The Palms Hotel & Spa

To the person who left the bad review on 4-04-12.
It is ashame that you decided to make a decision about your upcoming wedding based on $28 of valet parking and not actually having an event at the Palms.
The Palms is a wonderful and amazing place to have a wedding at and it is unfortunate for you that you are passing on the opportunity to experience it.
Monica Henning will have gone out of her way to make your wedding day special, carefree and the day you always dreamed it would be.

The Palms Hotel and Spa is an amazing place to have a wedding. We had our ceremony on the beach, cocktails on the South Lawn and dinner on the Veranda. Thanks to the staff at The Palms Hotel and Spa our wedding day could not have been any better.
Monica was great, she was easy to work with and extremely helpful prior our wedding day. On our wedding day she took care of our every request/need. It was well worth the extra money to have Monica as the day of wedding coordinator.
Paul the banquet manager was great too. We choose several locations on the property, one location for the ceremony, one for cocktails and a different one for dinner. Paul made sure that our guests had no issues finding there way from one spot to another. He made sure that food came out on time and that things moved as they were suppose to.
Between Monica and Paul, we never had one thing to worry or stress about from the minute we checked into the Palms for our wedding.
Lastly Chef Jaime at The Palms was terrific too. He was very accommodation to our requests. The food was amazing; every guest enjoyed his/her meal from beginning to end.
Every guest we had was amazed at the beauty of the Palms, the food, the service as well as Monica and Paul. The staff at the Palms Hotel and Spa displayed the highest level of customer service that I have seen at any resort. They have made us customer/visitor...

Amazing location, very beautiful natural setting and wonderful staff.

The Palms Hotel in Miami Beach was a picture perfect place to get married. My coordinator/ Catering Manager was Michelle Canicci, who was absolutely phenomenal!! She made sure every detail was perfect and saw to it that my vision was carried out to a T!! We got married under the Gazebo and with the bougainvilleas in bloom it was a simple yet beautiful ceremony. The food was cooked to perfection and the executive chef was very accommodating with any changes that needed to be made to accommodate special diets.

I recently choose the The Palms Hotel as the venue for my wedding. I stayed 6 days. I am so sad the wedding planning is over, the hotel staff became our extended family. Once you walk into the hotel you feel like you are on an Island and not in Miami Beach. The ambiance is so serine and tranquil! My Wedding was in the Queen Palm Room: it was perfect for 50 people.The food is fresh and DELICIOUS! The catering staff was amazing! My wedding was so beautiful. The property is pristine! I would highly recommend anybody to get married here. The Captain Paul King ! SOOO knowledgeable in weddings and calming brides.
Just know Miami Beach tax the heck out of you. Double tax on everything, tax on the gratuity, tax on tax. But in the end is was so worth it!

Beautiful location, and staff did an amazing job!

Monica Ciffoni of The Palms Hotel in Miami Beach, FL was a blessing. She was extremely patient with me during my planning. Paul (Wedding Captain) was also wonderful. He kept me calm and relaxed before I walked down the aisle. They coordinated with all my vendors the day of the wedding so I could relax. They also managed every moment of the wedding so it went smooth and timely.

The hotel was beautiful, the staff was friendly and the food was delicious. It was well worth the money. If I could get married again tomorrow, I would!

The Palms is such a picturesque setting to get married. The staff bent over backwards to ensure our wedding day went off without a hitch. Shelagh, Paul and Juan Carlos are wonderful people to work with and very attentive. The food was even better than the tasting and the drinks were flowing strongly all evening. Amazing location and beautiful venue. Cannot say enough about this hotel! We plan on going back for our anniversary next year.

Choosing to have my wedding at a hotel was a very difficult decision for me. I knew I wanted a beach wedding but was worried about the "hotel" feel. Then I walked into the Palms! You are greeted by smiling faces and everyone is so helpful. The hotel itself has a very warm feeling as if you are more like a guest in someone's home. The outside verandas are absolutely amazing as well.

