I don’t usually leave negative reviews, but this stay was too frustrating not to share.
From the moment we checked in, things went downhill. The front desk told us our reservation had been canceled. It wasn’t. We booked through American Express Travel, and after spending over an hour on the phone with Amex, they confirmed our reservation was active the entire time. The mistake was on the hotel’s end. Instead of starting our vacation, we spent our first hour trying to fix something that wasn’t our fault.
To make up for it, they moved us from our two queen ocean view room to an oceanfront king. The view was beautiful, but for a family of four, it wasn’t an upgrade. One of us ended up sleeping on a pullout sofa for five nights because we no longer had two beds. That wasn’t doing us a favor. It was trying to fix a mistake.
What really bothered me was how it was handled afterward. Terrence at the front desk told my wife that the hotel had “done us a favor” by upgrading us. That comment completely missed the point. We weren’t asking for anything extra. We just wanted the room we booked. Saying they did us a favor instead of simply owning the mistake was disappointing and honestly disrespectful.
The problems didn’t stop there. The Marriott app never worked correctly during our stay, they blocked us out of our room and day 4 and had us go back and remake new keys which probably had to do with the mistakes they made at check-in.
We also believed breakfast was included through our American Express booking which is why we ate there each morning, but no one explained otherwise. On our fourth morning, we sat down for a simple breakfast with our kids and were surprised with a bill for almost $200, including an automatic 20% gratuity on a buffet breakfast which is unheard of.
At checkout, we were also told they couldn’t honor the late checkout benefits tied to our reservation or my Marriott Bonvoy status. After everything else that happened, it was just one more disappointment.
The only bright spot was housekeeping. They were amazing. They were friendly, our room was always spotless, and they were the only team that consistently delivered great service.
Also, the pool situation is frustrating since they seemed understaffed the guests would leave towels on chairs for hours and the one staff lady couldn’t keep track and wouldn’t clear them so we ended up standing two of the days for majority of the time while our kids were in the pool because we couldn’t get to a chair.
I’ve stayed more than 40 nights at Marriott properties this year, and this was, without question, the worst customer service I’ve experienced. The resort itself is beautiful, but great views don’t make up for poor service.
Sadly, because of the way we were treated, we won’t be coming back. I hope management reads this because this resort has so much potential, but the guest experience did not match what Marriott promises .
