Fortuna House

My wife and I wanted a place closer to the Marathon so we could sleep a bit longer and get cleaned up before the race. Upon arrival, the sheets were dirty and they had to get us new ones. Then, the water went out. We were told that this was unexpected and out of their control, but it turns out they had this problem for at least a week prior, as evidenced by speaking with others and reading other reviews on this site. In addition to their dishonesty about not knowing about the water issue, they told our booking site that the water was out for only an hour. Then we must have the worst luck ever, that that hour was split into parts, just before we went to bed and again when we woke up to get ready for the run. We just wanted a shower before bed, to get a good night sleep before the marathon and that didn’t happen. We couldn’t even brush our teeth the night before or the morning of the race. When we tried to complain the night before, the employee spoke no English and when we were checking out the next day, the guy who did speak English basically told us, «out of our control– so sorry» This actually meant, «we don’t care, we got your money, we know you won’t come back now anyway so go screw yourself» This absolutely terrible attitude just added insult to injury. Truly disappointed that they lied about the water issue, had a don’t care attitude, and offered nothing to accommodate us.

This place is perfect for the pragmatic budget conscious traveler. The staff way friendly, especially the sweet Spanish-​speaking señora. It was clean, had everything I needed, and the location was fantastic. I will definitely stay here again on my next visit.

After reading many of the reviews on Unilocal and some of the travel sites, i was kind of scared and second guessed our decision to book this apartment specially after i was charged in full for all the days booked before i even stepped foot in the building. But all that drama aside, when we arrived we were greeted by a gentlemen, he showed us 3 different rooms all seemed like they were well kept and in good condition. The one we chose was upstairs, which let me inform you there are no elevators but its only 3 floors, not a big deal! The room was very clean, except the bathroom, it wasnt very clean. Loved the kitchen, we used it everyday, it was the main reason we chose to stay at fortuna apartments. The wifi is slow, very slow, but we were barely in the room so it wasnt such a big deal to us. I did bring my own towels, pillows & blanket.
As for the neighborhood, its in an area that isnt so great, or at least it used to not be. It’s changing, it’s very alive at all hours of the day and night. There are so many things to do around. You can walk to most of them or even catch a cab for very little $ or über, that’s what we did. I loved the neighborhood. I loved the apartments and will def be coming back!

it is difficult to express in words how nasty is this place
Summary
1.- Old, dirty and smelly
2.- Published photos of this place are not real. please review triipadvisor to see real pictures.
3.- Parking is on the street, there is no way this place guarantees park place or the safety of the vehicles.
4.- Although call and notify my arrival in advance, no one answered me when I arrived and the room was not ready.
5.- There is only one person responsible for the pension from what I could see. Mr. Vitali who looks like something out of a comedy where teach students of hospitality and tourism everything NOT to do with regard to customer service. Clearly he does not like what it does for how it treats customers.
6.- I had to run the site despite having paid in advance, imagine how unpleasant. Fortunately expedia refund my money and apologized.

It’s not as bad as some of the bad reviews will lead you to believe but it was bad enough for me to cut my stay here short.
The final straw for me was the WiFi that was so spotty it was not really able to be used. When I called to mention this to management they said they’d investigate but nothing ever came of that nor was there any followup.
The neighborhood is fine but yes the street it is on is definitely not the best. The rooms are decently furnished but it just didn’t feel comfortable to me, it felt like a hostel. So, if you’re looking for a cheap place to crash in Miami then you should go for it but I couldn’t last more than a few days.

RESPONSE TO ESTHER’S COMMENTS:
1. I checked in every drawer in the unit and found NO OTHER towel other than the one provided on the dresser. On top of that it was a very small /​scratchy towel.
2. The old Cuban lady that checked me in was full of attitude when I refused to speak Spanish in the United States!
3. When I got there and checked in the parking was 3 blocks away in a terrible neighborhood where I got harassed by little Mexicans while I was carrying my suitcase. Something that I felt very uncomfortable with. I rather pay for parking than subject myself to harassment as well as my car being broken into.
4. The roach was alive. I killed it. How can you even make an excuse for the ROACH? Really?
THE WORST PLACE I HAVE EVER STAYED IN! And by the way I do not post negative reviews. Yours is the ONLY negative review I have posted ever. I have 30 reviews in total so I just don’t put a negative review lightly.
Where do I begin…
Parking: horrible off street parking, slept horrible worrying if I was going to have a car in the morning.
Little old Cuban lady checking me in: We are in America, I do speak Spanish but I don’t have to since we are in the US of A and I am not obligated to speak anything other than English. Her attitude is horrible. She should not be working there.
Room: Spacious, however, 1 bath towel. ONE!!! Never in any hotel have I only had 1 towel! Seriously! But the worst part. The cockroaches! Uugh
Never again! All the reviews are right. I should have known better.

