Riverside was where I chose to have my wedding guests stay for my Hollywood wedding. The hotel has reasonable prices and are right on Las Olas, where there are plenty of restaurants (though mostly pricey) and entertainment. The Riverside itself has a hotel bar that opens up to the sidewalk, with nice woodwork and a pleasant bartender and great drinks. Right across the entrance from that bar is another open to the sidewalk area for the restaurant which serves all three meals, and then inside is a fancy dimly lit win bar area for meetings or private parties.
A marketing group I am a part of also hosts events monthly at Riverside, serving delicious apps on their quaint outdoor patio. Then a speaker speaks in one of the meeting rooms, which is nicely decorated in light tones.
The Riverside has tower rooms (recently renovated) and classic rooms. The classic rooms are a bit older but still up to snuff and the tower rooms are very spacious, with very comfortable beds.
While the Riverside is not at the beach, which is one of the major drawbacks of staying here, it is at the waterfront of the New River and the pool overlooks this waterway. It is also very close to a water taxi stop, so guests can go to and from many of Ft. Lauderdale's attractions this way. The hotel does not have shuttle service to or from the airport, but the taxi ride would not be terribly expensive.
I ended up choosing this hotel because rates were decent for in-season, the rooms were nice, and the atmosphere is classy yet laid back. The biggest bonus was proximity to restaurants, bars, and shopping for my guests.
Customer service needs work for the phone at the reception desk, but all the staff were perfectly pleasant in person, and entirely helpful. The problem was non-native speakers on the reservation line had trouble understanding what we needed, as well as sticking to the reduced rate my guests were promised.
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