My husband and I booked a last-minute trip to Miami in May(two weeks out from the departure date). We secured a good rate by booking a vacation package through an airline. Seeing the Sheraton Virtual Tour of the hotel on their website, we could not have been more excited.  
 
When we arrived, we expected a comfortable room, not luxurious, just basic and comfortable. Buyer beware: when booking a vacation and you are not given the option to upgrade, expect the worst. When the Bal Harbour says, 'standard room', expect a low-end Super 8. The room had not been remodeled in years (15 plus) and severely showed its decay. In addition, we were given a smoking room when we requested a non-smoking. Since there was a wedding and a convention at the hotel, we were told that they could not move us to another room.  
 
Although the pool area was aesthetically beautiful, don't be deceived by their advertising: the waterfall within the pool is part of the kiddie pool and there were so many young children that the entire pool area felt like Water Country USA. All that was missing was the wave pool. We ordered a Pina colada and a Margarita at the poolside bar, both drinks were served in 12 oz plastic cups, and our bill came to $25! Needless to say, we learned our lesson and headed down to South Beach the following days.  
 
We did not book a hotel on South Beach because of the countless "Best Of" shows on the Travel Channel. South Beach always scores in the top 10 beaches in the world and is deemed "best party/best nightlife beach". We did not want drunken college kids walking next to our window all day and night. WERE WE MISTAKEN! We kicked ourselves the entire stay for not staying down there because the beach was 100X more beautiful than the hotel's, there were hundreds of restaurants, and the area had some of the most stunning architecture we had even seen.  
 
If you do travel to South Beach from the hotel and you want to avoid the $20-$25 cab fare each way, take the local bus. There are three lines that stop in front of the hotel and the fare is only $1 each way.  
 
We were astonished when we saw that the Sheraton Bal Harbour made it into the 2003 Resorts and Great Hotels book. We loved Miami and count the months until we go back (to South Beach). Enjoy your trip wherever you choose to stay!  
 
