Bring The Big Dog: Loews Miami Beach Hotel

I have assessed a great many beach hotels, and most of them treat a dog the way they treat sand in the lobby, as something to be tolerated in small amounts and swept away quickly. South Beach in particular has a reputation for velvet ropes and door policies, so it was a pleasure to find, right in the middle of it all on Collins Avenue, a big oceanfront resort that opens its arms to dogs of every size and means it. Loews Miami Beach Hotel earned our A+ rank, the very highest we award, and it has held it every time we have looked. This is my review of the hotel and the strip of Art Deco shoreline around it, for anyone who wants to bring their dog to Miami and spend the whole trip feeling wanted rather than allowed.

A Hotel That Loves Dogs

You know the small apology every dog owner makes crossing a hotel lobby, the tightened lead and the hopeful smile, half expecting to hear that the dog is too big or that pets sleep in the annex by the car park. Leave it at the door here. Most of the rooms welcome dogs, so you are not funnelled into a forgotten wing, and there is no weight limit at all, which on this coast is close to a miracle. The big soft retrievers, the Labradors, the mastiffs who get turned away everywhere else are exactly as welcome as a handbag terrier. Two dogs may share your room, cats are welcome too, and the whole thing costs fifty dollars once for the entire stay, not a nightly toll, with no deposit and no small print waiting to bite you at checkout.

Your Dog Goes Where You Go

What separates a dog friendly hotel from a merely permissive one is where the dog is allowed to be, and here your dog is very much part of the hotel rather than hidden in it. Into the lounge, out onto the terraces where the Atlantic is doing its thing a few yards away, and settled contentedly in the room while you go down for dinner, because the hotel is perfectly happy for a well behaved dog to be left alone. The bar and the restaurant are the one place your dog will not follow you, which is the Miami Beach norm, and the terraces and room service more than make up for it. There is even a dedicated dog area on the property, a rare thing at a resort this size and a sign that dogs were designed in rather than bolted on.

Loews Loves Pets

The welcome has a name, Loews Loves Pets, and it has been running long enough to feel like part of the hotel's character rather than a marketing line. Your dog arrives to a monogrammed metal bowl on its own mat, a tag for the door so housekeeping knows there is a four legged guest inside, a little tag for the collar, and a treat to say hello. There is a proper bed waiting, real food and water bowls, and poop bags so you never have to go hunting. Should you run short of food on a long trip, the hotel sells it, which sounds like a small thing until you have tried to find a decent bag of kibble on Collins Avenue at nine at night.

The staff have been trained to look after canine guests, and it shows in the ease with which they handle a dog at the front desk or on the terrace. The concierge keeps walking routes, will arrange a dog walker if you have a long lunch planned, and can find a sitter for a proper night out. The hotel also runs activities with dogs in mind, and the programme has picked up awards and press that reflect the real thing rather than a good publicist. We thought enough of it ourselves to name Loews Miami Beach our Rising Star for 2026 at the Canine Hospitality Awards.

Dinner From The Hotel Kitchen

Then there is dinner. Loews puts a room service menu together for dogs, cooked by the same kitchen that feeds you, and I love the message it sends. Your dog is not an afterthought to be fed from a tin on the bathroom floor; your dog is a guest, and guests here eat well. Order it up after a long day on the sand and watch a tired dog decide that this is the finest hotel on earth.

The Beach On Your Doorstep

The setting is the other half of the story. The hotel sits right on the ocean, and Miami Beach's paved Beachwalk runs past its back door for the length of the island, flat and wide and made for a morning stroll with a lead in one hand and a coffee in the other. The city is particular about dogs on the sand, so it pays to know the rules. The stretch at 21st Street, a few minutes north of the hotel, welcomes dogs off the lead in the early morning, from seven until nine in the cooler months and nine until eleven through the summer, and a dog tearing along the wet sand at sunrise with the whole of the Atlantic to itself is worth setting an alarm for.

Walks Worth Waking For

For a walk with the lead on, you are spoiled. Lummus Park runs the length of Ocean Drive, a palm lined ribbon of green between the pastel Deco hotels and the dunes, shaded and lively and never boring. At the southern tip of the island, South Pointe Park has a broad promenade along the ship channel where you can watch the cruise liners and the yachts slide past Fisher Island, and the western side of the park is an off leash area from sunrise until ten in the morning and again from half past four until eight. It is unfenced, so it suits a dog with good recall, and the evening light off the bay is glorious. For a fenced run, Flamingo Bark Park is a mile west on 11th Street, with separate areas for big dogs and small, and a little further out on the Venetian Causeway Belle Isle Bark Park is a quiet island green with two dog runs, shady benches and a fountain at dog height.

Where To Eat And Drink With Your Dog

You will not go hungry with a dog at your feet. The easiest option is Front Porch Cafe on Ocean Drive, a short walk down the beach, where the patio looks straight at the ocean and a water bowl arrives before the menu does. A few blocks inland, Lincoln Road is a car free promenade of restaurants and shops that takes dogs entirely in its stride. CVI.CHE 105 serves some of the best Peruvian food in the city at outdoor tables where dogs are welcome, and just off the road on Lenox Avenue, Yardbird Southern Table and Bar does fried chicken, shrimp and grits and proper Southern comfort under a covered terrace where nobody blinks at a tail beneath the chair. For something more polished, LT Steak and Seafood at The Betsy on Ocean Drive welcomes dogs on its patio and goes one better with a dog menu of its own, meatballs in broth or grilled salmon or chicken with rice and quinoa, so the two of you can dine out together properly.

The Practical Corner

The two things every travelling dog owner wants to know are covered without you having to ask. If your dog needs a wash and a tidy after a week of sand and salt, South Beach Pet Spa and Grooming on Alton Road is a few blocks west of the hotel. And should the worst happen, Veterinary Emergency Group runs a round the clock hospital on Biscayne Boulevard, just across the causeway on the mainland, and Loews keeps an emergency vet number at the front desk so you are never scrambling for it in a bad moment.

The Verdict

Quite simply, this is the hotel to bring your dog to on South Beach, it takes the glamour of Collins Avenue and the ocean at the end of the garden and adds an open handed, unfussy welcome for dogs of every size, with a programme behind it that has clearly been loved and polished for years. Book it, bring your best friend, big or small, and spend the entire stay without once apologising for their presence. Its A+ rank is not merely earned, it is celebrated, if you would like to read this hotel's official Roch Dog friendly review please click here.