I’m glad I stayed at The Mondrian and was able to live the full drunk in Miami experience during Art Basel weekend. I have some travel & spend type friends, so we decided to stay in the liveliest place we could find during Art Basel. The best thing about The Mondrian is the location; if you’re not next to whatever it is, you don’t need to worry because anybody and everybody will come to you.
Upon arrival, the place is gorgeous, but not incredibly organized. Maybe it was just that we were there for Art Basel weekend, but I walked into a girl being relocated because her room was unavailable. Luckily, our room was ready, but the room hold and the hotel fees kinda killed me on the way in, because I wasn’t expecting it. At any rate, they have complimentary champagne at the front, so don’t forget to ask because they might forget to give. With what the rooms cost a night, I don’t think you should miss out on anything “complimentary” because you’ve actually paid for it. My portion was $538.75, so I can only assume we paid $2155 for a double bed room. The prices were astronomical because it was Art Basel weekend, so I planned to get every penny worth.
As beautiful as the view was, the worst thing about The Mondrian were the logistics. The first issue we ran into was that they girl one of my girlfriends the wrong room key. She literally went to the wrong room! She noticed it was a one bedroom (not enough room for 4 women) and LEFT HER BAGS IN THE ROOM when she went down to the front desk to inquire. After a while, someone was able to direct her to the correct room, where I was hanging out patiently on the balcony. The key cards at The Mondrian are also a pain in the ass because they get deactivated way too often. This kinda thing happens in a lot of hotels, but it’s best to be mentally prepared for it– at least you know you’ll have to go to the front desk multiple times.
I decided to rent a car for the weekend, but skipped the parking fees because they run about $40 a night at the hotel, itself. Parking outside of the hotel actually wasn’t so bad. The only thing to watch out for are the street signs which are tricky af. I found parking right outside of the hotel, but I fell victim to the tows. The good thing about the hotel is the employees pay close enough attention to know exactly which car was towed and at what time. The tow place was super close, so it was only about a $5 Uber to (go and spend another $250 and) pick up my car. I didn’t need a car to get too many places, but I did need to drive to get to an affordable liquor store. Otherwise, we were pretty close to most things — I took a taxi back from the club and even though I was drunk, I know it was only a 5 minute ride back to the hotel and he only charged me $10.
The most uncomfortable thing about The Mondrian’s room was that there was a really cute table top stove, but no cooking tools or any utensils. I admit, there was also no space for any of the cooking items, but it really changed my vacation vibe. I like to make breakfast, when I have a kitchen, but there was nothing to make breakfast with. There wasn’t even enough room in the tiny fridge to put eggs (or any leftovers). I didn’t like that they filled the fridge with alcohol, forcing us to remove everything from the fridge in order to avoid confusion. And TBH, the only reason we realized the fridge was too full was because it didn’t close overnight and our leftovers spoiled. We stayed in a double, and that was an OK amount of space, but not enough to invite any other guests in. The bathroom was also a struggle for 4 ladies to get dressed without figuring out some sort of schedule.
The best thing about The Mondrian, as I mentioned before, is the location. The pool faces the ocean, so it’s a fantastic view and there is an amazing pool party on Saturday morning. It was actually the best way to attend the pool party. We didn’t need reservations because we were already staying at the hotel — all you need to get into the pool area is to show the people guarding the entrance your room key. Between 4 of us, we rented a bed right by the pool. It cost about $500 (plus gratuity) and was actually a pretty great split. The $500 deposit for the bed needs to be spent on food and drinks during the brunch hour. We each ate well but had a little over $100 left to spend by the time the party ended. We decided to spend the rest of our money on pitches of margaritas which we transferred into empty lemonade bottles and brought back to our room. Honestly, if you have absolutely no plans, The Mondrian is a plan itself. I will say though the the music can be hit or miss. We brought our own speaker for when it started to miss…
Unfortunately, I also lost my cell phone at The Mondrian day party. I can’t say it was their fault, but I can’t exactly say that it isn’t. I understand my phone was long gone, but… are there really no cameras in that pool area? I’m glad I was drunk enough to not care enough, but I’m a bit disappointed that my phone was just treated like a common happening. I would just warn you to keep your things close to you, if you do attend the pool party so that no one can kill your buzz.
I don’t really have a desire to stay at The Mondrian again, but I can totally see myself attending the pool party. Only mistake we made was not keeping the room keys. They were pretty strict about check out time, so we tried to hang out by the pool until our flight. I asked for a late check out but they threaten with $100/hour. They gave us just a little bit of a hard time because they don’t want you to have luggage (a backpack) and I left the room keys on the time. I just think this is one of the places where you spend more than you actually get. Even the customer service changes once you’ve spent you money. I was charged after our stay (still waiting to understand for what) so I called back for a copy of my receipt. If you have an issue, don’t call concierge, the front desk or the operator — call as if you are making a reservation and those people treat you much better.
Hope these tips might help! Happy Traveling!
EllaThought 