Clean sheets, big space, reasonable prices… all with a convenient location and great local vibe! We had a pleasant stay thanks to the friendly staff… This is a YES !!!

Seeing this on
I was very deceived with the pictures. Came here today and was ready to check in at 3pm. Came inside and there was no one there. We rang the bell a few times and waited for 45 mins and still nothing. The place looked very dingy inside and out. Street was very narrow and loud. The street was also very sketchy and it doesn’t feel safe to park your car there overnight.
They also advertise that they have parking but they don’t. You can park on a small area on the side of the street and if you’re lucky enough to find spot.
Anyways after a little while we just called
and demanded to cancel our reservation, thats when the elder lady finally came out but could barely speak English.
I went with my guts and decided to find another place which I’m glad I did especially after reading all the horrible reviews about this place, especially about the owner scamming customers and not refunding their deposits and the ROACHES!!! From the look of the place on the outside and main floor I really do not doubt this at all.
It was dirty, there was a pile of garbage behind the stairs. Doors were worn down and smells musky.
PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THE BAD REVIEWS THEY DO SPEAK THE TRUTH. DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID. But I’m glad I didn’t get sucked in and stayed, it would’ve just went further down hill from there.

Awesome magical experience!
Perfect stay from beginning to end. The location and prices are unbeatable. Rooms are super clean and we got to pick our own.
They were all very nicely styled, cozy & immaculate. Loved the local neighborhood vibe and really sweet staff. A must stay!

I’ve never in my life have stayed at such a disgusting place! The owner is a legit scam artist we stayed one night out of four! The second night we returned to the apartment we saw cockroaches on the walls and then proceeded to go to our room on the second floor where there were cockroaches in our room we killed it with a frying pan packed our stuff immediately! I called the owner explained the situation she offered a new room but obviously the place is infested with cockroaches we left and went to a hotel for the remainder of our stay! I called
to get a refund which they were more than accommodating! As soon as they called the owner to get the funds she made up a billshit lie saying we had 7 people staying in our room. It was me and my sister in law there for a girls weekend! We called the owner multiple times and she proceeded to hang up on us all three times I’ve stayed all over the world and I have never in my life experience this type of customer service! This is a terrible place and poorly managed.

Easy to find, close the Miami airport in the heart of downtown Miami. Very friendly staff, nice renovated rooms, clean and neat, no carpets. Love that there was free parking and free Wi-​Fi! Manager was very helpful.
We would definitely come here again. We didn’t hear the street noise from Biscayne as the building is located on a quiet neighborhood side-​street.

My partner & I stayed at the Fortuna House in November for 3 weeks. When we arrived we asked for #24 since I had liked that picture best on their website. It was not available that day but the really nice manager did show us 4 other units and we were able to choose from those. The pictures online are a good representation of what to expect. They were all equally as cute &clean. In the end though we opted to be on the first floor to avoid stair climbing. Truthfully we would have been happy in any of them but it was kind of cool that we got to choose. They really did want us to feel comfortable & were very attentive to our needs. The rest of the stay was fantastic! Great value considering the location is excellent. I could not find anything this affordable unless it was near the airport & we definitely did not want that. We wanted to be close to Wynwood Arts District & South Beach. We were 5 minutes from both. I was happy with their prompt security deposit refund (next day) & customer service and would stay there again.

