Miami Travel Forum

My husband and I and our 7 year old daughter are stopping over in Miami for one day en route to Boston.

We have been looking at places to stay and have seen some likely hotel/hostel type places with reasonable reviews, but in every bunch of good reviews there are always at least two horror stories; BED BUGS, cockroaches etc. Bedbugs would definitely not be anyone's idea of a good time....

Can any travelers recommend a good cheap clean place for us? We are not cleanliness freaks, just not interested in sleeping with wildlife.....would be cool if it was close to the beach.

Can't recommend anywhere specific, but would suggest that it is quite usual for online reviews to contain horror stories. These are often posted by competitors, guests who have a grudge etc.

Balance the number of good reviews against the horror stories. If most are good, then that should tell you something about the validity of the others.

Hopefully other VT-ers will be able to give some specific recommendations.

cheap and close to the beach,cant find one, the beach is it in Miami,call Miami Beach ,a town. Miami is another city, many times lump in together. I used to lived west of FT Lauderdale in my traveling nomad life ::)

Do not know those problems you read, maybe the hotels were really cheap ::)

are you stopping over by plane, boat or automobile??? If by Plane, which would be easier to go to Boston, the NW 36 st and Lejeune Rd corridors have plentyof decent price hotels. Try this group ,the top 3 are in Miami and were good
http://www.miami-hotels-airport.com/index.html

Howard Johnson Plaza hotel, Red Roof Inn, and Days Inn by the airport wre always good as of 2003. google for their chains online.

When looking at different web sites that review hotels I always look at the date the review was registered on the web. If a lot of the reviews, good or bad, were entered within a relative close dates I find that very suspicious.

I would be also careful that it is in a decent area. I have not been to Miami for some time, but perhaps after you find a place you can post back.

I agree with the previous posters regarding competing posts, however, if I find two different posts that are definitively different in demeanor, I would pay attention. There can be lots of roaches in Miami ... big, palmetto bugs.

Bugs and critters are rampant in the hot and humid climate of South Florida !

I cannot tell you about cheap and clean hotels near the beach, but you might find some bargains during off-season. The rates are quite high during tourist season.

In addition to Miami Beach , there are many small hotels close to the beach all along the coastline, (e.g. Fort lauderdale, Daytona,) so if you are driving, it should be possible to keep looking for some time to try and find an acceptable value.

Among many that I have stayed at in Miami, I found La Quinta Inns to be nice, very reasonably priced and clean - BTW they also have discounts if you are AAA member or AARP member or senior citizen, etc.

Google them and call them for your specific needs

Good luck.

Last weekend I stayed at the Daytona Bahama House and didn't wanna leave. The staff is courteous and very efficient, the rooms are kept neat and the view is amazing! I would definitely look into getting a room there if possible. http://daytonabahamahouse.com

Please define where you want to stay..There are 3 different areas..Miami or Miami Beach and then there is South Beach. If you are only spending 1 day consider spending the night at a Motel near the airport and take a taxi to South Beach and have dinner. This is a VERY different and interesting area.
Plenty to see and do..shopping.beach.history etc. But with only 1 day you will be limited. There are very few good cheap accommodations in either Miami beach or South Beach and yes I have experienced horror stories myself, but South Beach
is very different and s/b seen