Curacao Marriott Beach Resort — Hotel in Curaçao

BEST HOTEL ON THE ISLAND.||June 14th to 21st||My wife and I are frequent Caribbean travelers who have been to Curacao many times, and our favorite hotel on the island is the Curacao Marriott Beach Resort. The hotel is about 20 minutes from the airport, 10 minutes from Otrobanda and 15 minutes from Punda. The hotel is located on its own beach. Some of the beach front rooms are 25 feet from the water’s edge. The Caribbean water in front of the hotel is a tranquil aqua blue where you can see many feet below the surface. The waves are calm enough for all ages to enjoy. You will need water shoes for a few feet that has some rocks and then it is sand. I always enjoy snorkeling at the hotel. The hotel has lots of visible security on the property, monitoring the common areas. ||The hotel has two pools-- Harmony is the family focused pool; Serenity is the adults only lap pool with an infinity edge. We never had any problems with finding a place to sit under an umbrella or getting towels on the beach or the pool areas. ||The hotel has two computers with a printer in the lobby to surf the internet and get a printed receipt if needed. While on vacation I need to respond to some work messages and I need a copy of my correspondence. Not all hotels offer guests a computer and printer free of charge. ||The hotel does not currently have a general manager. The hotel ran very efficiently due to its excellent staff that I have known for many years. I would like to name a few that stood out with excellent service and attitude, for this visit and for past trips:||I contacted Lynn Buursink (Guest Relation Intern) before my arrival and inquired about some extensions, new restaurants and suggestions about a special occasion. I was impressed with how quick she answered my questions and made all of my seven-night dinner reservations with written confirmation as well as who she spoke to. She has a bright future and will go far in the hospitality industry. ||The hotel has a Reef Club that is complimentary for Titanium members and higher. It is an option for all guests. It is a private lounge that has a hot breakfast, beverages, snacks, happy hour with hot appetizers and beverages. The happy hour is from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM daily. The club elevates the hotel experience especially for the Bonvoy Members. It is also a quite private area that is air-condition to work in if you need that.||The Papiamentu Market Place is a great place to get a sandwich, drinks and snacks during the day. I always enjoy talking with Ingrid Djaden who has been at the hotel for over 25 years. I do not care for the Ice that comes from the machines on the various floors and she is always able to fill up my ice bucket from her machine which has larger cubes. ||Brian the bellman took our bags to the room on the day of our arrival and gathered them up at the end of our trip and loaded them into the car for our return trip. He always has a smile on his face and a good word to say; this is the kind of person that you want to see at the start and end of your stay. He is a good ambassador for the hotel.||I contacted Graceny Webster room controller at the hotel who performs a valuable function of assigning rooms to guests before they arrive. Since I come to this hotel frequently, she is able to book a room that my wife and I like. Getting a room that has a good location with a view is a great added feature of one of many features of this hotel. I was able to get the same room on this trip as our last one in October. I think that she performs a valuable function that adds a personal touch to the hotel offering. Keep up the good work Graceny. ||Divine at the front desk was able to provide me some general island information. He ran several folios to make sure that no unexpected charges were added to my room. ||The Salty Iguana is a beach bar and restaurant at the pool where Maria and John work, both of them know me from other years as well as my nick name. The drinks and food service are exceptional with no wait times. However…||The menu at the Salty Iguina menu has been revised, and will need serious re-revising! For example, 1) they do not offer a salad option (Maria had them make me one), 2) “Beef Batata” is a type of beef stew, an odd choice for a tropical beach meal, 3) no fish sandwich???. We used to eat almost all our lunches at the beach, not any more. It would be nice if they offered a Happy Hour early in the day i.e. 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM.||One evening we were too tired to go out, so we tried the Zala Gastro Lounge and were happily surprised at the quality of seafood (not sushi, not us) and gracious service. We should have gotten names, but the entire experience was tasty and relaxing.||I am certain that the hotel if not perfect in every way but the Curacao Marriott Beach hotel comes close. The best recommendation that I can give is that we will be back...

I am a Titanium Elite, so I've stayed in more than a few Marriotts and usually have nothing but good things to say. This was hands down the worst experience I have ever had at a Marriott.

The rooms are OK (floors were filthy), the resort itself is nice if you like the all inclusive feel. The wait staff are excellent, but the front desk and the management we encountered are terrible. If you want or expect any recognition as an Elite member, go elsewhere. They absolutely do not value brand loyalty.

We arrived just after a tour group and that meant 25 minutes to reach the check in desk. No line or signage anywhere for Elite member check in. When I finally did get to the desk, I was told because I am an Elite, I must check in with the concierge. I explained to the front desk person that I had no desire to go anywhere else after standing there for 25 minutes. He then informed me he could not check me in, only a concierge can. When I spoke to the concierge (which was a desk within eye shot of the front desk where no one had been for 25 minutes) I expressed my disappointment there was no signage directing me to the elite check in. The concierge looked at me and said "that's the way we do it, you have to stand in line with everyone else and then we bring you over here". When I asked "so what's the point of the concierge if I have to wait in line with everyone else?", she looked at me like I was from Mars. She could not grasp that making me stand there for 25 minutes to reach someone who would then send me elsewhere was going to leave your customers annoyed. As she said "well, you come here because you're special". I replied with a chuckle, "well I sure don't feel special tonight". She then tried to placate me by saying "I'll upgrade your room to a nicer one because of your wait". I don't think she was ready for my response of "um, you're supposed to do that for Titaniums anyway". I really could care less whether or room was upgraded as it was a very short stay and we spent no time in it, but don't try and make that seem like it's a special thing you are doing when it's something you are supposed to do under the program anyway, It's is a little insulting.