I had my rehearsal dinner at The Palms the night before the wedding on the South Lawn near the cabanas across from the pool. We had about 50 people and the setup was beautiful. There were tables fully set for the guests as well as "lounge" areas set up with comfy couches, chairs and tables. The bartenders were great and Paul and Juan Carlos seemed to be right there for anything you needed. We choose an open bar and grill type food which was AMAZING!!! Everyone was talking about how delicious the meal was and since it was served buffet style returned for multiple plates. Nathalie helped before the meal to practice the line up and entrance for the ceremony and let us walk through it a couple times until I was comfortable with everything.
The day of the wedding went off without a hitch! I could not believe it! I had heard the whole "something will go wrong, but don't let it ruin your day" but believe me when I say that everything went right and this was because of Nathalie, Paul and Juan Carlos. I requested a room for us all to get ready in which was perfect. They provided drinks, sandwiches, salads and mimosas! Nathalie handled all my vendors that day and I did not have to worry about a thing. I was updated on how things were going, who was there and what was being set-up but no worries about anything.

The reception was amazing as well. Paul was by far the most helpful and attentive person the entire evening. I really felt that he was there to make sure we were happy. He made certain that our drinks were always on the table and anything we needed was done!

I highly recommend the Palms. I read some of the other reviews concerning the emailing/ phone calls and felt that yes it may take a couple days to get a response when you are 4 months out from your wedding and Nathalie is working extremely close with the "bride of the week" but you must know that when it is your week and things need to get done in minutes sometimes Nathalie will get it done and she is there for you that whole week.

You know, the wedding coordinator changed 3 times since we started the process and this unnerved me a bit but if you didn't have this information you wouldn't have been able to guess it. The staff at The Palms handled the ceremony and reception flawlessly, even with a few minor hiccups.

For example we found out the day of the wedding that more guests were coming than we anticipated so we had to add another table Juan Carlos and Paul (Banquet Managers) pulld some flowers together from the other centerpieces and made it look like it was meant to be.

The staff was amazingly accomodating and eager to please. The level of professionalism was amazing and The Palms is just an incredibly beautiful hotel.

I would recommend them hands-down, any day.

As a side note, I also had my hair and make-up done at the resident spa. The hairstylist left much to be desired but the make-up artist was superb. Kudos to The Palms.

Where do I begin with my review of the The Palms??? I feel like part of the family there now… After many visits to the Palms prior to my wedding I got to know staff from every department and was overwhelmed by how nice everyone was through the entire process. The night of our wedding I was standing with my family and a bunch of key personnel prior to walking down the aisle – it was so appropriate because we had all become quite close during the planning process. The venue was spectacular. We had an evening wedding ceremony at the gazebo, the new landscaping (trees, flowers, architectural lighting) was just perfect. The Palms offers a true “fairytale” ceremony location.

The cocktail and dinner receptions were just fantastic. From the drinks to the food to the service, everything was amazing. My friends who stayed at The Palms as hotel guests through the wedding had incredible stays as well, everyone raved about the hotel, the high quality of service and attention to detail provided.

I have to give special credit to my planner at the hotel, Berit Naatz. Berit made the entire planning process so much fun – she is an exceptional professional in her field and has the most genuine care and concern for her clients’ happiness. The rest of the professionals in the catering department where also exceptional, I would like to recognize Deborah, Juan Carlos and Paul as well for making my day so special. I feel so lucky that I found The Palms – We’ll definitely be headed back to celebrate anniversaries and other special occasions! A+++++!!!

Sarai Claveria was my wedding coordinator. She did an awesome job! Right before my wedding, my mom got very sick and I stoped thinking about wedding plans. She took charge and asked me questions and planned everything perfectly for me. She went above and beyond. I highly recommend working with her if you want to have a beautiful South Beach wedding and the hotel is beautiful too.

