JW Marriott Hotel Macau — Hotel in Cotai Landfill Zone

As a preface to my observations, two points bear mention:||- A hotel's physical attributes matter less than the ability of its personnel to listen to and to assist its guests. One may or may not recall a hotel's façade; one certainly will remember the level of interactions with its personnel. |- Everyone deserves a second chance. We had stayed here before and experienced less than optimal friendliness and assistance from its staff. I had a conversation with the Operations Manager, who represented that he made key changes and invited us to stay again. We accepted that invitation. ||On Christmas Eve the JW Marriott Macau hotel/resort ("resort") picked us up and transported us to the facility. "Palace" is a more apt characterization of perhaps the most opulent resort I have ever experienced. We were greeted by a cohort of resort leadership. It assigned us an impeccably appointed suite. It was beautiful, but this visit it paled in comparison to the hospitality of the resort's professionals. ||Concierge Navigators --|Edel and his team (including Ricky, Amy, William, the affable limo driver) stood ready to advise us in a most welcoming manner. One example: When we informed them that we wanted to join a bus tour of Macao, they dispatched the resort’s limo driver to take us to the point of the bus tour’s origin. The driver assisted us out of the limo, then waited for the bus to depart, waved goodbye-bye to us, and only then did he return to the vehicle to head back to the resort. What a display of care and unsurpassed manners! Whenever we returned to the resort, the navigators made us feel as if we were returning to our home in Macau. ||Housekeeping --|This visit we had the privilege of meeting and interacting with Jay and Maria. They went far beyond doing a perfunctory job. They asked our preferences for pillows, towels, coffee, and the like. They conveyed the notion that they truly cared about making us feel not merely comfortable, but pampered. They succeeded in every respect. ||Executive Lounge --|Marriott's Executive Lounges (ELs) provide complimentary breakfasts and hors d'oeuvres, and they vary in breadth and number of offerings from location to location. This EL may surpass all its counterparts. The array and quality of its available cuisine preparations is both noteworthy and sumptuous. |As with the other areas of the resort, how the EL personnel treat its guests is paramount. After all, these are the individuals that guests see first, last, and most often throughout the day. The EL's people now are very, very well trained to engage with, listen to, and deliver to guests their delicious repasts. Inga and her team of Sofia, Victory, Young, Sky, John, Colin, Vicky, Grace, and Jessie impart to each guest the fact that every guest is individually most welcomed and is a valued member of the resort family. ||Guest Relations --|To be certain no guest's needs slip through the cracks, the resort deploys its Guest Relations staff to avoid any inadvertent oversight. Soon and Matthew were fastidious in staying in touch regularly. In one illustration of this fastidiousness, when we told Soon that we were in the mood for traditional Chinese dumplings, he personally walked with us to the adjacent Galaxy resort’s casino and to a dumpling restaurant therein. Excellent fare — excellent suggestion! All in all, their conversations, helpful recommendations, and selfless assistance served to enhance our stay immensely. |----------|In sum, if your desire is to experience all Macau has to offer, and you wish to do so while feeling pampered, you absolutely deserve to stay at (undoubtedly what WILL become) your new...

I'm so compelled to write this almost immediately! Not under a gunpoint but voluntarily.

It has been a while since I've received proper hotel treatment in a very very long time. It is not my first time to Macau... I have stayed in many properties before... Mostly Sands (including the presendential suite), Sheraton Grand, and this time I've decided to pick a different property - JW Marriott.

As a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite - they truly value guests like us not only through words but actions. All the standard stuff were honoured, upgrade, late check out, lounge access, breakfast. On top of that we even got a plate of fruits and macarons to welcome us!

Check in was dealt smoothly by Sophia who had liaised with me via email, it is amazing how she follows through every single thing (most people just send for the sake of sending and I've never met many of them!!). There was a rough customer at the check in who kept interrupting our check in process but Sophia handled it very well. She responded politely (even though the customer was raging) and continued checking in for me. The raging customer then started to raise her voice and walked off. It is unfortunate that there is no law against such abusive bullying customers.

Emmanuel had assisted with picking us from the bus station to the hotel, to check in, to sending us to our room... The whole check in was super smooth... (aside from screaming rude lady incident which is not something anyone can control...).

Coming to housekeeping, I've never met such an amazing housekeeping lady before - Rovina is her name. She left "love letters" for me lol! Not I love you letters but notes that would make you feel so welcomed and so well taken care of! Not just that, my things were kept very clean & neat, I had a laptop and she placed a mouse pad beneath it (I did not ask for it), rolled up my cables neatly, a dust cloth in case I need it, amongst others. I have not met such a prompt housekeeping personnel who is truly a gem! She's not just doing the usual SOP the hotel sets but totally understands the guests needs and went an extra mile! Truly a keeper and she will excel in any hotel she goes to, she is the rare 0.01% I've met in my hotel life... Trust me when I say she is very good - I’m one of those who can somehow manage to pinpoint an error but Rovina did a very good job. If I am a secret hotelier who is judging her duties, she will get full marks.

There is a lounge for evening drinks, 5.30pm to 8.30pm... Food is until 7.30pm. Lounge staffs are super friendly and polite.

In summary, if you are a Bonvoy member, this is a property you should go for... Well-maintained, clean rooms, meticulous housekeeping, professional staffs. Also, lifts area are protected by security guards after 11pm? It is on par with Sands (though my last stay was more than 5 years ago). The true reflection of a 5...

I’ve been waiting awhile to write this review. In the past, it’s always a drag to think about what to say regarding a stay that’s in reality nothing special but nothing bad. They still get a 5-star rating from me just for meeting my expectations. However, this JW Macau stay makes me wish there was a “6-star” option just to differentiate itself from all the previous rather ordinary stays by comparison.

Starting from check-in, they recognize my name from being a Platinum member and approved our suite upgrade. Mr. Soon personally took us up to the 31st floor suite to go over the room details. There were the usual fruit gifts which I like but also two Moon Cake gifts since it’s Mid-Autumn holiday week. That was a generous touch. Noting that our 4-year old was with us, he recommended a kid’s tent for him if we were interested. We were unsure but accepted if one became available for next day. Next afternoon after a day of pool activities, we came back to the room to find a tent which my son loved. Not only did he want to hit the sack early (which is always a struggle) but gave us parents much appreciated space on the king bed. A true win-win!

If that’s not a proactive action to improve your guest’s experience, I don’t know what is. But if that’s not enough, there were lots of examples of their team’s attention to details. For example, our iPhone charger cables were all clipped (JW branded too) to reduce clutter. Another example, my son’s books were lying around the suite and all of them had a bookmark on top of it just in case he needed one. A final example, we never asked for one but Angel the housekeeper left a kid’s stool in front of the sink in case our son’s too short to reach the sink (and he was indeed)! The cutest thing is Angel would put a towel in front of his tent with his little JW slippers in front every night. Ever since then, he would line his slippers in front of the tent before sleep. The kid never does that at home!

I hope above some find above to be helpful. It really was a very enjoyable and satisfying stay for us. By the way, we traveled with a fellow Platinum member family and the sentiment is consistent. We both found the service and suite far exceeded our stays elsewhere (and our families travel together frequently amongst Marriott properties in Asia).

A side note, the taxi line from MFM could be quite long. We took the free shuttle that leaves every 15 mins and it was really easy. Just exit the airport passing the taxi queue to your left to arrive at the shuttle area. Look for Galaxy Hotel shuttle and tell them you are going to JW (part of Galaxy). Get off the first stop then walk through the hotel (going left upon entering) and you’ll be at JW in no time (follow the signs to JW Marriott).

Looking forward to many more stays at JW...