Bad experience; Will not be back
My wife, son and I checked-in at Loew's Miami Beach Hotel on July 28, my birthday. Being a luxury resort hotel, we were expecting a relaxing time for 4 days.
On our third day in the hotel, while we were on our way to the swimming pool, security stopped us and asked for our hotel keycard. While my wife was looking for the keycard in her bag, another family passed by, but security did not ask for their keycard. I was a bit insulted, but decided to shrug it off.
We got our towels from the booth, then went to the beach. We needed to use our keycard in order to pass through the gate going to the beach. After about an hour in the beach, we decided to go back to the hotel pool. My 4 year old son insisted on opening the gate himself (using the keycard), and naturally, was having a difficult time. At that same moment, another family from the hotel side was able to open the gate, but upon seeing our son, decided to let us go in first.
While we were on our way in, another security rushed towards us with his hand stretched out as if telling us to stop. I could sense the hostility. I think he already assumed that we were trespassers because if he even entertained the possibility that we were guests, he would have shown a little courtesy. I showed him our keycard and went on our way to the pool area. Unfortunately for us, this was not the end of it.
At that time, most of the lounge chairs in the pool area were already occupied. We finally saw one vacant lounge chair and put our towels there. There were 3 of us and we would have been contented with one chair. Then, a lady staff approached us and told me that she was already reserving that chair for another family. She said that she was having that chair transferred to another spot so the other family could sit together. When I did not budge, she just dismissed me and said "Never mind!".
I was really pissed! I cannot understand why that staff would prioritize one guest over others. How hard would it have been for her to look for other vacant chairs? Would that lady staff have the guts to ask a white guest to vacate his lounge chair?
I also noticed that everytime guests would arrive at the pool and get their towels from the booth, the staff would accompany them to the lounge chairs. The staff would arrange the chairs and put covers. I did not previously notice this SOP because for the past 3 days, this courtesy was never extended to us. In fact, for 4 days (until our day of check-out) that we used the pool and got towels from that area, nobody offered assistance to us. NOBODY! Of course, we could find our own chairs, but it was disturbing that nobody offered assistance for the 4 days that we were there.
It was as if these people have a pre-conceived idea of how their guests should look like. If we were white or latinos, I doubt we would have experienced this kind of treatment. I have stayed in many hotels all over the world and this is not just a case of bad service. It was as if because of our appearance, security immediately assumed that we were trespassers, while the staff just completely ignored us.
I filed a written complaint with front desk, and I was able to talk to one of the managers on our check-out day. She said she was sorry, then asked if she can buy us breakfast in order to make up for their shortcomings. I know some people would have been insulted by this. Oh, she also offered us a free upgrade in case we go back. Are you kidding me??? What a memorable birthday!
Hotels should make their guests special. I certainly did not get that from Loew's Miami Hotel. Worse, they made me feel the opposite. I could have just kept silent about this, but I decided to write this so that my son will have a better chance in the future of getting fair treatment regardless of the way he looks.