Our wedding (March 6,2011) at The Palms was more than I could have even dreamed of!
The year of planning was a breeze once we found The Palms and had all
the help from Monica Ciffoni! The vendors on the provided list: Avant
Gardens, Elegant Temptations and our DJ Lee Or were excellent to work
with and really made our vision come to life! Everyone was beyond
accomidating including giving us a large ocean view room to get ready
in, champagne toasts for the girls before and making sure we had some
of the hors d'oeuvres to try while we were whisked away for pictures!
(Thanks Paul!)

We got married in the gazebo with the reception on the veranda at
sunset and it was absolutly gorgeous! The decor was beachy chic and lit
up romantically with candles everywhere. The colors of the veranda with
the soft aqua, whites and natural wood were calming and really lended
the perect atmosphere for memories with friends and family! Our menu
was Roasted Organic Free Range Chicken with melted fontina cheese and
mushroom risotto & Grilled Florida Hog Fish with three potato salad and
mango rum sauce. Our guests are still raving of the quality of the food
and the service from the catering staff during our sit down dinner.

We spent the day of and day after relaxing at The Palms with our guests
and it is the best hospitality you could want. From room service, valet
& bellhop, the poolside staff to reservations and the catering team
-our guests were definitly left with the wow factor! The attention to
detail takes a weight off your shoulders and leaves a calm, happy bride
ready for the big day!

We didn't have a single thing to worry about on our wedding day, it was
the best day of my life and would do it again in a heartbeat! We feel
lucky to be able to have somewhere beautiful to travel back to and
remember the memories of that special day! Thanks so much to the staff
at The Palms for all your support!

PS. For anyone saying they had a hard time with responses from The Palms-I disagree. I was AMAZED at the email response time from Monica. I never was left waiting for any help in the coordinating process. :) love her!

Mr & Mrs C Harder

The hotel is captivating. It is elegant and fresh at the same time. We felt taken care of since we checked in (champagne, strawberries, ...) The event manager was very organized and on top of everything. The staff was friendly and worked hard to make our day memorable!!! The food was great, the service was excellent and they were flexible in order to fulfill our needs. Our ceremony was in front of the beach and the reception was in their queen palm room which is lovely. I am very happy with our decision.

Like many brides, I looked at a number of wedding venues before choosing The Palms. I wanted my wedding to be on or near the beach in South Florida, to be scenic and personal, and to be within my budget, (which is quite frankly much easier said than done in the Miami area!). At a bridal show, we asked some vendors for some suggestions for a venue based on what we were looking for, and one of those suggestions was the Palms Hotel & Spa on Miami Beach. Once I saw the Palms from their website, I somehow just knew that we had found our venue. As a boutique hotel, the Palms offers a level of personal attention that you just cannot get from the crowded high rise hotels or hotel chains, and the wedding gazebo and tropical garden in front of the beach is about the loveliest place you could find for an outdoor Florida wedding.

We met with Nathalie Merle, Catering Director for the Palms, who worked with us to design a customized wedding package that included cocktail hour hors d'ouevres, 5 hours full bar, signature cocktail, champagne toast, dinner, wedding cake from a local vendor, and oceanfront wedding night accommodation, while still keeping close to our budget. During the planning process, Nathalie was instrumental in helping us with wedding coordination and addressing our questions. Nathalie also helped us coordinate our specialty linen rental through the hotel, which was a great help because we were able to get good pricing and because it was one less vendor to have to find and coordinate on our own!

Several months before the wedding, Nathalie arranged a personalized tasting for my fiancé, myself, and my parents, and we got to try full portions of the salad, cocktails, and entrees that would be served at the wedding reception. We were quite impressed with the quality and the food tasted amazing! We got to review the suggested layouts of the cocktail hour and ballroom in advance of the wedding, and Nathalie was flexible and helped us with any changes we needed.
Because we were impressed with Nathalie, we also hired her as our "Day Of" Coordinator, and she did a fantastic job of orchestrating the wedding rehearsal, as well as coordinating the bridal party, vendor set-up, and service staff on the wedding day. We could not have been more pleased and grateful to her for keeping everything running so smoothly. On the day of the wedding the service staff (led by Paul and Juan Carlos) set up everything beautifully and as planned. We heard many, many compliments for the hotel, the food, the setting - just everything. We were really pleased with how every detail was handled.

