Penguin Hotel

"I recently stayed at the Penguin Hotel in Miami Beach, and let me tell you, it was a complete disappointment. For a whopping $400 per night, you'd expect at least some basic amenities, right? Well, think again. First off, in this day and age, it's unfathomable that they don't have any C-type cords to charge our phones. It's 2024, people! Get with the times! And to add, being music artists recording our music, my husband and I rely heavily on our electronics. Not having a charger box available completely ruined our night and disrupted our work. Sure, the location is decent, right in the middle of Miami Beach's hot spot, but that's about the only positive thing I can say. Oh, and let's not forget about the parking situation. They have absolutely no parking spaces around, and they have the audacity to direct us to their sister hotel, "The President," for parking. Well, surprise, surprise, the parking garage there was already full! We had no choice but to park at a nearby garage, which charged us $20/day. But since we stayed overnight, the costs quickly piled up, adding an extra $350 to our bill for parking alone. It's outrageous! A simple solution would be to provide guests with some form of parking voucher or ticket to alleviate the financial burden of parking. But alas, the Penguin Hotel seems more interested in squeezing every penny out of its guests rather than providing a satisfactory experience. Save your money and sanity, folks. Steer clear of the Penguin Hotel unless you enjoy disappointment and empty pockets."

"The person who answers the phone sounds aggravated, talks fast and was difficult for me to understand. I tried twice to get concrete info. about parking, but was told public garages are one block from hotel. The President, sister hotel on Collins street behind the Penguin has $48/day valet parking. There are now NO cars allowed on the Penguin’s section of Ocean Drive, despite pictures on their website. We couldn’t see any place to drive into or at the President to park, kept driving and found the parking garage at the next left (going South). It was $20/day! We parked there, went out to the street with our luggage, bags, etc. It really wasn’t too bad, just have to get them up about 4 steps to get inside to check in. There’s an elevator to get to the rooms. Our king room and bathroom were clean, and small, but adequate. There was a safe in the closet. Included with the room were coupons for breakfast and 1 drink at the happy hour for the two of us. The breakfast was great for us, and had many things that most people would enjoy: scrambled eggs, bacon one day, sausage the next, pastries, mini waffles, whole fruit, cereal, milk, juices, water and regular coffee (wish they’d had decaf). They did have hot chocolate packets and teabags, but never saw hot water, and I didn’t ask since I didn’t need it. Also, one issue came up the second day, and a young man in the kitchen quickly responded to it and did a great job! We tried to do the happy hour to use our coupons, but we were 20 minutes early before it opened, so never used them. Our room air conditioner wouldn’t work when we checked in, called the front desk. The maintenance man came within 20 minutes and got it working. It stopped working again overnight,and we called again. Once again a different maintenance man came and explained that the air conditioner being set at 69 wouldn’t come on because the outside temperature was around 59. He set it lower and it came on. We just set it lower until it cooled off a bit, then put it back on 69. We would potentially stay there again after getting the low-down on certain things, and for the price. The location was pretty good for walking a lot. There’s a pool on the top of the President hotel, and tried to go see it our last day, but the elevator wouldn’t go up there. Just wish the weather had been a little warmer to hang out by the beach and water, but still enjoyed the nature, some good food and a walking Art Deco tour to hear some history of the area. This area was more of a party atmosphere than we care for, lots of scantily clad women, etc."

"Nice little spot right on the beach in a really fun area. FYI, parking is a nightmare. Hotel is a bit older but location is hard to beat. Rooms were fine, small but clean and worked well for us. Lots of great little restaurants and bars close, and the beach is right there."

"Rooms were small but clean and comfortable and hotel in a great location. Stairs everywhere to get to our first floor room - made it difficult to maneuver all of our bags and kids! No one offered to help… at one point a housekeeper watched us struggling and didn’t even offer to hold the door."

"Pretty good stay. The rooms were in pretty good condition. The location is perfect. Right across from the beach and plenty of restaurants and other hot spots. Priced just right too. The free welcome drinks are a plus too. They'll also hold your luggage if you arrive early or need to hang around after check out. Lady at the front desk was very friendly too!"