Holiday Inn Coral Gables – University

I may be biased because I’m not footing the bill — the University of Miami put me up here. But when I think Holiday Inn, I think shitty motel. I wasn’t expecting much; even worried if they would put me in a room that reeked of cigarettes or puke… So imagine my surprise when everything was perfect! The public spaces and my room were very clean and seemingly recently renovated. Staff were very nice. $ 3.50 IPAs at the hotel bar during happy hour. Moreover it’s conveniently located near the University, the Metro, and several dining establishments.
But what really won me over was their attention to detail — my room had a little knockoff Keurig machine, cute Miami themed art, a refrigerator, a microwave, LOTS of accessible outlets in the lamps to charge your electronics without fumbling around and getting your arm stuck behind a dresser, pillowcases labeled «soft» and «firm» so you can use the ones you prefer, white bed comforters so you know they’re clean and no suspicious stains, and free wi-​fi. Fast enough to stream video! Many hotels try to increase profit by charging for internet, but free no-​hassle wi-​fi is such a plus. What hospitality.
I’m not exactly sure how it compares to similarly-​priced hotels in the area, but it looks like the room is about ~$ 115 regularly. For that price, I would definitely return on my own dime.
ETA — a lot of these other reviews mention a lack of food options nearby. I’m not sure how they got that impression. Yes, the hotel restaurant is most likely mediocre, but there is the Titanic Brewpub 4 blocks away, and the delicious Bagel Emporium 2 buildings down from the Inn. I went to both. Not haute cuisine, but also not Denny’s or McDonald’s (also nearby). And if you’re too lazy to walk a few hundred feet, there are many delivery options. So you won’t starve!

We had to stay here for my husband’s job at the University of Miami because it’s literally directly across the street (however if you want to cross the street, it’s a highway and you have to dodge cars in both directions… or walk out of the way down and out to a crosswalk). It’s a Holiday Inn, so if you don’t expect anything fancy you won’t be disappointed. The room was pretty clean, but the bathrooms are SMALL. The walls are also very thin and for 2 of our nights there we had a very noisy neighbor who was yelling on his cell phone for over an hour and I could hear the whole thing (including the person on the other end of his call).
Our room had a balcony overlooking the pool. The pool itself is a nice area, though they didn’t seem to have any towels for the pool? That was weird. There is a 24-​hour fitness center, but it too is very small.
The staff cleaned our room nicely each day, but my big gripe is that we had left behind a MacBook Pro laptop charger and they didn’t contact us to let us know. If they had, we could have come back and picked it up before leaving Miami. Instead, we didn’t realize we had left it until we got home to LA. We immediately called Holiday Inn to inquire about the missing charger and were told we’d have to call back the next day to talk to someone in that department. We did just that but when we were transferred to that other department, we were not connected to an actual person and could only leave a voicemail. Both my husband and I called and we both left voicemails — neither of our calls/​messages were returned. It wasn’t until I went online and got the email address of the manager and sent a message, that I finally got some sort of response. We ended up paying to have our charger sent back to us, but it took a lot of time and effort on our part to get that done. They certainly don’t make it easy to get back anything you may have left behind.
As far as the location goes, it’s perfect if you have any business at the university across the street. But other than that, it’s kind of no-man’s land. There aren’t any cute, charming places nearby in terms of going out for food/​drink. There’s a mediocre restaurant in the Holiday Inn which I ate at one night due to lack of other options nearby, and it was okay at best. There is a TGI Friday’s that you can walk to, and that’s really about it. Other than that you have to Über around to Coconut Grove or South Beach.

