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.

Despite my husbands reluctance to travel to Mexico I was able to coax him into 5 days at the JW Marriott-Cancun. The day we left Cancun he said he would definitely come back. From the moment we arrived at the airport the JW Marriott did not disappoint. Our flight landed at 830am and we were at the pool by 1000am. We were even able to get two chairs close to the pool. I will have to admit the other days my husband had to get down there early to save us chairs. We were lucky as there was a beach to play on when we were there at he end of March. The waves were awesome and we could enjoy the sand in our toes. Service at the JW was outstanding from the front desk ,restaurants, pool serice and the gift shop/deli. The room was very comfortable with comfy bed linens. Loved the spacious bathroom. We had an incredible view and it was relaxing sitting on the patio watching the waves. The breakfast buffet was exceptional and we took advantage of it since it was included in our room rate. We left the property once to go across to Harrys Steakhouse for dinner--what a nice place, little pricey but worth it. It was also nice having the Marriott Casa magna available next door. We went to Champions Sports Bar to watch basketball-typical sports bar food-no complaints. Perfect place to catch the basketball games. Both my husband and I enjoyed the spa. Our massages were excellent and the facilities were wonderful. Never seemed crowded and was very clean. This was truly a relaxing vacation and I would recommend the JW Marriott. We will get back there some day!

I am not a huge fan of mexico, as I have been just about everywhere in mexico except cancun.. Besides expedia double charging my credit card!!!! This was an awesome trip! The hotel was beautiful, we had a suite, beautiful... beds are very comfy, our son was on the pullout couch which wasnt so comfy, but he's young, he'll get over it. It was alittle windy but the sun felt great, we came home tanned and relaxed. The food was really good, especially the breakfast that is included, extensive and the best one I have had at a hotel. The best restaurants were la distilleria and la habeachuela, the latter was hidden in downtown, and we took a very exciting bus trip there and back, but it was worth it because we met an amazingly wonderful couple with their daughter with whom we went on this adventure. I am a bit of a princess and otherwise would not have done the bus, but they really made it fun!! So not only did we have a great trip, we met some nice folk. Chichinitza was very cool, the stories and the history... La isla mujeras also great, it was nice to have a day on the beach. Besides those trips we relaxed, we walked to the mall from our hotel. I would totally go back, for what it costs its a great get away for little money and beautiful suroundings.

The JW Marriott resort in Cancun is a beautiful hotel and the service is outstanding but we were disappointed to find that there is no longer any beach there. There is a small beach at the Marriott's Casa Magna resort next door but it is very rocky and the red flags are up because of a strong undertow. It is not swimmable. The closest swimmable beach is at the Meridien Hotel. It was extremely windy while we were there. Our suite was very spacious but the pullout sofa bed was uncomfortable and we ended up putting the mattress on the floor. The food was okay but nothing special and very expensive. They do try to do everything possible to make the diners happy, though. If you are going, it is worth taking trips to Xelha and Chichenitza. Renting a car at the hotel is very easy and a day trip to Tulum and Xelha are better than taking a tour. A trip to Isla Mujeres is not worth the effort. Unfortunately, Cancun has changed alot over the years and not for the better. There is no space left between many of the hotels and downtown Cancun is completely rundown. However, the people there are incredibly kind and gracious.