Kimpton Epic Hotel Fail.
Interesting experience to share... so, I went to Miami to visit friends who recommended the Epic hotel. My first experience was that the room was more expensive (despite being a rewards member) than the prices I saw on 3rd party booking sites via google. They don't match prices or anything, and despite the "impossible to remove" $40 per day "amenities" fee, I still decided to stay there. It was especially nice of the lady at the front desk to waive the amenities fee, that started the trip off wonderfully.
The hotel is really great, love the balcony and shower especially. Things were going well till my last night 6/29/25. I was having some beers with my friend before dinner and when I walked in the room, I discovered the AC had broken down and was draining a lot of water from the ceiling to the floor. There was already a gallon or more, walls soaking it up, carpet outside the room was wet, etc...I called the front desk with a almost sense of panic and let them know it was pretty serious and on-going. It took 20min or so for a maintenance guy to show up, and he was clearly alarmed. "Oh, that BIG problem." were his exact words.
He worked for another 20 min, said it was fixed, we used all my towels to soak up what we could, and he left. No manager contact, no more towels offered (not that big of deal, but would have shown concern for user experience). Well, 10-15 min later it broke again, and I called and went down to the front desk. I told them there's a waterfall in my room again and would probably need another room. The guy at the front desk looked at my like I was crazy and said he would send someone up.
10 min later, same guy shows up and works for another half hour or so. Then he comes out to the balcony and says, "come in, front desk call soon. new room." So, I pack up and wait for 20-30 min in a no-AC room with water on the floor. No call. So, I called them and they said, "Oh, you're ready? Come down and get a new key." Obviously, I don't feel like walking down with my stuff to just come back up again (seriously?), so I asked for a porter to come up. That seemed like a novel concept to them, but luckily they agreed.
The look on the porters face was priceless. He spoke better English, and was like "Holy shit, never seen this before!" He said sorry, but again, no contact or care from a manager, and front desk seemed totally indifferent.
New room was great, but when checking out the guy at the counter was totally uninformed or truly indifferent to the experience. I didn't want to make a stink about anything, my friend did comment about it, saying they should at least offer a free night, but the guy commented, "Well, you got the amenities fee waived" as if that was done by them to make up for the waterfall. I was like, that's a crap response and just left.
Kind of sucks, because I loved Miami and the hotel generally. Certain staff could use some professional training, but that's not my department. Videos of water attached. Hard to see, but wasn't going to turn on more lights with an active flow from the ceiling (where the sockets are). read more