The biggest hit with the guests was the Peruvian ceviche station, which our guests raved about, so I would recommend this during cocktail hour for anyone who decides to use the Palms for their wedding. You will not be disappointed!!

I absolutely loved the Palms Hotel & Spa. I live in Los Angeles and my family is from Belize, Central America. It was important to me that the wedding has a caribbean vibe. My Husband's family is from New York and we also wanted to be a location that was fun and a great meeting spot for both family and friends. I could not have picked a better location.

The staff at the Palms were awesome and so accommodating. It made it all worth while and stress free. It was such a fabulous hotel and right on the beach.

I can't wait to go back and just relax.

We had a destination wedding at The Palms, and it was beautiful! Everything was perfect - including the weather :) We had the ceremony outside at the Gazebo, cocktails on the Veranda, and the reception in the Queen's Ballroom. The venue was a perfect size for our 65 person wedding. We had many out of town guests, and they enjoyed their stay at The Palms as well.
The staff at The Palms is wonderful, too. Monica was our coordinator, and made sure everything went perfect for the big day.
I would definitely recommend The Palms for future brides, especially if they are wanting a smaller more intimate wedding.

Overall I was very pleased with the final turnout of our wedding. Everything turned out exactly as planned. There was always someone there to help us out if needed.
During the planning process, sometimes it was a little difficult to get a response via email, but I realized I was not the only bride so I would send a follow-up email within 2 days and I would get an answer right away.
The food was spectacular!

We had a beach wedding, and it was beautiful. The beach behind the hotel is the prettiest of south beach area and has very few people due to the rocks...great photos! The pool area also has a gazebo in case of rain. The room, pool, beach and spa were all wonderful. Request Mercedes for hydrotherapy/scrub and/or massage.

I had a problem with finding a venue because we were a small party and everyone around town had 150 guest minimums. Go and at least take a look at The Palms. It is gorgeous, the food was awesome, they even had a weather contingency, our stay was magnificent and they were very accomodating. Everything 5 out of 5 except a 1 out of 5 when it comes to returning phone calls. In the end they came through and at times went above and beyond. Staff is awesome and helpful and accomodating. I would use them again. They contributed to making my wedding a dream wedding and in only 60 days of planning! Kudos to Nathalie and her staff!

The palms hotel was such a beautiful venue and it was perfect for what we wanted. The staff was great and treated us to a great experience. Everything went wonderful from planning to the day off. Nathalie Merle, Catering Director and also our planner did a beautiful job and helped with renting lines and chairs from outside vendor. At the rehearsal she even helped surprise by husband with a birthday cake. Juan Carlos and Paul with the service staff we’re outstanding and helped my family put the finishing touches. Poor Juan Carlos had to go and gather sand for the sand ceremony. The day went wonderfully, the room looked beautiful and the food was delicious.

Now for the not so pleasant, there one staff member that almost ruined it all. He was a server that was very unfriendly and was very rude. Also at the end of the night he was in charge of setting up for an event the next day and we we’re practically pushed out by him. He could have handled it very differently by being courteous and having someone help us gather our things. He was not helpful at all quite the opposite. Thank god family members helped gather what we could but there were many things that we’re thrown out because we couldn’t gather them fast enough. Our wedding cake was wrapped in foil very carelessly and completely ruined. While all this happened Nathalie, Paul nor Juan Carlos we’re a round but were very apologetic when we informed them. I feel bad not giving Nathalie, Paul and Juan Carlos five stars but the incident with the waiter reflects the poor stars I’m giving.