I then queried "is that the lounge for elite members". The response "yes sir it is, but you have to pay $60 a day to use it". Even getting a late checkout was a big production.

The food in the lobby was a true low point. It is mediocre at best, especially the Sushi, it was terrible, some of the worst we've ever had. All the tuna was excessively salty and just what you would get in fish section of your local grocer. Absolutely nothing fresh being served, all frozen flown in stuff. You will be eating in the lobby, no A/C, if you can find a seat, no reservations taken. They just give you different menus from he supposed different restaurants and over half the tables are very low cocktail type seating that is completely inappropriate for eating dinner.

The hotel is out in the middle of nowhere, nothing is walkable and their beach is horrible (you cannot enter the water without water shoes because of all the rocks).

I'd never recommend staying here to anyone used to a good Marriott experience or who values the Marriott loyalty program. When we were downtown, we did go into the Renaissance Wind Creek to check it out. Fantastic location in the heart of the action, lots of restaurants around, casino onsite and the pool there makes you feel like you are at the beach. It has a sand bottom and it really feels like you are at a beautiful beach. Their beach pool was so much nicer than the Marriott beach Resort beach. Wind Creek is the place to be if you want a better and classier hotel with lots to do around it. The Marriott Beach Resort is where you want to be if you want to feel like you are at an all inclusive in the Dominican Republic (except no nice beach) and never want to leave the resort. From the reviews here, that obviously appeals to a...

Arrival from airport was easy and quick. Arrived at the hotel with 1 person ahead of us. Check in was a little slow, but were greeted by someone with complimentary champagne 🥂 a little frustrating that we had prepaid for the all inclusive offer they currently have going on and no one mentioned anything to us, we had to bring it to their attention that we had it, when we asked about the rules around it. Pretty basic and straightforward instructions. First day we drank by the pool and then went to our room for Nap before dinner. Our room was ocean view but a little disappointed that trees were covering 90% of the water. Dinner the first night was at the Sushi restaurant which is part of the main lobby bar. Sushi was alright, nothing spectacular. One roll I ordered had real crab which wasn’t in stock so they substituted it for imitation crab ( for the same price ) which to me was weird as real crab is always a upcharge to begin with. Ended day one with movies in bed and relaxing.

Day 2, we hung out by the pool. Nothing new besides when we went upstairs to shower there were no face clothes. When called down over 3+ hours we waited and no one brought up towels. Sometimes I feel like the employees here forget that it’s a premium property that cost premium money to stay here. For dinner we tried C Spice which the service was HORRENDOUS, oh my goodness. Never again. Waited 10+ mins before we were even greeted at our table. Another 30+ mins for food that was mediocre at best. Ended the evening with drinks at the main lobby bar then back to the room where both of us felt sick for the night. I’ll spare the details.

Day 3, we rented a car from Hertz in the lobby, we did not book it with her we just did it online and picked it up from her! We did the Hato caves and went walking downtown. The island is small things are close by. The drivers are crazy though! We arrived back to the hotel around noon which we changed and had lunch at the lobby restaurant/ bar again. Food was good. We spent the afternoon at the pool/ beach. Before going upstairs for our nap before dinner. Dinner we went to the main bar / restaurant and the service was awful. Our server was so moody. No personable what so ever. Attitude galore food was disgusting. Chips with the dips…. The chips taste like they dashed the whole bag of salt on them. Tuna tartare taste like fish and sesame seed oil. No flavour what so ever. I was shocked and sent it back. They had a DJ in the lobby Wednesday night which was fun watching people dance and have a good time. Evening ended with movies in the room.

Day 4, woke up to NO Electricity IN the room which shocked me. House keeping was so casual about it. No phone, no air conditioning, no nothing. We’re paying a lot a night and you wake up to no electricity? Anyways. Came down to the pool area. Swam in the ocean, note the ocean is super wavey and hard to swim in but if you like waves it’s fun! Dinner was again at the lobby restaurant, ordered a bunch of things to try. Mediocre. Nothing wowed me. Last night of course the tv started to glitch and wouldn’t shut off. Had to fiddle with the actual tv as the remote was useless.

Day 5, our taxi will be here at noon to take us to the airport. I had fun. Will I return to this particular property ? Most likely not.

Random things to add , they do not offer fans in room for white noise. There is no music by the pool. There is not much around the hotel unless you hire a car or rent a car to see things. Service seems to be a miss. Body wash in the shower smells funky 😂 I’m not trying to pick everything but want everyone to know what to expect. This property has so much potential for being an amazing experience but just falls short. Consistently is another thing they fail at. Ordered 2 of the same drinks one after the other and they taste different. Save your money book elsewhere. Sandals I heard...