but most are not in the prime gay areas. In Ft Lauderdale you may want to try the Cabanas on 26th St. in Wilton Manors, about one mile from all of the bars, restaurants etc. They are reasonable and have nice facilities, most of the other Guesthouses in Ft Lauderdale are nearer the beach and further from the bar scene.

[Guest DevonSFescort]

In a few hours I will be checking out of Marriott's Harbor Beach Resort & Spa in Fort Lauderdale. I can recommend it about as enthusiastically as any place I've stayed. It is a wonderfully luxurious resort with all the bells and whistles you'd expect, and supposedly it's where JW Marriott himself takes his family to vacation. The staff are very attentive and sweet; they have great amenities and it's right on the beach. The public spaces are very nice and I got a tastefully appointed, very comfortable room on the 14th floor with a balcony and a gorgeous intercoastal view (it may have helped that I always make a point of smiling and being very sweet to the front desk people, who have a lot of power).

 

Often when you stay at "resorts" that are on the beach what you are paying for is the location and the accomodations themselves are disappointing. This is NOT the case with this place. Their fitness center, which is free to use, is very good by hotel standards, and the rooms come with high-speed Internet access (HooBoy, are you listening? :-) ) for $9.95 a day which also includes unlimited local AND long distance calls. I didn't really check out the spa but again they seem to have everything if you go for spa treatments and the like. Room service is prompt and the food's good; they make a terrific conch chowder and the seafood linguini and the Australian sea bass were both excellent.

 

I'm not an expert on insulation but it seemed fine to me; I wasn't disturbed by any noise while I was here. It is easily accessed by your escort; there's no security or need to use a key card in the elevators. (You will need to cover his parking costs -- they have both valet and self-parking options.)

 

The only drawback I can think of is that if you want to do anything outside the resort you have to drive to it. It's not like South Beach, where you can walk everywhere, but I understand much of Fort Lauderdale is that way. I wouldn't know how near the gay scene it is because I was feeling lazy and just stayed put and relaxed.

 

Is it economical? I paid $69 a night on Priceline. That's equal to or less than what you'd pay to stay at a dumpy motel. If you're squeamish about using Priceline, don't be in this case -- this is the ONLY hotel in the Fort Lauderdale Beach zone that comes up at the resort level. So you won't get some other place and be disappointed. When you go to bid, pick the Fort Lauderdale Beach zone and bid at the resort level. If your first bid is rejected, add the Fort Lauderdale Airport zone and add $5 (there are no resorts by the airport so in effect you're getting a free rebid). If that gets rejected, add the Pompano Beach zone and add $5 (ditto). And so on. The only two other zones where they have resorts accepting Priceline bids are Fort Lauderdale West - Plantation (which has a Wyndham resort) and Hollywood (which has a Westin, which I've heard is amazing so you'd be lucky to get that anyway).

 

Am I sleeping with somebody in the travel biz to get this info? Not that I know of. I just go to http://www.biddingfortravel.com -- a site where travelers post their winning bids on Priceline and lots of useful info on how to get amazing deals like this one. It has saved this ho a lot of money and I've always had a nice place to entertain clients or to kick back and relax if I want a little off-duty time. Read their Hotel FAQ and you'll learn a lot about making travel affordable.

[+ deej]

Good to hear you're relaxing, and you certainly picked a great location for it. I was at the Mariott Harbor Beach for a week last year for a conference. WONDERFUL hotel! Having visitors is no problem at all.

 

Your priceline recommendation is good also. I was there at a special "conference" rate and still paid more than double what you did. x(

[Traveler North]

Try the Holiday Inn Resort on Collins Avenue in South Beach. Use Priceline to see if you can get a deal. Have stayed there several times and enjoyed it very much. Right on the beach.:7

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

North Face

 

>I'll be in South Florida at the end of April (Miami and Ft

>Lauderdal). Can someone recommend an economical place to stay

>that would be good for inviting an escort? You know, good

>insulation in the walls, easy, discrete access. Thanks.

 

Makes these great four person tents, easy to assemble, very cozy, very comfortable, totally private and discrete and as they are meant for severe weather, they are extremely well insulated. You can park it right on the beach and not only have easy access, but have a wonderful view.

[Guest DevonSFescort]

I was in South Beach over the weekend and had a great stay at the Roney Palace Resort on Collins at 23rd. It is undergoing a little renovation (or as they spin it, "you are experiencing the rebirth of a landmark" -- it's an Art Deco hotel, obviously) but it wasn't a disruption at all (no construction noise, etc.) -- the only exceptions being that one of the elevators was out of order and guests aren't allowed to access the balconies until the city has approved their condition.

 

I got the room on Priceline for $75 a night plus $10 resort fee (I know -- how "hypocritical" of me! :+) -- see the post above for info about BiddingForTravel. I arrived a couple hours before the official check-in time (3pm most places but in Florida it seems to be 4pm -- and you have to check out at 11am) and my room wasn't ready, so they upgraded me for free to a suite which was enormous. I've heard they do this frequently, even for Priceline customers. I've also heard that the regular rooms are very large too, but it was incredible to spend the weekend in what is not only practically a condo but is literally available for sale AS a condo (they have literature in the room). It even had a kitchen area with a microwave. Believe me, you could pick worse places to live. No high speed internet access, unless you count the WebTV like thingie, but local calls are 75 cents per call with no per minute charges. The decor was on the spare side, which I like -- a lot of white and off-white -- and the bathroom was good sized.

 

It's right off what only last year was a gay beach, complete with rainbow flag, though a few straight people were already creeping in, (and I seem to remember topless women). Not so now -- it's mostly hetero now including some families with kids, and the flag is gone. Not cruisy in the least. So some people will feel differently from others on that, but it is a beautiful beach and at this time of year the water is so warm that there's never a question of having to acclimate to it for even a second. Even wading in it at 10pm at night it was incredibly warm. The hotel is about six blocks from Lincoln Road Mall (I love that you can walk everywhere in SoBe). There's a full-blown health club (not a "fitness center" but a real gym) and hotel guests can get daily memberships for $10.

 

I only noticed when I started this reply that you only started getting all this advice a month AFTER your trip! Where did you end up staying?

[Guest DevonSFescort]

Forgot to say that the hotel attracts a mostly (not exclusively) young, diverse group of guests, and they're there to party, so you do hear them on the weekend in the halls, but actually not that late, and it was never really bad -- I was just "aware" of it.

 

Having lived in California for nearly six years it is a TRIP and a time warp) coming to Florida and seeing ashtrays in the elevator lobbies! :o :+