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I visited Miami last year in order to attend their annual electronic music festival. In order to go, the first thing I did was look up the cost for plane tickets and decide if I could afford to fly down from New York City. I never dreamed that I would be able to stay at a place even nicer that some of the really high-dollar locations.

The next step, besides putting off buying the weekend pass to the event (which then, the price goes up $30 and you’re kicking yourself you didn’t catch the presale) is finding a place to stay. The year before, which was the first time I went to Miami, I put off finding a place until about 2 weeks before the event. Everything was booked solid.

So I investigated finding a place outside the downtown area, the agent booked me in Hialeah, which I thought I could walk to, but when I came to the cross streets where I thought it would be, I was literally in some ghetto, I had to call a cab - it turned out the hotel was 30 minutes drive from downtown!

So this time, I decided not to wait until the last minute (I stilled missed buying my tickets on presale however), especially since my girlfriend was going to go with me. I began looking with two full months left before the event, since I didnat think my girlfriend really needed to see the part of Miami that looked more like Cuba than the well-known resort city.

Even with so much lead time, I was having trouble finding something affordable. An online search of aHotel Miamia kept coming up with rooms that were a minimum of $250 per night, and although I would have loved to treat my girlfriend to a $500/night room, it really wasnat an affordable option.

Then a brainstorm hit me, and I searched with the keywords, aBed and Breakfast Miami.a My search return several results, and one even had a link to the official B and B website. I dialed the office number listed and listened as they described how their set up worked. I immediately reserved a room, and the weekend was settled. The place I booked was fairly inexpensive, and it was also within walking distance to downtown and the train station that took us back to the airport.

It was a great discovery, and the best thing about the bed and breakfast was the fantastic customer service. Practically at the last minute, I decided to take my brother with us to Miami, so I emailed the Band B to let them know what the situation was and that we would have somebody else staying in the room, probably on the floor or something.

About a week later, I got a return email from the owner saying, aSince your brother will be coming with you, we have upgraded you to an apartment suite.a Although we were expecting to receive an enormous charge for this fantastic upgrade, the B and B only charged us $10 extra for a full-size apartment, complete with kitchen and living room. That kind of service is practically unheard of at any hotel chain Iave ever been to!

We spent a long day traveling and a longer night partying, and then we were able to sleep well in a fantastic room. When we got up the next morning, we were treated to a great breakfast of cereal, fruit and banana bread, and then we took off for another fun-filled day and night. If you ask me, Bed and Breakfast places are more top of the line than most of those high-priced resorts, and they come with superior customer service at a truly affordable rate.