BookIt.com® Verified Traveler VanessaNY from Brooklyn, New York

"First of all, the hotel is located in an ideal location, about 1.5 blocks away from the beach. It is surrounded by other more pristine hotels, such as the Royal Palm Hotel, which is right across the street. The hotel has a small driveway and can valet park your car for $20 for 24 hours. They were accommodating such that even after we checked-out, they still allowed us to keep the car in their garage until we were actually ready to leave S. Beach. That's a plus, because it's very hard to find a place to park on the streets, and you'll likely have to pay for parking, and worry about someone breaking into it--so it was good that we could leave our car in their garage. Once you enter the hotel, you're greeted by a cool (air conditioned) environment, open view of the main street, their cafe is off to your right, the reception desk to your left, and the pool side area directly ahead. The receptionists were friendly. The cafe food was not great. The hotel advertises complimentary breakfast (it was only cornflakes, tea/coffee, and OJ). While the cafe offers more, the food really wasn't that good, but it is cheaper compared to some other places to eat nearby. (One good restaurant we found toward the end of our stay was Tequila Chicas Mexican restaurant, great food/drinks and price). Back to the Aqua Suites, the poolside area could use some pressure washing, a lot of mildew is imbedded within the pool and fountain stones. The pool is really a hot-tub/jacuzzi. The temperature was great and inside of it was chlorinated and clean. But, some of the guest who are smokers use it as a hub to chill around, so that may put you off a bit if you're a non-smoker. Now, for the room! We stayed in a double bed room. The room was very spacious, the beds were full-sized, comfortable, clean, linens were immaculately white. There is a small flat screen tv mounted near the ceiling. You get cable tv, and free Wi-fi access. There are two large windows at the front and back of the room, which creates a nice, bright, open area for you during the day. The place is newly painted, and you can still smell remnants of the new paint fumes. There is one closet, and a small table near the window. There is NO length-wise mirror, so you can only see how you look from the head up in the bathroom medicine cabinet mirror! The tub drains slowly, the tiles on the bathroom floor could also use some pressure-washing. They provide the cheapest bathroom toiletries (so, be sure to bring your own soap, lotion, shampoo, shower cap, etc). The bathroom is equipped with a hair dryer. The room is also equipped with a new iron (no ironing board though, so you'll have to use the bed to press your clothes on), a futon, a small fridge, and a safe (but, I wouldn't leave anything valuable in your room). The room itself looks like it may have been an apartment back in the days. They have a nice common balcony area on the 2nd floor for the guests to dine or relax at, and huge wicker (tanning) chairs. Overall, the hotel is not quite as pristine as it is pictured on-line; it could definitely use some improvements (as mentioned above). It's not worth the price I paid to stay for one night (a total of $144 with taxes). For that price or a little more, you'd get more value staying at a more luxury hotel. But, it works for the young-College-type-folk or foreigners who don't mind ruffing it there for a short time."

"castro would not put his political enimies in this hotel!"