Pretty disappointed with my recent stay here. The only redeeming elements were the location, grounds/pool and interactions with most of the employees. They were fantastic and brought this up to 3 stars (vs 1 or 2). As you drive up, the entrance is stunning. Cool wooden art pieces above two infinity pools, a covered patio that opens to a beautiful lobby with gorgeous views. We were greeted by the front desk employee and offered shell necklaces - great start! However, as soon as you leave the lobby towards the elevators you feel like you are in a different hotel. Cracks in the walls, walls without moldings, walls with cheap plastic "hospital" molding, dirty carpets, dilapidated elevators (many buttons no longer light up, one of the two elevators stopped working and they didn't even bother putting an "out of order" sign on it), dark hallways with improper lighting. make you ask yourself, "is this really a Marriott?" The views from the room were great! The views in the room, not so much. Stains on couches, walls, lamp shades, the carpet, and a huge stain on the rice paper in the windows between the bathroom and the room (see pictures). We stayed in two rooms - the first was an ocean view King one bedroom - nice sized bedroom, comfortable bed, the main space had a sofa w/a pullout bed. There is a wet bar area that is honestly mostly wasted space. We asked for a microwave and told it is a $10/day rental. (Really??) Our second room was an oceanfront double. The room wasn't big, but was serviceable. There appeared to have been a renovation somewhat recently (maybe 5-10 years ago), but things weren't being maintained (see comments about stains etc. above). The windows/sliding doors are about 20 years past due for replacement. As mentioned before, the views from the rooms were fantastic (see picture). The location is great and the pools are top-notch. We had an unusual situation that ruined our resort/pool day. We are a large family (hence the two rooms) and after an hour of playing in the different pools we got together in one of the hot tubs. We were the only ones in the hot tub and the adjoining pool was empty. After a few minutes the pool attendant approached us and asked us if we were one group. I answered yes and he responded that "it was fine then". He said they have to watch the hot tubs to make sure they don't have too many people because of Covid restrictions - but since we were one family, it was fine. About 15 minutes later we were approached by hotel security telling us we needed to leave the hot tub as there is a limit of 4 people. I politely explained that we are one family, but he insisted that we separate, saying that he would get in trouble with his boss if he didn't enforce the rule. I tried to talk through the logic of it with him as we are staying in adjoining rooms and traveling together so being in an outdoor hot tub with no one else around did not present a covid risk, and I could tell from the look on his face that he totally understood and agreed with me, but restated that his manager would not allow it. The security employee was very polite and the exchange wasn't heated, but we still left the hot tub feeling humiliated and retreated to our room. It put a cloud over what could have been a great last day on the island. The Titanium breakfast has been reduced to a pastry, mini yogurt, clamshell of mixed fruit (90% honeydew and unripe cantaloupe) and a beverage. Not awful, but certainly not great. Overall the feeling was that of a budget resort - not a flagship Marriott and a category 6 hotel. The deferred maintenance was really surprising - for such a great location it seems like management either has no idea how to do upkeep on a resort, or have decided to squeeze every last nickel out before they dump the place. I doubt we would ever come back to this property, not when there are so many other options in the area.…
Very nice hotel. Had great experience even during pandemic. The most I liked free photo session with Blink Photography that Marriott provide free of charge. We did maternity session and pictures came out great. We will definitely return and do it again with our baby.
We have been staying at this property for the past few years, always in December. Overall it is a good, solid Marriott property-due to COVID, it is doing as best it can but we got a little spoiled as we were at the Hilton Aruba, and they were pretty much back up to full service! Queenie at the Front Desk is always sweet and welcomes us with a big smile-she always tries to help in whatever way she can. We broke up our 14 day stay with 2 reservations, hoping that our suite night upgrades would come through, as I am lifetime titanium. This was the first time that my request was denied and I applied it to my 2nd reservation, fingers crossed. This hotel usually treats its Elite guests with a lot of benefits, and sadly, due to COVID, many of them went right out the window...not the hotel's fault but we saw how the Hilton in Aruba adjusted both in August and November and were "wowed" by what they accomplished-they offered room service, breakfast, bellman service, valet, etc. This Marriott was down to bare bones-the bellman greeted you at the main entrance and would put your bags on the cart but then they were not allowed to help you bring it to your room (this got interesting when we did get our upgrade and had to move from the 5th floor of a building to the Hale house). Good thing we had a car, so we went to Costco and got muffins, poke, snacks for our stay. We heard that the resort was at 20% occupancy and that by Christmas they were hoping to reach 40%. I will say, that the Bonvoy App worked great to request housekeeping, extra towels, etc. When we did request maid service, it was quick-almost within the hour of the request. BTW, they are currently waiving the resort fee, but if you park a car, they are charging $25/day-which I find a bit ridiculous-or at least offer Elite members a discount, since we aren't really getting anything else. The night before we had to change rooms, we asked about luggage assistance and they told us that the staff would help us and they also gave us 4pm check out from our old room so we didn't have to rush! This is where bellman service would of been very nice-it almost made me want to turn down the upgrade-mind you we had at least 6-7 bags and then snacks, water, etc-trying to navigate to the other side of the hotel and they bring our bags up 2 flights of stairs, as the Hale building doesn't have an elevator! It did provide us quicker access to the laundry room though! Great rooms but it kinda put a bit of a damper on our vacation because we basically had to do everything ourselves. We do love this hotel and will be back but I hope that they don't forget about their lifetime Titanium and Ambassador members who travel all the time, and will once this is all over or subsided.…
I canceled the hotel reservation prior to our scheduled trip. I paid close to $1000 for two nights that we did not utilize and they have denied my refund. I have attempted to contact the hotel multiple times to discuss and do not get a return phone call, but my claim for a refund was denied. How can Marriot refund some reservations and not others? I should have made a reservation at a small hotel where people actually care. I'm not letting this go and will continue my efforts for a refund.
We are loyal Marriott travelers, so the choice of this resort was a no-brainer for our 5-night Big Island stay. I will note that our room had a persistent musty smell and the hotel's rocky and wave-less beach wasn't a huge draw for our kids. That said, we spent many luxurious hours at the beautiful pool complex complete with waterslide and hot tub. The building and grounds were impeccably maintained. When damage appeared one day to the paint next to one of the elevators, we spotted a staff member fixing it the next day and the following day it appeared as if nothing ever happened. The restaurant was solid on the one night that we chose to eat in. And the on-property luau was exactly what we were hoping for - no reason to look anywhere else. I would return to the Waikoloa Beach Marriott if back on the Big Island.…
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