This review is strictly for Toucan’s restaurant and bar located on the entrance floor of the hotel.
The bar is to the far right of the floor as you enter the hotel. There is a decent happy hour list by reception to enti ce the guests to come and pay a visit. We went around 4PM at the beginning of the happy hour and the scene looked like this: 2 construction guys who were working on the pool earlier, an older couple having their lunner, a post doc researcher getting the only meal of the day and a student under a blanket working on her laptop. So, not your social happy hour :)
The staff are awesome, very friendly and helpful. They know their menu and drink collection well. Happily served us a shot glass sample of one of their beers on tap. Many smiles overall. We ended up ordering wings with our beers and although I can’t rave about them, there was really nothing terrible about them either. Nothing to write home about.
If you are stuck inyour room, come down and have a quick drink, otherwise many other options around the area.

Ok, this place stinks. Here are my complaints:
–They overbooked and we lost the double queen room we booked so they gave us a room with one king bed and ordered the world’s most uncomfortable cot as a second bed. The guy wheeled it 4 feet into the room and left… so I had to move all the furniture and place it down myself.
–The fitness center only had weights that went up to 20 lbs.
–They didn’t clean our room.
–Breakfast wasn’t only not free, it was pretty expensive for only some fruit and french toasts.
–The TV channels were fuzzy on all channels.
The room cost over $ 200 a night. I really expected a lot more quality than what I received.

Friendly and helpful staff. Located near the University of Coral Gabels. SMART GM Constinuo Papadopulos. He had an idea to create a go green flyer with sunflowers and butterflies. Which can be easily translated into a work of art. Pay it forward!

Stayed in this hotel because of how close it was to the University of Miami, however, it was a huge mistake. Upon arriving we noticed that there was a huge amount of construction going on. Strange, but I decided to give it a chance. When we entered we were upset to find out that the pool had been closed. The attendant at the counter said she would upgrade our rooms because we were unaware that we wouldn’t be able to use the pool, which we assumed would be open. (But I mean really, they didn’t warn us.) I thought great! They’re giving us another room and upgrading it. However, when we checked out we were alarmed when we realized that we had been charged for the extra room and «upgrade» service they told us they’d be providing for free. They left little room for negotiation so we just paid and left. The rooms were fine, however, the bathroom is so small and cluttered that you may find yourself reluctant to use it often. The entire hotel stinks so strongly of Febreze that I would advise you steer clear of this place if you have asthma or just plain hate breathing in chemicals. Also, after only a two night stay I managed to acquire far more bug bites than I ever have at any stay in any hotel I’ve ever experienced. (About 11, if you’re curious). Anyway, I gave this hotel a chance and it was absolutely not worth my time or money. If you find yourself staying here I wish you good luck! You’ll definitely need it.

The hotel is one of the worst that I have stayed at in a long time. The rooms are dirty and the shower was full of mildew and what I think might have been mold. For the amount I paid, I probably would have been better off staying on Brickell in one of the newer hotels.

I was in town to meet with some collaborators and chose this hotel due to its proximity to their building. I think relative to the price you pay, this hotel feels a bit shabby & outdated. I was actually surprised to see that the price for the second night was $ 90 more, until I realized that it was because of UM graduation. Shame on you Holiday Inn for gauging parents in this way! The surrounding area is a food wasteland (all chain restaurants) so I wouldn’t recommend staying here unless you rent a car. Old Dixie Highway is one continuous traffic jam. Really, unless you’ve got a kid graduating from UM, I don’t see any reason to stay here whatsoever, and even then it might be better to stay somewhere else nearby. It’s Miami & the world is your oyster!

Avoid this place, overpriced and you have to pay $ 5−10/night to park and pay $ 15 for breakfast. Wifi is horrible, front desk help does not care. Was first on 2^nd floor which smelled like a science experiment, ended up on the 1^st floor which was slightly better. Rooms are small. Bathrooms are tiny. Only good is that it is close to stores and not in a sh*tty part of town.

The hotel is fair, slightly overpriced with ok service but today after being out for 10 hours my room had not been made up. I told the front desk and she didn’t really seem to care much. I gave her an opportunity to be more empathetic but she ultimately rushed me off of the phone.
The meager fitness facilities also provide lukewarm water and no towels.
They do provide free wifi and the location is perfect of university of Miami families so I guess they don’t feel they need to provide top service to attract guests.