I booked this vacation rental blindly for my dad who needed a furnished apartment to rent in downtown Miami while his apartment was being renovated. I didn’t know the area well, just knew it was in downtown Miami & was near the Port of Miami as well as Bayside (shops and dining)…AND a few blocks from the American Airlines Arena!!! My dad had a great stay at the Fortuna House. We stayed with him one weekend and were able to walk to dinner and then went to a basketball game at the Arena! The rooms were clean and artfully decorated. I had seen 4 apartments when we got there and they were all nice and well maintained. Was able to get a parking spot free right out front. Never had to worry about parking again. Just walked. There was zero noise throughout our stay. All I can say is it was more than I expected! The Fortuna House is PERFECT, the staff is really helpful and sympathetic, comfy beds, super clean rooms.

The place is an absolute disaster run by a disreputable con-​artist. Pictures on the website and Craigslist postings are a total and complete misrepresentation of the actual condition of the rooms, which are anything but «modern,» with warped floors, light fixtures that don’t work and overall musty smell mentioned by another reviewer. The surrounding neighborhood, and street parking, is dicey at best.
The advertised «work space» consisted of a rickety plastic table and plastic chairs. Kitchen sink had no hot water; utensils were old, worn out and on par with what you’d find at a garage sale or throw away/​donate to charity when they’ve outlived their usefulness. Linens provided were threadbare, and yes, the other reports of abundant cockroaches are true.
The on-​site «manager» Abuela, though pleasant enough, speaks nothing but a few words of passible English and is clueless and indifferent in addressing any problems.
As other reviewers have stated, Esther, the owner, refused to refund my security deposit on ridiculously trumped up charges that I had damaged the property. Under normal circumstances, I’d have challenged it legally, but as a non-​resident of Miami, I didn’t have the time or inclination to file a suit in small claims court.
Do NOT be enticed by the inviting pictures of this place when looking for accommodations in Miami. Fortuna House is a dump, a scam, and is owned and operated by a disreputable con artist! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

I’m reposting my review from Trip Advisors, here, and I believe the owner is accustomed to making false responses on social networking sites to «attempt» to save face and continue running a business that employs unfair tactics to not return guests’ full deposits:
We stayed at Fortuna House in late-​December 2009. We treated the place with utmost care and treated the apartment as if it were our own residence – we travel throughout the Americas, and rent apartments whenever we travel – i.e., we know the drill. We were unimpressed with a shower curtain that didn’t match height of shower stall, which got water all over very slippery tile that would never be a good selection for a bathroom area. Upon checkout, we were not refunded our $ 150 security deposit because the owner claimed that an IKEA curtain was stained. This is above and beyond imagination, and we still fell like this was a plain-​olé money grab – 2 years later we feel this way. Oh, and make sure you wash/​launder your towels and bed linens, because this was another reason provided for not returning our deposit (this should really be posted conspicuously in the room, if that’s the host’s expectation). While we wouldn’t stay at Fortuna House again, we do lobe the Biscayne Corridor, and now live here. I’d request a thorough walk-​through upon arrival to point out any damage, in advance, to the host’s representative that provides keys. Also, be sure you can speak/​understand Spanish clearly, as abuela’s English isn’t that great, which doesn’t bother us – we both are fluent – but it could be a definite barrier to communication. Lastly, we were dismayed to share the apartment building with loud college-​age twenty-​somethings running up and down stairwell into the wee hours, yelling and shouting as they went. Part of being a great host means carefully screening your prospective guests, and not finding creative ways to extract additional, unearned revenue from the folks that really did treat your place with respect.
**The owner responded to this on Trip Advisor saying we had broken/​torn the shower curtain, which is 100-​percent inaccurate. Our complaint was that the height of the shower curtain was inappropriate for the shower stall, and thus permitted water to get all over the slippery tile floor. If anyone would like to hear more about our bad stay at Fortuna House, I invite them to contact me directly on Unilocal.Trust your instincts on this one – do not stay here.**

I lived here short term for few months. This place is such a freakin joke, and the owner’s a scam artist — didn’t return my security deposit and demanded money from me on some bogus accusations. The place is disgusting with a moldy smell and cockroaches everywhere. Had my car parked right in front in the afternoon and came out to find my window smashed out and CD player stolen. I had bought a nice pillow and the place supplied a cot for guests. When I came home one day, I found both missing with an email from the landlord that she needed the cot for another person and entered my place when I wasn’t home… um, what?!? And you needed my pillow too? Of course I didn’t want it back after that. DO NOT STAY HERE!