JW Marriott Hotel Mexico City Polanco — Hotel in Mexico City

My wife and my 2 kids (10 & 13yo) stayed here for 5 nights during New Years. We had never been to Mexico City, and several folks had recommended booking the JW given its location in Polanco. The property is part of the AMEX fine hotels collection, and I'm also a Marriott Elite member, so I had high expectations given the potential benefits. I was sorely disappointed.||We arrived at 345p on Sunday, and while the check-in was quick, we were informed that our corner suite (2524) was in the final stages of cleaning. We were advised to wait in the 5th floor lounge as they would bring the room keys when the room was ready. As others have noted, the lounge isn't flashy as it merely features several dining tables. The food selection is pretty good, but the food quality is average Marriott fare. They don't serve alcohol as only sodas and waters were available. ||We checked at 430p and at 5p on the status of our suite, and we were informed that it wouldn't be much longer. Finally, at 530p, the front desk clerk furnished keys so we could head to our room and get settled. Our suite had magnificent views of the city and the park. While it had been upgraded, the decor still reminded me of a Westin. The bedding was ok, and the small couch was more for show rather than lounging. The bathroom had been updated and featured a glass shower with nice fixtures. But again, it seemed more Westin-esque than that of a Ritz. ||Pros|- Location is fantastic as one can easily walk to restaurants and shops in Polanco which is a safe and upscale neighborhood. One can also walk to the castle although its a longer walk. |- Gym is very spacious with ample cardio equipment and treadmills. The weight room isn't large, but it had most essential items and was never packed. There's also a small, heated outdoor pool. The gym staff were always friendly and helpful.|- Concierge was always accessible as one never had to wait to speak with them. And, we used them to book a guide to Guadalupe and the Pyramids. That said, I've found that the concierge at other properties like Four Seasons or Mandarin will take care of everything (e.g., ticket booking, itinerary prep, etc.) They don't do that here as we booked our own tickets for sites and events such as Lucha Libre.||Cons|- Service is erratic. We always had to wait for 20+ minutes to get a table for breakfast, and once we did get a table, we had to wait for another 20-30 minutes to order coffee or tea. I recognize that the hotel was busy and on our last 2 days, we noted that there was no wait for a table, yet we still waited for coffee. |- The food itself is ok, but there was no dish that we raved about. Admittedly, Mexico City features sensational restaurants, so one has to get out of the JW.|- Only 2 elevators were working which was painful given it was a busy week.||Again, while the location is magnificent, I don't believe that the JW is worthy of an AMEX fine hotel as it seems more like a renovated Marriott. I should note that the manager did upgrade us to a larger suite (2212) for our last 2 nights and provided $100 of complementary laundry which was a nice gesture. Yet, they misplaced an article of clothing, and we had to remind housekeeping several times to bring us 4 towels as they would only leave 2. They also made several mistakes on our bill that we had to correct at checkout. ||Polanco is a great area, and if you want to stay in its heart, the W and Intercontinental are next door. That said, if we returned, we would definitely consider an...

While the J.W. Mexico City is undoubtedly a beautiful and comfortable hotel in a lovely neighborhood both safe and central to the rest of the city, it's the J.W.'s staff that truly elevates it to one of the best hotel experiences I've had.

Although I'd always wanted to visit Mexico City, the opportunity to do so arrived suddenly out of circumstance. My parents, fresh off a trip to the city for a wedding, had both come down with something and had made a hasty departure from the J.W. Only when they got home and began unpacking did my mother realize she'd left her jewelry at the hotel. Still unwell, and now in Pennsylvania, they decided to enlist the service of their faithful son in L.A. to retrieve the trinkets.

My mother had already been in touch with the hotel's head of security to explain the situation. As is typical of my mother, the two apparently talked at length and developed something of a working friendship.

The head of security went out of his way to personally pick me up at the airport. The armored limo was probably overkill, but having a ride from the airport in Mexico City just around rush hour is a luxury that cannot be overstated.

The head of security was exceedingly pleasant and quite funny. My mother insisted I bring him a Steelers' sweatshirt (he was a fan, and NFL goods are understandably hard to come by in Mexico) and ask after his family (they were doing well). He seemed more touched by the former than the latter, which made me chuckle.

Since I'd not been to Mexico City before, I wanted to make a quick vacation of it instead of just picking up the goods and leaving. The entire staff could not have been more accommodating. They set me up in a lovely suite for three nights. Everyone among the staff I interacted with was professional, helpful, but most of all personable...something that I really appreciated when traveling alone.

Getting ready to depart, I gathered my mother's jewelry from the head of security. He'd been keeping it in a safe in his office. The hotel had again arranged transportation to the airport. I thanked him profusely, and made my way home.

The kicker? ALL of it was gratis. I suppose, knowing the main reason for my trip, they elected to treat my stay as an unintended consequence of a simple mistake, and decided to offer the accommodation for free. It was something they obviously didn't need to do, and was beyond generous of them.

Subsequently, my mother wrote a letter to Bill Marriott to express her gratitude and praise the exemplary service of the J.W. Mexico City's staff. A few weeks after sending it, she received a call from Mr. Marriott to thank her for sharing the positive feedback and that he'd made note of it.

All-in-all, I had a wonderful mini-vacation. Mexico City is a beautiful, lively, and intense world class city, and the J.W., with it's tastefully restrained interior design, elegant rooms, more-than-hospitable staff and service that goes above and beyond, the perfect temporary home base to...

I stayed at JW Marriott Mexico City during a mattress run in CDMX, in part because they were one of the hotels which offered PCR covid testing from the hotel itself, unlike St.Regis which required me to go to an external clinic. So I booked a stay at JWM at the end of my trip for the convenience. My stay ended up being ok but not great; unlike other hotels they closed the executive lounge and I received a suite upgrade which I appreciated but it was merely a corner room with moderately aging hardware.

A couple of days before my stay the hotel informed me that they did not have many suites available because some were being renovated, but that they would put one suite aside for me ahead of time for my Marriott Ambassador Elite upgrade. It was a nice gesture and it’s clear that for Bonvoy elites they go out of their way to ensure guests will get an upgrade. The problem is that the suites are not that big, the junior suite is 43 sqm and I received an executive corner suite which is one category above and barely larger at 45 sqm.

Some features were interesting for example the floor to ceiling windows separated by a stone beam a bit below waist height, and the same could be found in the bathroom which made the room very bright. I also had nice view of Chapultepec Park in front from either the bedroom or the shower and privacy was not a problem since there was no building in front. Other than that, the room was partially renovated, the bathroom was nice and modern but the bedroom had carpet which was not very much to my liking and some older and brittle cabinets.

The executive lounge was closed and they did not make much of an effort to offer a replacement unlike their competitors. At InterContinental the lounge was open, at Hyatt Regency it was open for drinks only while hors d’oeuvres were served in the restaurant during happy hour, and at Sofitel the lounge was closed but similar to HR they served happy hour in an alternative venue. Partially making up for it, I can say JWM is the hotel which provided the best welcome gift: some sweets and a 375ml bottle of Tequila.

Breakfast was entirely a la carte with a decent menu. The Chilaquiles dish I ordered was excellent and one of the better breakfasts I had in the city. There was seating indoors and outdoors and I particularly enjoyed the terrace with nice cool weather outside.

Overall JWM is not very cheap and for that price it had more aging hardware than other hotels I stayed during my trip. I am not sure I would rush to come back in the unrenovated version of the rooms and even then, I suspect suite upgrades will always be barely more spacious than non-suites at other hotels. I would also need to see the lounge to have a more complete opinion...