I recently stayed for one night at the Riverside Hotel Fort Lauderdale, and unfortunately, the room quality and basic amenities fell far short of expectations.
Upon entering my room, I was immediately struck by a strange odor and high humidity. When I went to wash my hands, basic toiletries were missing—there was no hand soap provided, only a shower cap and body lotion.
Things did not improve when I tried to make hot tea. I called the front desk to ask for a kettle, but was told they do not provide them for safety reasons. The agent suggested running plain water through the in-room coffee machine instead. I tried this, but the water came out yellowish and smelled strongly of coffee. I went downstairs to ask again, and the front desk directed me to the on-site restaurant manager. While the manager kindly filled my personal bottle, the water was barely warm. On top of that, soundproofing was poor, and I could hear everyone passing by in the hallway throughout the night.
The only positive aspect of the stay was the checkout experience. The front desk agent was very polite and actively asked for feedback about my stay. When I mentioned the missing hand soap, he apologized sincerely and waived the mandatory resort fees. He also mentioned that while their pool was under renovation, guests could use the pool at a neighboring partner hotel—information that had not been communicated to me at all when I checked in the day before.
While I appreciated the polite service and fee waiver at checkout, the lack of communication, missing amenities, and room issues made for a disappointing overall stay.
