Our welcome was great - the concierge was helpful and friendly.
However that’s where above average ended. Much of this hotel experience can be considered as overpriced and hard work! As seasoned travellers we are used to hotels, and this time we wanted a relaxing long weekend where we could chill and work away from the office.
The resort fee is expensive for what you get. As a Titanium elite member with Marriott I have seen many levels of hotel, and paying this additional fee above the room charge really isn’t justified for what you get. Hotels have pools - you shouldn’t pay a resort fee to have to use it (which is how they justified the charge when i queried it). My Marriott membership enabled us to have free sunloungers on the beach - otherwise you would be charged for these (they aren’t covered in the resort fee). The service around the pool is terrible - we gave up asking for pool towels and went to our room on the 7th floor to get them - it was 30mins quicker than waiting for the staff who ignored us or didn’t deliver when we did politely ask. The power points around the pool don’t work either - so I couldn’t work and enjoy the sun with my wife, I had to go back to the room unfortunately.
Breakfast is expensive if you can’t use your reward points: $30+ per person for a buffet. The quality of the food is good, but it’s a simple spread with no daily variation. We enjoyed the oyster and sparkling wine combo offered on the Sat night, but again it’s expensive for the quality of wine we had (it’s around $10 in the store).
Much of the bars were closed off for private events (the pool bar the first night, the indoor area the 2nd night) so you can’t get a drink and relax where you want to.
The other hidden cost is the valet - if you need it to cruise, be warned there’s a 30 min wait for your car, they obviously park it quite a way out as there was 30 miles additional on the car when it was returned (????) and it’s expensive.
This is the first Marriott hotel I have ever had a doubt about. I normally love them all. It’s a nice hotel - average in delivery with some classy decor- ie nothing wrong with it but it’s not value for money. The need to leverage charges over and above the price paid per room is wasted money - you do not get additional benefit from this. We had a nice weekend, everyone was friendly, but the price point would be achieved in the room cost, not the additional fees etc. Which came to approx $400 in our case.
