Which Fisher Island or Downtown Miami condo has the best service?

Three answers, three models. Six Fisher Island publishes the most residential service: three lobbies with full-time concierges, a residential butler and an on-site general manager for ~50 homes, with a Club on the island. Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami publishes Hilton Worldwide managing the property under the Waldorf Astoria name, ~360 residences above a hotel, From $3,300,000. Delano Residences & Hotel Miami publishes a hotel below ~421 residences under the Delano name with Ennismore and Accor, From $760,000, with Accor ownership benefits subject to an annual fee. "Best" depends on the ratio of staff to homes, on whether the owner wants a hotel's reach or a house's quiet, and on where the bill lands. The two Downtown towers buy a hotel's depth of service at the price of sharing the building with its guests.

Five axes, from the developers' published material only.

Six Fisher Island. Price point: no published entry price; released on request. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: ~50 waterfront homes, 3 to 8 bedrooms, ~3,900 to over ~15,000 square feet, private elevator entry to each. Position: ~650 feet of shoreline in ~6.5 acres of gardens on an island with no bridge. Operator or brand: Related Group with BH Group and Globe Invest; three lobbies with full-time concierges, a residential butler and an on-site general manager; over ~55,000 square feet of amenity private to residents including a residents-only oceanfront restaurant; lifetime Fisher Island Club membership on closing, subject to Club approval.

Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami. Price point: From $3,300,000. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: ~360 branded residences across 100 stories, furnished junior suites and 1 to 4 bedrooms, with hotel guestrooms and suites in the tower; Savant smart home with concierge access. Position: Downtown Miami, unobstructed views of downtown, Miami Beach and the Atlantic. Operator or brand: Hilton Worldwide, managing under licence of the Waldorf Astoria name; Property Markets Group; Peacock Alley, a signature restaurant, a private bar and wine tasting room, a signature spa, a private residential pool deck and an owners lounge.

Delano Residences & Hotel Miami. Price point: From $760,000. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: ~421 fully finished residences across ~90 stories with the hotel below; studios through 3 bedrooms in the released collection. Position: Fourth and Biscayne, Downtown Miami. Operator or brand: Delano under licence with Ennismore and Accor; Property Markets Group; The Source by Delano spa, Delano Rose Bar, an all day restaurant, a sky restaurant, a Members' Club, Beach Club access at Delano Miami Beach, and the Accor Ownership Benefits Program subject to the annual benefits fee.

Read what the brand does at Waldorf Astoria, hotel guests and resident spaces at Delano, household staff and the service entry at Six Fisher Island and Fisher Island or Downtown Miami: enclave or city.

Count the published roles against the homes. Six Fisher Island names concierges in three lobbies, a butler and a general manager, for ~50 homes. Waldorf Astoria names an operator, Hilton, and a smart home with concierge access, for ~360 homes plus a hotel; the hotel's own staff are the depth, and the shared facilities agreement says what the residences can call on. Delano names the hotel below and a Members' Club for ~421 homes; the hotel's concierge, housekeeping and room service are the service, on terms the budget and the à la carte menu set. The difference is not quality, which no brochure can prove, but arithmetic. A butler for ~50 homes knows the names. A hotel desk serving ~421 homes and the hotel's own guests runs a queue. The buyer asks each sales team for the staffing plan by shift, which is a document the association budget has to fund. Read what the branded residence premium buys, which Brickell tower has the best service and which West Palm Beach condo has the best service.

It gives reach: a restaurant at midnight, housekeeping on an hour's notice, a spa that is open because guests pay for it, and at Delano a beach club across the bay. It takes the lobby. Waldorf Astoria answers that with a private residential pool deck and an owners lounge the hotel does not use; Delano answers it with a Members' Club, and which elevators the public deck uses is the question the buyer asks. Six Fisher Island has no hotel and so takes nothing; its reach is the residents-only restaurant and the island's Club, whose dues are the owner's cost and whose eligibility the Club decides. An owner who wants a hotel's reflexes chooses Downtown; one who wants to be known at the door chooses the island. Read which Design District, Wynwood or Downtown condo keeps its amenities for residents, hotel guests and resident spaces at Waldorf Astoria and club membership obligations at Six Fisher Island.

In three places, and a buyer reads all three before the reservation. In the association budget, which funds the staff the declaration obliges the building to keep, the management fee and the brand's licence fee where there is one; that is the monthly figure. On the à la carte menu, which is housekeeping, in-residence dining, the spa and the boat, billed per use at rates the operator sets. And in the membership lines: Delano's Accor benefits carry an annual benefits fee by the developer's own description, and Six Fisher Island's Club carries annual dues and charges the owner pays after the developer's initiation fee. None of the three publishes those figures on our file. The developer's estimated budget is the document, and it is read line by line. Read Miami HOA fees, how to read the developer's estimated budget and what it costs to own a condo in Miami each year.

The developer signs it before the first owner closes; the owners inherit it at turnover. Florida's condominium statute lets owners cancel certain contracts the developer made on their behalf once they control the board. The brand is different: at Waldorf Astoria and Delano the name sits under a licence with its own term and its own conditions, and losing the name is a separate event from changing the manager. At Six Fisher Island the service is the association's own staff, so the question is who runs them rather than whose name is on the door. The buyer asks for the management agreement, the licence agreement and the shared facilities agreement where a hotel shares the site, and reads the term, the fee and the exit of each. Read when the developer hands a Florida condo association to its owners and branded or unbranded residences.

Six Fisher Island suits the owner who wants to be known by name in a building of ~50 homes with a butler and a general manager, and who will pay a Club's dues for the island. You give up a hotel's hours, a bridge and a published price. Read the Six Fisher Island dossier.

Waldorf Astoria suits the owner who wants Hilton's depth with rooms the hotel does not share, From $3,300,000. You give up the lobby to guests and fund a 100 story tower's staff. Read the Waldorf Astoria dossier.

Delano suits the owner who wants a hotel's reflexes and a beach club at the lowest Downtown entry, From $760,000, and does not mind a public deck in the tower. You give up privacy at the door and pay an annual fee for the brand's benefits. Read the Delano dossier.

The Fisher Island zone page and the Downtown Miami zone page map the three; which Fisher Island condo suits a family office reads the island for a household with its own staff. The desk reads the staffing plan, the budget and the management and licence agreements with the buyer before the reservation.