My husband and I chose The Phoenician for a mini-honeymoon, using a large number of Marriott points with the expectation of an exceptional, elevated experience. Based on its “luxury” branding and AAA Five Diamond status, we arrived genuinely excited. Unfortunately, that excitement quickly turned into confusion and disappointment.
I’m still struggling to understand how this property maintains a 4-star rating. The gap between what was advertised and what was delivered was…impressive.
The room itself was perfectly average. Not offensive, but not memorable either. If someone told me it was a standard 2 or 3 star hotel room, I wouldn’t question it. The balcony was nice, but certainly not enough to justify the “luxury” label.
Where things really fell apart though was the service.
Standard housekeeping was not provided. Over a 6-day stay, despite calling and even going to the front desk in person, we never received a proper room cleaning. At one point, someone stopped by, made the bed, and dropped off towels…while leaving behind dirty wine glasses and trash. An interesting interpretation of “service.” It gets better. Later that same day, a bottle of champagne and fruit were delivered as a congratulatory honeymoon gift (a thoughtful gesture). However, it was placed right alongside the same uncollected garbage, which made the experience feel more way more awkward than celebratory.
Fast forward to when we eventually ran out of toilet paper, we had to walk to the front desk to ask for more. At that point, it genuinely felt like we might as well have packed our own. What stood out most wasn’t just the inconvenience—it was how completely unfazed the staff seemed and how they handled it - with lack of urgency or apology.
At the pool, we ordered hummus that took an hour to arrive. After asking a waitress, it was pretty clear the order had been forgotten. Again, things happen—but the food finally arrived undercooked and underwhelming.
Ironically, the only smooth experiences we had were the ones we paid extra for—like the $450 cabana. And to be fair, the golf cart staff were excellent and easily the highlight of the service we encountered.
Thankfully, we spent much of our time off-property hiking and kayaking, which ended up being the best part of the trip, likely because it meant less time dealing with the hotel.
I don’t typically write reviews, but this experience was too disappointing to ignore. When you market yourself as a luxury property, the expectation isn’t perfection—it’s basic hospitality paired with elevated service. Unfortunately, this stay delivered neither.
The worst part about this entire experience has actually been having to relive it by writing this review. But my intention is to save others from having to go through a similar experience.
