Miami's role as a destination for body-contouring procedures has left hotels and short-term rentals weighing how to accommodate patients during recovery. Some properties are adding deposits or restrictions to address potential cleanup costs, while others prohibit recovery stays in guest rooms.
The New York Post reported that one traveler encountered a $600 incidental deposit at a Miami hotel. The Post also cited an X post in which a receptionist allegedly said guests getting BBLs nearby spill blood and guts in hotel rooms, and that the hotel needed protection. The Post also reported surprise deposit demands, including one guest who was asked to pay extra at check-in while traveling for medical care.
Guests Say Deposits Climbed After They Mentioned Surgery
The Post reported that a guest at Candlewood Suites Miami Lakes said staff demanded an additional $500 deposit this past January after she disclosed that she was recovering from surgery, despite her having already paid the hotel's standard $100 deposit. She also alleged that staff withheld housekeeping even after confirming her sheets were blood-free.
Short-term rentals have also drawn complaints. A reviewer of a Miami Airbnb told the Post that a host unexpectedly demanded a $100 deposit for potentially bloodstained linens this past July and threatened to cancel the reservation if the reviewer refused to pay. Another Miami Airbnb listing openly advertises proximity to more than a dozen plastic surgery clinics and discounted transportation with reclining seats for post-op patients, while requiring surgical guests to pay a refundable $100 deposit. The listing says the deposit is to ensure linens and other items are not “damaged or stained,” and names nearby clinics including Avana, Beyond and Zion, according to the listing on Airbnb.
Some Hotels Restrict Recovery Activities
Kompose Boutique Hotel Miami Airport has a written medical recovery policy that prohibits recovery activities and medical waste disposal in guest rooms. It also bars visible bandages, drains and surgical garments in common areas. Under the hotel's published terms, staff may knock and announce before entering a room to inspect it if they reasonably believe a violation is occurring; violators may face additional cleaning or biohazard remediation fees, according to the policy on Kompose's website.
Tom Bugansky, founder of Prestige Surgical Aftercare, told the Post that hotels can face cleanup costs when rooms are soiled, even when guests have paid only $200 or $300 for a night's stay. He said hotel housekeeping staff had shared photos with him of rooms where two patients recovering from liposuction and body-contouring left blood and surgical drainage soaking the linens.
Why BBL Recovery Gets So Messy
Bugansky told the Post that BBL procedures involve injecting four to five liters of fluid into the body, with remaining fluid draining over the following days; he said some doctors leave surgical incisions unstitched to allow drainage. His company uses protective absorbent pads on mattresses and pillows, along with its own linens. Bugansky also said hotels have responded by buying high-end Egyptian thread-count linens that can better withstand damage.
The lodging concerns come amid a high volume of procedures in the region. Half of all butt augmentation procedures performed by ASPS surgeons in 2024 took place in the Southeast, according to Axios. A study in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal cited by the outlet found that South Florida had the country's highest BBL mortality rate as of 2023, with 25 BBL-related fat embolism deaths in the region from 2010 to 2022. About 92% of the procedures in that study were performed at high-volume, budget clinics often found in local strip malls, the report says. In 2019, the Florida Board of Medicine issued an emergency order requiring surgeons to inject fat grafts under the skin rather than into the muscle.
Beverly Hills Built an Industry Around the Same Problem
Beverly Hills, another cosmetic surgery destination, has developed specialized lodging and aftercare services rather than relying only on standard hotel stays. Companies there arrange accommodations with private nurses, recovery equipment and round-the-clock assistance. Bugansky said his company operated out of the SLS Hotel on Rodeo Drive starting in 2021 before moving into a residential high-rise in 2023.
Prestige Surgical Aftercare, which Bugansky established in 2020 as a Marine veteran, opened a dedicated Beverly Hills facility that had been operational since November 2023 and was formally inaugurated with a grand open house on May 16, 2024, according to a business profile in the Los Angeles Times. The facility provides round-the-clock nursing coverage, chef-prepared meals and complimentary local transportation; it added specialized treatments such as lymphatic massages in March 2025. Separately, a Reddit user's account relayed by travel site One Mile at a Time described the SLS Beverly Hills as having a relationship with Cedars-Sinai that sent recent plastic-surgery recovery patients to the hotel. The guest recalled seeing a nurse station, heart rate monitors, a doctor and hospital gurneys near their room.
A Plastic Surgeon's Take on Fair Fees Versus Normal Healing
Dr. Nirmal Nathan, a Miami-based board-certified plastic surgeon, said some drainage or minor bleeding is an expected part of recovery after liposuction, tummy tucks and body-contouring procedures. He said hotels have a right to protect their property, but should distinguish normal recovery from excessive damage; patients, he argued, should not automatically face substantial incidental charges for predictable effects of healing.
Nathan recommends that patients check accommodation policies in advance for post-surgical deposits, cleaning fees and rules about damaged linens. He also advises confirming that recovery is permitted, arranging appropriate medical supervision and using protective bedding when drainage is expected. Recovery houses designed for patients after procedures such as BBLs and liposuction can arrange medical waste disposal and provide trained caregivers, protective bedding and drain assistance—services standard hotels may not be equipped to offer.
Plan the trip home, too
Patients traveling for medical care should also ask their care team about when it is safe to fly. The CDC Travelers’ Health says flying after surgery can increase blood-clot risk and that delaying air travel for 10-14 days following major surgeries, particularly those involving the chest, will minimize risks associated with changes in atmospheric pressure.
