The Breakers Palm Beach

A business friend of mine was staying here so I drove up from Fort Lauderdale to have lunch with her. I was super excited to go to the breakers! It is an icon in the area and I love architecture. Why I gave it 2 stars: * the property is an icon in the area and it is absolutely beautiful! Worth seeing if you like history and architecture. * The food was great Why it doesnt get a higher rating: * Post-COVID, service greatly declined. * We at at Ocean House. My friend was horrified with how I was treated as a guest not staying AT the hotel. It was honestly weird. I'm still there to spend money. * Reception at the restaurant was unprofessional and rude * It took us a very long time to have a simple lunch and get the bill / pay. * I know there was construction and she was VERY disappointed with her room that she booked a year in advance and paid for a view and was looking at a wall. I felt bad for her. All in all it was a disappointment. Whether I'm a local visiting a hotel guest or not, I'm STILL there to buy food and drinks and pay for it. I was dressed nice / business attire, etc. and my money spends the same. I hope they have fixed these issues since I was there over the summer.

Wow!!! This place lived up to the hype. The valet was the best I have ever seen. The grounds beautiful, food delicious, great location. I loved the chocolates they gave. It was like stepping back in time in the most magical way possible.

I never heard about this hotel before, and I decided to give it a chance while we planned our first visit to Palm Beach. I tried to book two rooms, both with king-size beds, for a family of five (two adults and three small kids). First time in my life I was denied the reservation because of "the safety reason/concern". Apparently, per hotel rules, no more than two people per room. And they are very strict about it, as I was told over the phone. Per their logic, we are supposed to get a third room and have one of the small kids sleeping there?????? I think that is Not the best hotel, with not the best rules and logic, and with not the best customer service. Good thing there are other 5-star hotels with many "advanced" rules and conditions and good customer service.

I was surprised how poor this hotel was. I was recommended to stay there by a friend who I would have expected to have high standards but I was amazed how many mistakes they made. I have stayed in good hotels over the years so perhaps I am hard to please but here are some the issues we encountered. I stayed with my wife and family for a week so had plenty of exposure to the Breakers. In no particular order: 1. Our room was small and only had a single basin in the bathroom. Not great at nearly USD 2,000 a night. 2. The loo was broken and over filling so after about 20 mins of waiting for maintenance I opened the cistern and fixed it myself. 3. The window only opened about 10 cm. Also the window kept slipping shut so I propped it open with a shoe. 4. When the window was open, all I could hear was the massive air con / ventilation unit on the back of the Circle Restaurant below. Its ventilating a huge space so is industrially noisy. In fact you can hear it with the window closed too. 5. Also, pretty poor wifi in the room. I raised this with the hotel and to be fair they moved us to a different room. This had a double basin which was an improvement. Other things: 1, At breakfast, the hot food on the buffet is at best warm but then the plates are cold. This means your cooked breakfast is effectively cold. I would expect a hotel of this standard and cost to have the capability of warming plates. 2. On the Saturday evening in the middle of our stay, we were not able to eat dinner in the hotel. The Italian restaurant was fully booked and the "first come first served" sea food restaurant had an hour and 40 minute wait time. I guess the place is full of non residents. 3. I asked the hotel book us into a local restaurant called Echo. It's actually very good and owned by the Breakers. We arrive and the receptionist has no knowledge of our booking. I show her the booking text from the hotel and it turns out its for a date the following week. A 30 minute wait for a table... 4. The Breakers add 20% gratuity automatically to all bills / cheques. At USD 50 per person for breakfast this means you are paying USD 10 for someone to bring you a coffee and you get everyone else yourself from the buffet! It should be optional. In my view, the management of the Breakers are under massive pressure to sweat the asset as hard as possible. They charge top room rates and run with 4 star service. Its just good enough to stop most people complaining and I expect saves them significantly on operating costs. Final point, it's very corporate. My wife said she did not enjoy having to walk past several hundred identical Morgan Stanley investment bankers (obviously some sort of conference) in her robe to get to the spar. Small point but just another reason to think carefully before booking.

Visited the Breakers in mid January. Hotel is undergoing renovations so very difficult to get a table for drinks at night despite being an hotel guest and for breakfast in the morning. Housekeeping missed turn down even though we were out of the room by 5 pm. Housekeeping seemed very strangely timed and disorganized. Golf staff, though. Is top notch. Shuttle service to golf is outstanding and golf pros exceptional. Also can’t say enough about food at the golf course. If you don’t golf you may want to look elsewhere until renovations end and hopefully they get back on track.