Clarion Suites Crystal Beach and Health Club

This resort has a really terrific location right on a very desirable section of the beach, just one property away from the new Canyon Ranch Resort and Condominiums, and just two blocks from the large beachfront County Park at 73rd Street. It's only a few blocks to Surfside, (with great restaurants and shops) and only about 20 blocks to the high end shops of Bal Harbour (Tiffany, Gucci, Cartier, Prada, Calvin Klein, Georgio Armani, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifith Avenue, Lacoste, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Harry Winston, etc). Even the supermarket and two fast food restaurants (Subway & McDonalds) are within two blocks of the resort. The rental rate is a great deal, as it includes free parking (if renting from an owner), which is otherwise $20/day - itself a great rate in Miami Beach where parking can go as high as $30 minimum for one hour! Free continental breakfast for up to four persons per suite (worth $10/person/day) is also included, as is free use of a HUGE health & fitness club (not your typical hotel fitness center, but a large membership club worth $25/day). This is a phenomenal deal of $85/DAY OF FREEBIES for a party of four! It's truly amazing given that these units typically rent for under $150 per day. Also, best to rent from an owner (as we did), in order to get the benefits of free parking, free breakfast and the temporary health club membership. You'll also avoid the resort's 13% tax.

The resort is clean and well maintained, but does show a few signs of needed upgrades to furnishings. Nothing to be overly concerned about. The units are nicely sized one bedroom suites, (but smaller than a typical one bedroom condo); we found the quality comparable to your average hotel/motel chain (Holiday Inn). Not as good as a Hilton, Marriott or Hyatt, but not as bad as a typical Days Inn or Howard Johnson.

The lobby is attractive and spacious. The pool area is small, but really attractive as it sits right on the beach, separated from the ocean only by a grove of palm trees and a jogging/rollerblading path.

Overall, we give this place 4 stars because of its location, and value pricing (but only 3 stars for room quality). We would use it again when in Miami Beach.

Unfortunately, Crystal Beach is in dire need of renovation. The carpets are old, stained and buckled in several areas. The units are very small and when you open the door, it almost bangs into the kitchen counter. We will not return to this "resort"

A small, fairly initmate very nice suite hotel type resort located directly on the ocean/beach in the heart of North Miami Beach (east side of Collins Avenue at 71st St.). Not a typical large sprawling timeshare resort, but a small oasis in the heart of the urban action. We found it frequented by lots of South Americans (especially Argentines), not topless Europeans. (Good or bad depending on your point of view!).

The onsite health club is a large facility with an extensive neighborhood clientle, not just resort guests. The attractively fenced pool area is in a secluded area of screened palm trees located directly on the beach and is equal to that of any top Miami Beach resort (in fact, most Miami Beach resorts have their pools elevated on decks sitting above and overlooking the beach; the Crystal Suites' gated pool sits right on the beach in a "grove" of palms! Valet parking is professional and courteous and is free to resort owners (other resort guests pay $20 per night and the health club validates for reduced hourly rates). The resort provides a daily change of towels, supplies and trash disposal; along with a mid week cleaning and change of sheets. Rooms are spacious, but sized more typically as hotel suites as compared to often larger apartments and timeshares. There are lots of closets and built-in drawers for storage. There is no separate dining area, instead, there is a decent sized bar-type counter between the kitchen area and living room. Kitchen includes a small dishwasher, small refrigerator, microwave oven, sink and stove. (No oven).

The resort is in the shape of a "U" with the open part of the "U" facing the ocean. Four units per floor (there are four floors) are oceanfront; some others have limited ocean views depending on their location (some units have angled bay type windows that afford some water views; other units are close enough to the oceanfront suites to also have limited views). Some units front onto noisy Collins Avenue (approximately 3 per floor).

The resort does not run its own restaurant, (other than for continental breakfast), but has a wonderful casual restaurant located within the resort building. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. McDonalds (and other restaurants) are located directly across the street and the premier grocery store, Publix, is located two blocks south on Collins Avenue. The resort serves continental breakfast including bagel or toast, cold cereal, juice, coffee and milk, and is complimentary to owners ($6 to non- owners). Breakfast is served 8am to 10:30am daily in a nice glassed-in room overlooking the pool and beach.

Suites are nicely appointed and well maintained by a contientious and seemingly dedicated staff. Rooms are brightly lit, primarily with lots of recessed lighting. Only drawback noticed is that walls are too thin and allow some sound transmission and floors are wooden (covered with carpeting), but also allow some creaking noise as they get traversed,(go for top floor suites to eliminate this minor inconvenience). The resort is in the middle of a lot of surrounding new hi-rise luxury condo construction, but we heared no construction noise in early morning hours. We did encounter some very small microscopic ants in the kitchen and had to make sure to keep our food sealed. We found this not to be a big problem (it is very typical in Florida; but the resort could do more exterminating).

We had a great time and look forward to returning!

Very nice Miami Beach experience. Gated pool area is directly on the beach, steps to the turquoise water ocean. Beautiful marble lobby area. Owners get free valet parking and free use of a very well-equipped health club. Exclusive shopping (Bal Harbour Mall) is practically in the neighborhood. South Beach and all of Miami-Dade is easily accessible. Many overseas guests, primarily from Europe. The suite was clean, comfortable, and modern, with only one negative: the sleeper couch in the living room was somewhat uncomfortable for adults. Hence, one has to fold open the couch, remove the mattress, place it directly on the floor, and re-close the couch. For that very minor inconvenience, I'll take off one star :-)

stayed here everything was great close to everything very clean ,staff was gresat