Even with the unpleasantries, I want to thank Nathalie, Paul and Juan Carlos for a beautiful wedding.

great party and great event.
food, decor and venue were up to the expectations.

only downside was the room they gave us to stay for the first night was decent but not good enough for newlyweds.
(we did get a bottle of champagne)

I will first off say my wedding ended up being beautiful, and perfect. However, it took a lot of following up, corrections to mistakes, and apologizing from the wedding department to get it there. They lack communication skills because they do not respond in a timely manner until you become a pest, they lack organization skills because they did not have any record of my wedding date and details. I also kept getting wrong prices on packages. I suppose all of that happened because I was switched to a new planner in the middle of my wedding planning. In the end my wedding was gorgeous and worth it.

The Palms Hotel is a beautiful and romantic hotel and perfect for a wedding. However, it was very hard to get in touch with them, it always took several phone calls and emails. On the day of the wedding everything went great though and the staff was very friendly.

Overall I was very unhappy with the treatment from the Palms Hotel. The staff was unresponsive, hard to find, and generally unhelpful. The dinner for the reception itself was quite good but I though if I paid 15K for 50 people they might treat me a little better. Also the venue is very pretty which is another bonus in it's favor, however this did not outwiegh the service. I would highly suggest going elsewhere if you have similar numbers.

I fell in love with the hotel itself. Its beautiful, whether you want your wedding on the beach, or the gazebo, or inside. We had no complaints from our guests about how they were treated. I am currently living in New Orleans, so I was planning the wedding from a distance. Their service to me was HORRENDOUS. I booked over a year in advance. The first person in charge of my account was great. She stopped working there, but no one notified me. I kept sending her emails and received no response. Finally I contacted a manager at the hotel to complain. Thats when I was told she no longer worked there and that someone else would be temporarily handling my account. Then it went to another person. Finally it went to the person that ultimately handled it, and it was terrible. I would email her and receive no response from her for days, no response to telephone calls either. At the rehearsal, she was in an awful mood and seemed like we were inconveniencing her with our questions and having her organize everything, even though I had paid additional $ to have a day-of coordinator. She was rude to my wedding party and everyone noticed her attitude. Then for the actual day of the wedding, we were supposed to have a room for all of us to get ready. I had the hair and makeup people ready there at 10 to get started, only no room! They didnt even have the room I would be staying in that night (which is complementary). The hotel did not do anything or offer anything to accomodate us or provide us other options. Additionally, the wedding coordinator was not even present at the reception, and the groom's cake was left in a corner, so we never even got to cut it. Thankfully, the wedding went off without a hitch. Everyone thought the wedding was beautiful and the food was amazing.

The reason I have to be so harsh here is because of the dissapointment I faced during my wedding at this hotel. Although beautiful, I have to warn brides getting married in the coming months that - if you are looking for a quiet intimate Ceremony where you are able to hear your spouses vows, then this is not the place for you. I was extremely hurt by the fact that I was not advised by my wedding coordinator that there would be full construction site next door. I had to find out the day prior to my wedding when I came in to pay my fees. I was so shocked and stressed that I did not sleep a wink the entire night. I was assured that my ceremony would be quiet as they'd asked the workers to shut off during that time, and that we d work around the reception so taht it wouldn't be as noticeable. Unfortunately for me, the ENTIRE 25 minutes of my ceremony were accompanied by heavy drilling, shouting, and loud alarms going off. I was heartbroken to see my wedding videos, where all you heard was construction. I barely remembered my vows as I was so distracted by the noise, it was horryfying. No one heard us, which is what hurt the most. This is something I will never get back and I am extremely dissapointed in the lack of professionalism to step in and advise their clients of this problem, prior to trapping us into this mess.
All in all our wedding was beautiful at the Palms, but I am left with a sore spot about the customer service we received re: the construction and even with the lack of help while we came in the morning of to set up and get ready - not one person was helpful to assist with anything we needed help with. It was kind of comical, I could not understand how they would not help a bride unload her wedding dress as I was alone stomping along trying to hold everything together. My husband was also unloading the dj equipment in his suit, and not one person helped him.