The hotel is fine. I did have a frig & microwave. Breakfast is overpriced, walk .2mi to the Bagel Emporium. I saw a roach come out on the nightstand and ants. I worry there was a lot more I didn’t see. Since I paid with Priceline there wasn’t much I could do.

I gave them a one star simply because there is no zero star option. I try hard to find out even a single shining point for this hotel, but I gave up after I stay there for one day. Poor service, impolite coincerge, dirty public area, smelly room, broken and messy elevator, low pressure water in bathroom, etc. things are all significantly below a three star hotel I have ever lived. Horrible experience. I want my money back.

First off, the overweight concierge was a dick, he tried to take our cab from us and give it to another g uest. Not to mention the busted-​ass continental breakfast cost 7 bucks. We decided to experience the local culture of miami and go to taco bell instead.

I like this place. The only problem is that I keep having to re-​login to wifi, and a small dispute with the front desk at the beginning that got quickly resolved. Quiet, clean room. I’d stay here again.

had to stay here for my college visit. The room reeked of cigarettes and it smelled and felt very damp. The short of it is that this is an old hotel in need of some work. Don’t be fooled by the exterior, or even the lobby work. I felt dirty the whole time and could not wait to leave. This hotel is a bit gross and dingy. You won’t see blatant filth, but it’s enough to make you feel very uncomfortable.

Pretty decent little hotel. They have free wifi and it was clean.

Eh. Old hotel with cosmetic upgrades. The bed was comfortable but thats about it. Only worth it if you are touring U Miami. if i had a kid there and was visiting them I’d stay somewhere else and drive over.

I chose this hotel for it’s close proximity to The University of Miami. I had an interview there. The pool was small but nice and the restraunt had resonably priced good food.
The downside of my stay started the first night when someone had puked in the hallway outside our room. I called the front desk and instead of doing a thourough job of cleaning the carpeting, it was wiped up poorly and the hall stunk our entire stay. You could even still see it on the floor.
The second night I arrived back to find puke in the elevator. That was not adequately cleaned up either. The hotel smelled the entire stay and no one seemed to care.

THE INTERNET SUCKS HERE… also…the dryers in the laundry room are the worst… at $ 1.50 a cycle… i had to feed the dryer 3 times for a small load… and then when i let the\m know about it at the counter… they merely blew me off… told me i should just move the load into another dryer–
NO I WANT YOU TO PAY FOR IT AS WELL… the pool looks nice… but i’m in miami during the unexpected cold snap… so i cant bitch about that… the restaurant isnt in plain view… but apparently they close at 10 along with the bar… which again irks me because i dont start drinkin til after 10…

My wife and I decided to choose this hotel for our wedding guests after meeting with Latoya. She was very kind, willing to work on prices, and gave us the hall to use for our rehearsal the night before the wedding.
She took us on a tour and told us about all the changes they were in the middle of making. She showed us one of the «new» rooms, with a flat screen TV, refrigerator and microwave. This was how all the rooms were supposed to look when it came time for our wedding.
Problem is this wasn’t true. They didn’t update the rooms, halls or anything else for that matter. My brother found bugs in his room and there were dirty dishes outside his room from the previous guests. The plates remained when they checked out three days later.
Also they didn’t hold the reservations. My guests booked rooms around the pool so we could all hang out on the patio. Instead they just gave them the rooms that were open, instead of holding the rooms requested. My guests were scattered throughout the hotel and on different floors.
When it came to the rehearsal dinner, they were short staffed, the desert was burned to a crisp and the only waitress working both our event and the restaurant had a death in the family. We felt so bad and wanted her to go home but the manager wouldn’t let her.
Most of my guests had a great time, but I doubt the hotel really aided in that good time however. If I had it to do over again, I would have picked a different place.