A. The five-star Hotel Belvedere.

Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show?

A. Somewhere in Miami.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. In the next-to-last Episode (11) of Season 3, "I Had a Dream".

Dexter and his best-friend-in-crime, Miguel Prado, have had a major falling out, and they are now both hunting each other.

In the first scene, Dexter stalks Miguel at a motel, studying his new routine and looking for an opportunity.

We see Dexter parked across the street from the hotel in his car, watching as Prado and his brother Ramon get out of a car at the hotel's valet entrance.  When he sees Miguel ditch his brother and drive away in a car, Dexter follows him to a rendezvous with Maria LaGuerta.

Later, we see the Hotel Belvedere again, this time after dark, when Dexter goes inside and spots
Miguel & Ramon drinking at the lobby bar. He tricks a maid into letting him into Miguel's hotel room, and looks around, spotting clues that make him realize that Miguel is planning to kill LaGuerta that night. Dexter decides to kill him first.

(When Miguel shows up at Maria's house, Dexter is waiting for him.)

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A real hotel - but not in Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This is actually the Marriott Hotel, at 4100 Admiralty Way, in Marina Del Rey.  That's at the northwest corner of Admiralty Way & Via Marina.

It appears that they also filmed inside the hotel, including the lobby scenes.

While they haven't filmed at Marina Del Rey as often as they have in Long Beach, they've shot a fair share of scenes there.

Other third season locations in Marina Del Rey include Dexter & Rita's wedding, the sporting goods store where Dexter takes Miguel shopping for murder tools, and the park stakeout scene where Debra & Quinn bust a Skinner suspect.

It's just one long block southwest of two second season locations, as well: Lila's Diner and the Narcotics Anonymous meeting. And it's not far from the other hotel where they filmed the room-filled-with-blood scene, from the first season.




I shot the photos below in Nov. 2009





Here is an aerial photo of the hotel. And here is a map link.

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A.  I didn't.  Despite looking at every hotel in sight, this one managed to elude me for over a year.  Why?

If you'll compare my photos of the hotel (above) with the screencaps from the show, you may notice that the f/x guys at the studio obviously cut off the top seven floors of the building, turning it from a high-rise, ten-story hotel, into a low-rise, three-story hotel. So naturally, when I went looking for a low-rise hotel, I skipped this high-rise (and others).

Finally, in 2009, a fan, Dallas Hill, let me know that the Hotel Belvedere was really the Marina Del Rey Marriott. Thanks, Dallas!