This past weekend was our trip to the Residence Inn Miami Airport as part of the Marriott Wish You Were Here promotion. After I arrived home last night I started trying to figure out how to organize my blog post(s) about our experience. Since we had a wonderful experience, I finally decided to break the post up so it wasn’t information overload. This way I can share about our great overall hotel experience, the hotel itself, amenities, and the pet friendliness of the hotel.
We headed down to Miami on Friday and checked into our hotel around 2 pm. The hotel was amazing! It was an older hotel, but it had been completely redone. The inside was so inviting and it felt the way you’d expect a Florida hotel to feel. The hotel was part of a Marriott “campus” which also included a Courtyard by Marriott and a Marriott. The entire campus was gated and beautifully maintained.
Our room was perfect! It was a 1 bedroom suite (with a king bed) that had a full kitchen, living area, and a huge bathroom. The kitchen was a great size and included a full-sized fridge, microwave, stove/oven, and even a dishwasher. The cabinets were stocked full of everything you could need during your stay. They even had microwave popcorn for you! There was a table for two right by the kitchen so that you could sit down and enjoy your meals.
The kitchen opened up to the living area which included a desk (with an ergonomic chair), a couch (that had a pull out bed), a chair, coffee table with ottoman, and a nice sized flat screen tv. The window in the living room made the whole area feel light and bright, but it did have the standard hotel blackout curtains in case you wanted it a bit darker. We took advantage of the black out curtains in the living room and bedroom since we were on the first floor and people could see in.
One of the best things about the room was the door that separated the living room area from the bedroom and bathroom. Once through that door, you can get to the main part of the bathroom which included a large sink area with loads of storage. There was also a closet in this area as well. In its own room was the toilet and the shower. The bedroom included a wonderful king sized bed, a dresser with a tv, and another closet. The room had everything you needed and still felt cozy.
The room, along with the rest of the hotel, was very modern. The decorations were in nice bright colors, the artwork was modern, and the light fixtures were even fun. They were the kind that you would pick out for your own home. They didn’t look like something that came from the “generic hotel lights” catalog.
The hotel lobby was so open, bright and inviting. Most of the walls were windows which made the space seem even bigger than it was. The whole lobby was filed with comfortable furniture groupings that just screamed “come have a seat!” A complimentary breakfast was offered every day and the breakfast area was off the lobby. This provided additional seating as breakfast was crowded every morning.
Right outside the lobby was a beautiful courtyard area that included two tables dining tables and some really comfy couches. Connected to this area was the hot tub. Since there were three hotels on this campus there was a large pool area that all the hotels shared. It was a very short walk from our hotel, but it was nice having the spa right there as well. Especially since it was right outside the fitness room.
All during the trip my mom and I kept commenting about how wonderful the hotel was and how much we liked it. Being an “airport” hotel we were very impressed with the entire campus. I think sometimes people think that airport hotel just provide the basics, but this hotel goes above and beyond.
Next Up: Our overall hotel experience and amenities
*Disclosure: Marriott provided me with a weekend stay at the Residence Inn Miami Airport and a travel stipend as part of this program. What I did during my trip was entirely up to me. All opinions regarding Marriott and Residence Inn are my own.
