This had to be the worst place I've ever had to stay. Me and a group of friends were in the downtown area for a convention (me and four other people). Not only did they state they'd have free wifi and continental breakfast, but finding the damn place was near impossible. You have to go through another hotel parking lot to even get in the turn lane for this hotel. The price might look cheap, but they get you with valet parking ($21 per night). Parking on your own is down the road, causing you to need to walk through traffic to your car and room.
The staff is distant, and rude, not at all the hospitality I expect from hotels. The valet is. . . words can't describe it. It seemed more like he wanted to get in my car and run me over rather than take it to the parking place. The front desk is a fake kind of attitude that makes it seem like you're just another check to them.
Cheap, but not worth it, sleeping outside seems more inviting.

My daughter left her laptop comupter when we departed for the Miami port and we discovered it within 30 minutes of leaving the hotel. I called the hotel immediately and they claimed to check the room and said it wasn't there. We know that we were responsible for our belongings; however it was definately in the room and so they obviously have thieves that work there. They didn't show any sense of concern or urgency when I called.

This was our first stay after leaving Orlando, we made the reservations and the staff member(Front Desk) was rude and had no interest whatsoever in me or my reservation there, trying to get information from her was like pulling teeth, but this was my first trip to Miami, and the hotel was downtown so I figured how bad could it be after all the price was right about 100.00 bucks, but I did listen to my instinct and made the reservation for only one night, and booked six nights at the quality Inn at the Falls, the front desk clerk there was great who took my reservation, the River Park when we pulled up looked like a dump in need of some serious renovations, not enough space to pull up to and check in while you take your luggage out of the car, no parking except next door in a office tower (Public ) garage, $21.00 a night, While riding back down in the garage elevator, I noticed a sign that said Hyatt Hotel Guest pay $5.00 a night or something like that, When we checked in at the front dest I asked if they had a similar arrangement with the garage and of course the answer was no. The Girl at the check in desk had no personality and let it be known by her attitude that she was in control, not the customer, the lobby was O.K. but the room was old and outdated, and not the cleanest room I had ever stayed in, much like the Edison Hotel in NYC, I did not feel safe in this hotel, one of only 2 hotels out of Hundreds I have stayed in that I had that feeling, anyhow to make a long story short, I could not wait for checkout the next day for our 20 minute drive to the Quality Inn hotel at the falls outside of Miami on route one, and just as expected from my initial phone conversation with Stanley at that hotel, It was going to be a great stay there, and it was. Stay away from this hotel, if you really need to be downtown stay in a well known chain for a few extra bucks, your peace of mind will be worth it.

I wish to inform you of the problems encountered with the booking at the River Park Hotel & Suites.

After booking on line on January 19, 2008 I phoned to confirm that the rate would be $79:00 per night and because of being allergic to cigarette smoke we would require an non-smoking room and also a room in a quieter area of the hotel. These special requests at this hotel were confirmed by the agent of the online booking company on January 22, 2008.

My husband and I checked in at 3:30 P.M. but prior to signing the room agreement I noticed the invoice was for $89:00 per night. Despite seeing the print out of our confirmation from the booking agent,she refused to honour the $79:00 confirmed rate. I insisted that this rate had been posted online and also I had verbal confirmation from the booking agent Joanna, that this would be the rate we would be paying. The receptionist then went to contact the online booking agent's office. After waiting 30 minutes, she returned with a revised invoice with the $79:00 rate, but we did not realize that they had made a change and had moved us from the 6th floor to the 4th floor.

When we entered room 410 there was a very strong smell of cigarette smoke. The front room and all the furniture was saturated with cigarette smoke. We quickly closed the connecting door and entered into the bed room. The smell of cigarette smoke was not as overpowering, so we opened the three windows to help air the smoke smell out of the room. After having encountered so much difficulty with the front desk, we decided to accept the room, rather than ask them to move us.

In the evening we went to close the curtains, but there were no drapes to block out the bright light from the street and the two flood lights mounted on the lower roof of the hotel just below our windows. The room had only a sheer see through curtain and it was as bright as daylight in the room at 10:00 P.M.

I phoned the Front Desk and they sent the maintenance man up. He looked at the sheer curtain and how bright and glaring the light was in the room. He attempted to pull the decorative side panel across to cover the sheer curtain covering the large center window but it was impossible. He agreed that this room needed a proper curtain. He would tell the Front Desk and they would move us to another room. Unfortunately there were no other rooms available. We could be moved the next day.

In desperation I went down to the Front Desk and requested they lend us two large sheets and I pinned them onto the top of the header of the valance to block out the light. We noticed they did switch off one of the flood lights that was aimed towards our window.

The next morning we decided not to request a transfer, because we were afraid we would be placed into another room that was not suitable. We had encountered other problems on the first day, the guest elevator was not working, we had to use the service elevator to get to our floor. The next day maintenance came to fix the guest elevator and then it stopped working again, also the second elevator available to guests also broke down. All the guests in this fully booked hotel had to share the service elevator with housekeeping and the cleaning staff. There was a lot of congestion as guests tried to maneuver their luggage between carts loaded with linen in very narrow passage ways.

I am very concerned that the River Park Hotel and Suites does not honour special request of their guests to ensure their health, safety and comfort. I would definitely not recommend this hotel to any of my friends. The Front Desk staff's lack of respect for their guests does not make for an enjoyable stay at this hotel. This hotel should not be recommended by any hotel booking agency because the River Park Hotel and Suites did not comply with the requests of their guests

I have attached photographs of the bed sheet we had to adapt to the curtain rod in order to be able to sleep during our two night stay.