The Tropics Hotel & Hostel, Miami Beach
 

On other websites this hostel gets pretty good reviews, and I just can't figure out why.

We decided to go with a private room while we were there (which, fortunately, was only for 2 nights), and while the room was OK, it was totally let down by the bathroom and the communal facilities.

Granted, it was good to have a private bathroom, but it was really gross. It had a bath tub with a shower over it, and the plug hole was completely blocked up with hair and other crap. You'd be having a shower, and it would fill up to your ankles as you showered. It would then take a good couple of hours to completely drain away.

The kitchen was a strange setup. You had to go outside to reach it, then it was split between an indoor room with big, stinking fridges and a sink, and outside were the stove tops. There were very few utensils, maybe 5 knives and forks, and a few plates dotted around. Also no washing up liquid. As it was outside, there were ants crawling around everywhere, even in the indoor part, as the doors were permentantly left open.

The corridors absolutely stank of weed, which I know isn't the hostels fault exactly, but surely they should be enforcing some sort of "no drugs" rule. It was pretty obvious people were smoking a whole lot in the rooms. I'm so glad we didn't stay in a dorm.

The location was ok, close to the beach, but that was about all. They didn't give any information at all about the local area, so we were left to figure absolutely everything out for ourselves.

Totally not impressed.