Berkeley Shore Hotel

If I had a choice to sleep in my car I would. Terrible smell inside the entire building. Constant construction noise at 6 am making it impossible to sleep. I have never stayed anywhere this bad. I gave the manager a chance to help us and he said there is nothing he could do. I truly hope they shut this place down. Do NOT stay here unless you don’t mind sleeping in a shut box with pillows. How can these people get away with this?

Absolute hole! Spent one night with no sleep and left for the second night. I’ve stayed in back packers hostels for $ 30 a night that are better than this!

DO NOT, I MEAN DO NOT STAY HERE!!! This hotel should be closed DOWN!!! They never cleaned our room!!! The cleaning staff never took the trash out of our room. We took it down to the lobby ourselves!!! Not enough outlets!!! We had to find the cleaning lady to get her to change our sheets!!! The pillows look to be 25 years old!!! YUCK!!! You can’t control the temperature in your room. We froze the entire time!!! They don’t give wash cloths and towels after 4pm claiming they don’t have the key. The shower looked like mold was around it. They are an over priced dump!!! I think I will call the Health department. I don’t think they clean anything!!! It reminded me of a whores hotel!!!

I was booked into this Hotel by an new assistant. When I saw the name I thought it must be one of the newer boutique hotels on Collins and actually looked forward to getting there. I have stayed on Collins at least 8 times before and stayed at Royal Palms, Shore Club (2x) and Lowe’s (4x). This is not so much a hotel but a hostel. When I first walked up to the counter the overwhelming smell of urine that was trying to be covered up by some sort of flower perfume. The first thing I did was try and book another room at one of the locations I had stayed previously nothing available for the night. I went to Lowe’s across the street and stayed there working in the lobby until about 1:00 in the morning (they had a solid WiFi connection and it didn’t smell. When I couldn’t stay awake any longer I knew I would have to stay at least one night in this hostel. When I got on the elevator to go to my room on the 3^rd floor the license in the elevator expired 09/​30/​2009 (I have pictures). When I exited the elevator it was easy to find my room because the room numbers were hand written with Sharpie on the doors. Got to my room (305) opened the door and behold my room, the chair that I guess was to used to sit at was ripped up, someone had stolen the battery from the smoke detector, the electrical outlets were open and empty, the patch work on my wall was something from rural Mexico, there was a hole in my bathroom but lucky for me it was stuffed with toilet paper. Being very tired I pulled the nasty 70’s style bed cover from my bed to find out there are no blankets but there is a sheet wrapped around the mattress not bed cover and sheet just a sheet. So i took the towels out of my bathroom and covered the pillows and slept in my clothes. Checked out the next morning and checked into the Hyatt Regency more of a Hotel.

I booked the Berkeley Shore quickly, on a whim and then stressed for the next two weeks about my decisions after reading reviews. I even found back up hotels in case I just couldn’t say here. Here is the honest assessment.
The hotel is old and needs updating. The pillows, towels, sheets and blankets are old. There aren’t decorations on the walls and the televisions don’t have remotes. But, there wasn’t any bugs, the place was clean, and our doors locked well. The front desk staff was friendly, helpful, and answered whatever questions to you had. They don’t make you leave your keys at the front desk as a previous reviewer said and I didn’t see prostitutes hanging around. In fact, the hotel was quiet (despite being fully booked). No loud parties or inconsiderate people walking the halls.
You are booking a hotel that is less than $ 100/​night in South Beach. You are getting just a step above hostel. No iron, no blow-​drier. My one true complaint is that I didn’t always have hot water. The hotel was just sold to a developer and I would be surprised if they just gut it and redo it. The location is great. Close to shops, Ocean Ave, and a great coffee shop across the street (Aroma– the chocolate croissants are great!)
So while I wouldn’t recommend the hotel to my Mother, I might to a college student or budget traveling looking for a place to stay near the beach in SoHo. It was definitely below my standards, but I didn’t leave running and I felt safe. Use your common sense, this isn’t the Ritz, but it was fine for the trip.

I’m really being to nice giving this hotel 2 stars. The only thing that saved this hotel was the re-​modeled bathroom, the early check in and location. Other than that it was a disgrace. My door looked like it has been kicked in before, and I haven’t seen a real door key to a hotel room since prom. Also no one came to clean my room the next day and when I asked for clean towels the guy at the front desk claim he didn’t know where housekeeping kept them. Oh did I mention it’s no phone in the room iron or hair dryer. Uggggg this is the beach at least have a hair dyer. I would not come looking for this place again.

I didn’t stay here but I did have dinner here on New Year’s Eve. They were serving dinner on the deck in front of the hotel and there was a great ambiance going on. The lighting was soft and it felt intimate, but we were still able to enjoy people-​watching on Collins. The food was good, but what initially drew me here was the Rat Pack music they were featuring. At dinner, they had a Frank Sinatra impersonator entertaining us. I recall his name was Jose Hivanes, and he was not only a good singer but he was absolutely charming! Even when a liquored up greasy fellow ran away with his mic and began freestyle singing to his 19 year old girlfriend, the host kept his composure. I’ll never forget my excellent NYE experience here.