There is NO BEACH, it washed away. As a result, anyone who wants sun and swimming needs to use the pools and there are not enough lounges chairs. The result can only be called the 'Great Chair Wars". If you go down to the pools (there are 2 primary areas) at 8am, you will likely NOT find an unreserved lounge chair. People get up at 5 am to “reserve” chairs by putting a personal item (shoe, book, pool towels – this amazes me because the pool towels aren’t put out until 6am) on the chairs they want. What makes it worse, most of these people don’t show up to actually occupy their lounges until 10 or 11 in the morning so you have people looking for seats at the pool at 9 and all they see is an ocean of unoccupied, “reserved” chairs. We saw people arguing because they came down at 11 and someone had the sheer nerve to move their hotel towels so they could sit down.
If you want to spend a day at the pool, you need to get down to the pool before 7 to reserve a lounge chair (and you won’t have a huge selection at 7). It’s amazing how many people show up in their pajamas to get seats! It’s also amazing how many people are “Pigs” reserving 4 chairs (2 in the sun and 2 in the shade) and 2 tables for 2 people…….I guess they feel entitled to special treatment – they must have neon “I’m Important” signs at home.
The distressing thing is that the hotel management does nothing about this situation….it’s not their fault the beach washed away, but they could do something like removing towels from chairs that are unoccupied for 2 hours so other folks can sit down. Put up a sign (and enforce it!) that says “Items will be removed from chairs unoccupied for 2 hours”
If you want to go on vacation to get up a 5am every day so you can get a seat at the pool, this is the PLACE FOR YOU!! Personally, I’d rather sleep in until 7 (at least) on vacation, have a relaxed breakfast, and then go sit at the pool. I don’t need to be in a competition every morning for a place to relax while I’m on vacation.
As for the hotel itself, the staff is very polite, good, and efficient. The physical premises are beautiful. The rooms are “Marriott”. The grounds are well maintained. The food is good, the bars are not obscenely expensive. They could put coffee pots in the rooms rather than trying to squeeze the extra $2/day out of each guest to buy coffee in the lobby shop.
I paid for the hotel with Marriott points….I’m uncertain if I got my money’s worth.
TripAdvisor has free and easy resources to help you enhance your listing and promote your property.
- Start Here - Visit Your Owners' Center
- Add Photo
- Add Video