After a whirlwind work week, my sister joined me for a girly weekend on the beach and we relocated to Hotel Greystone which purports to be a design-y adults-only haven with its own beach access. Upon arriving at the hotel, the vibe was just right, the lobby was clean, elegant and well designed.

We were maybe an hour early for check-in and despite a request for early arrival, the room wasn’t ready. Fine, so we’d head to the pool, my sister in swimwear and me in a business suit. Certainly, this would be a good place for a drink and snack to await the room. Again, the pool was well-kept, quiet with a few couples just lounging about, and had a fun design vibe about it. Perfect! The food and drink were non-existent. There seems to be a closed bar on the top, but the front desk told us they’d send a waiter straight up. After about 30 minutes I called. After another 30 minutes, I went back down to the lobby to see if I could just order directly from the bar. The front desk person escorted me upstairs to show me where the pool waiter was. Shocking… he was not there. I wait again for someone to bring a menu and finally we can order. As other couples flagged this poor guy first, it was clear the lack of service was needed. The tuna nachos we ordered from the limited menu came as salmon… no big deal, but quite a difference.

An hour and a half later we head downstairs to check-in… thirty minutes after check-in time. Our room is still not ready and I am really getting annoyed. We were told not to worry, that our room (with a hot tub) was being cleaned still as the bachelor party from the night before had a late check out. Well by all means! If there are people I do not wish to sleep or swim after it’s a bachelor party… Why would they tell us this! They offer us a free drink and we await the room in the lobby bar. Finally, it’s ready and we head through the maze of the hotel and find our suite.

In addition to the no service, incorrect food, late check-in, and no escort to the room to show us the property, I was also surprised that the hotel did nothing for our 40th birthdays that we were celebrating even after we discussed this upon check-in. Nothing about this vibe matched with the marketing of the website and the place was far too expensive to be this poorly managed and serviced. The rest of the stay was much the same… any service item we asked for and ordered via the hotel tablet never arrived and again, we’d go fetch it ourselves to apology after apology.

The beach club was absolutely a joke as it was not a beach club at all. It was rights to use two worn out chairs of the Miami Beach rental agency. There was no food or beverage service and you had to bring your own towels to the beach. The resort fee of $50 for this is absolutely abhorrent.

One final note of annoyance and then we’ll get to the room tour. I cancelled and rebooked the hotel with a better rate online. One month later, my credit card is still dealing with contesting the charges of the first reservation. The lack of organization at this place is astounding.

The room was pretty and clean and overlooked a restaurant. We were provided ear plugs but really the restaurant part was no trouble, surprisingly. The room was just fine, but not the luxury it was made out to be on the site. If I’d paid about half of what I did, I would be happy. Well done, Greystone marketing.

There was a tiny table that served well for beach gear and a door that should support an old office building. It allowed much light through and never really got totally dark because of it.

The closet was small but manageable. It came with robes, but you had to request slippers via the tablet. We did, twice. On the third day, we fetched them ourselves.

The bathroom was large and featured a nice large shower, but lacked counterspace. Their was privacy over part of the window, but not all of it meaning you could see up to the pool deck…meaning if you were on the pool deck you could see guests on the toilet. Tres romantique.

The large shower was actually very nice… perfect for your bachelor party needs!

We had a spiral staircase that lead up to the hot tub on the roof. It was a bit treacherous, but we proceeded cautiously and only had minor injuries of stubbed toes on the first day until we got the hang of it. We tried to dry swim wear out here, but it was exposed to the elements so that didn’t really work either. This beach hotel also lacked a place for that.

Finally, the best part of the hotel was the hot tub on our roof terrace! It was a beautiful little respite and lovely to have a fun place to go during the daily rain showers. This is a great idea for hotels in Miami and again, I only hate knowing that a bachelor party probably felt the same just hours ago.

There were no instructions about any of this, again and no one showed us around, so we never covered the tub though that did seem to be there. Tips and tricks would be appreciated. Also, in a four day stay this area was never serviced so it was a dumping ground for wet towels and used glasses. Again, it wasn’t very romantic and for a hotel of this price point, rather disappointing.

Hotel Greystone sure has a great website, but I am sad to say the property just did not deliver, especially for such a landmark birthday. The amenities and service in no way match the price point and while the hot tub rooms are unique and fun, they just can’t carry the entire property. I would be hard-pressed to stay here again without a lot of improvements to the concerns listed above or a great change to price point.