I was arriving in Miami at 11PM, heading for the Florida Keys, so I opted to stay in South Beach instead of trying to make a long, late night trek. I found a promotion for the Cavalier on the internet for only $60, it was in the heart of South Beach and on the ocean, so I figured what the heck?

Sadly, I was the last to check into the hotel that night so the room I got was on the bottom floor, just a few feet from the hotel's bar and in fact shared one wall with the hotel bar. What a pit that room was! First of all, the hotel/bar staff told me that things would quiet down around 1AM, but in fact didn't quiet down until 4AM. Second, the room was sparsely furnished with tacky furnishings and a window that acutally looked out over an alley between this hotel and the next one, an alley where trash was dumped and all the hotel staff took their cigarette breaks...just a couple feet from the bed.

The TV had no remote and in fact the on/off button was missing, just a hole in the face of the TV. The desk clerk, when I finally woke him up, said they had no remote for that TV. There weren't even any plastic cups in the room for getting water from the bathroom sink, and no water or coffee available in the morning.

Facing the fact that I wouldn't be in a quiet room until early in the morning, I decided to sit at the small hotel bar and have cocktails, and also ordered some food. I realized when I got home that the bar added a whopping 19% "service charge" to my bill, but not realizing that at the time I also tipped, so ended up overpaying them about $25. Very tacky, I'd say. Perhaps that's just a South Beach tradition, but seriously 19%? And that's for so-so service. Food was good though, I must say.

Location was fine, at the quieter end of the sleezy hotel bars all along South Beach's Ocean Drive. They did let me store my bags there all day for no charge, and offered guests free beach towels for the nearby beach. And, oddly, the room did include a safe and samples of very nice Oil of Olay "regeneration serum"! Odd, but appreciated that!

As I was checking out I asked everyone waiting in line with me what they thought of their rooms. Another woman had also paid $60 for the night and ended up on the first floor w/ no view, but didn't care at all and said she heard nothing all night. 2 other fellows had ended up on the 3rd floor. One loved his room and said he had a great view, paid I think nearly $200. But his buddy had a room that he described as skinny like a closet, with a window that looked directly into the room of the hotel next door...and missing blinds! Maybe another South Beach party tradition?

I guess I have to say it was worth the $10 an hour I ended up paying, as I checked in so late, but certainly not as cute as the website photos.

For the money, I truly do not think this hotel can be beat. For a fantastic location right on Ocean Drive, in arguably the best hotel location on the entire strip, at a price that is consistently (I booked through the hotel directly) below $100, this hotel deserves 4 stars for its value. The rooms are large (booked a room with 2 double beds), which had a VERY partial view of the ocean (unless you upgrade to the suites which only have king sized-beds, your view will primarily be of hotels on either side of you). Room was clean, as was the bathroom- definitely a little run-down and not for the Paris Hilton/need to be pampered types, but still clean and very serviceable. And don't forget that this is a BEACHSIDE hotel of the art-deco period- 60 plus years of sand and salt air are inevitable. TV was small, no remote- but you are in south beach- turn off the TV. Stayed here 4 nights, staff were always friendly and helpful. did a lot of research before booking, and would book the Cavalier again and again after seeing locations and quality of the other options.

Hotel is not worth the money. I know you get what your pay for but please 99.00 should get you a decent /clean bathroom.. I realize the rooms are small in hot spots but this was ridiculous and I realize that you dont want to spend a lot of time in your room when you are on vacation, but really the place should at least be decent enough to take a shower.. after spending 4 hours contemplating leaving. guess what we left. I am happy to say I left. lost my first night but did not ruin my weekend. I really could not rough it out... The air condition barely worked.. although there was a ceiling fan. TV oh well I guess when you are on vacation you are not supposed to want to look at TV cause they went way back and put the 10 inch TV in the ceiling - like being in the hospital.. but that was because guess what... no space for a table to put it on.. I just want to say please Cavalier -- REMODEL SOON or SHUT DOWN

We stayed here for a weekend to visit friends and its true you get what you pay for!! We did not have any problems during check in but the elevator is small and creepy! We used the stairs most of the time since we were on the 2nd floor. The carpet in the hallway was mildewy and the hallway was dark. The room was very small. The hotel is in a decent location on Ocean drive. The day we checked out it was raining really bad..the hotel lobby was leaking eveywhere and they were trying to contain it with towels. We wanted to leave our bags to get lunch and come back but we didn't know how wet it would be in the basement where they store bags so we decided to keep them with us....