Wishes Hotel Coral Gables

We were robbed in parking lot during check in. Convenient that the hotel’s parking lot camera’s were not working. They have quite the scam going on here. Police told us this place has been problematic.

Pictures can be misleading. Originally I booked for five nights. Then I read the reviews ( yes, stupid, donut the other way round). So upon arrival my expectations were managed 😬. Better than in most recent reviews: not only friendly staff, but also no problems language-wise (I don‘t have Spanish). Wifi ok, no loud neighbours. The room is clean, bathroom modern and even has a bidet ( guess that is the first I see this side of the pond). Bed with a proper mattress. So that is that. No other perks like decorations etc. Coffee at reception but not in room. Basically nothing that would make you spend a rainy day here. So I changed the hotel after one night. Major problem to me is that it is promoted as a hotel and not a standard motel. So for what it really is, the price is too high. But you don’t have to panic if you read the reviews only after booking.

The bad experience started at check in and just got worse. I arrived at 2:45 and there were only about 10 cars in the lot. The Check In Agent started speaking to me in Spanish. I believe the language of America is English. She then, in very broken English told me my room was not ready because they are sold out even though the parking lot that accommodated over 100 cars had about 10 cars in it. I finally got to my room than had a strong smell of mold. My king bed had only one pillow. I asked a housekeeper for more pillows who of course didn't speak English. I brought my pillow out to him and held up 2 fingers. He nodded yes but never showed up. An hour later I called the front desk and was told they do not have any more pillows. The bed sheets also smelled of mold. After walking across the carpet floor barefoot my feet bottoms were black with dirt. When I checked out I thought my nightmare was over but not yet. They took a $20 deposit on my credit card upon checking in. At check out another non English speaking woman pretended she didn't know what I was talking about with the $20 deposit. After about 10 minutes she realized I wasn't leaving and suddenly she was able to speak English. She told me that she could not refund the deposit because my credit card is a Debit/Master Card. I had to get Expedia involved to get my $20 back taking about an hour of my time and 2 phone calls to Expedia. Do not stay at this hotel.