AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Beach — Hotel in Fort Lauderdale

January 2025 stay

Pros: Great Location, across the street from the oceanfront beach, and not terribly far from the airport Clean, bright room

Neutral: Indifferent staff Endless, noisy construction

Cons: Mandatory Destination/Resort/Amenity Fee Elevator/wait times Food/Beverage options Mandatory, preselected service charges/tips

I was able to get in the room two hours early. The front desk agent with whom I checked in with came across as very efficient, but very surly.

After pressing the elevator call button, the wait began. Along with at leave five other people , we waited and waited for the elevator. I estimated that the wait was eight minutes, during which time the number of people trying to get into the elevator grew. When we finally got in, we found it was occupied by three staff members who must have been shuttling items to the rooms, as they each had carts/wagons filled with towels, trash, toiletries and whatever else to service the rooms. As the room I had was on the top floor, it took a while to get there.

Next time I came down, the elevator wait was six minutes. But the ride was just as long. Again, by the time the elevator released us on the ground floor, the elevator was stuffed like a can of people sardines!

I'll take a moment to note there is a mandatory $30 per night destination/amenity/resort fee. This gives you the privilege of two hours of bicycle riding per day; a food and beverage credit of $30 per day; free use of a basic beach chair from the Ritz Carlton next door. I would much rather have my $30 back, since I didn't want to go for a bicycle ride and had my own beach chair. And with all the local food options, I really didn't want to be tied to the hotel's bar food.

But, since I was going to get charged $30 anyway, I decided to use it on the bar food. I came down the bar to order food-- there was not a menu in sight, nor could the front desk find one. The (different) front desk agent told me to come back at 5:00 PM when the bar opened.

I returned after 5:00 PM, I placed an order for a burger, wings, and charcuterie. The attendant told me it would be 10 to 15 minutes; it turned out to be 27 minutes. Seeing the bill, I noticed the price of the burger was wrong; also there was an automatic 18% service charge (with a line asking for another tip(!)) I didn't raise any issues at this time.

The next morning, I was awoken by construction starting at 5:00 AM. Nothing the hotel can do about that, hence, neutral for this.

The long wait for the elevators continued. The day was uneventful.

Again, after 5:00 pm, I came down to use the food and beverage credit. A different bar attendant was on duty tonight. He placed a laminated menu in front of me and without a word, went...somewhere..

Ten minutes or so later, he returned and took the order. This time, I ordered the burger ($16 or $18), wings (6 for $18) and something called crispy potatoes ($10). When the bill came, I excused myself to the bartender and let him know the burger price was wrong. He let me know the management was aware of that, but there was nothing he could do.

The next day, when I was checking out, the front desk agent (the same one who checked me in) presented me with a bill-- the destination/resort/amenity fee was on there, but none of the credit given for food and beverage. I also brought to her attention the missing food/beverage credit and also the price difference on the burger. I offered to show her a picture I had taken of the menu and receipt. After calling her coworker over to confirm this, she took the difference off the bill. I thanked her; she gave a half smirk and that was that.

TL;DR: All in all, it wasn't a bad stay, but could be vastly improved by working out a different elevator schedule plan and more importantly, pay attention to details! And finally, GET RID OF THE DESTINATION/AMENITY/RESORT FEE-- stop pretending to add (mandatory) value.

I've posted pictures of some of the food and more importantly, the menu and one of the...

I would like to say this was by far one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed at and it started the moment we got there. We booked this trip through a travel agent and it was fully paid at the time of arrival. After check in, we walked up to our room and noticed it was not the type of room we reserved. We reserved a double bed, oceanfront balcony room (which is the only part my mom wanted for this trip). This room had neither. So my sister went back downstairs to speak with the front desk about the mix up. The staff were extremely rude and said that was not how the reservation came over from Expedia. First of all we didn’t use Expedia nor did the travel agent. It was booked through American Airlines who are partners with Marriott. The lady at the desk stated that we would need to speak with the travel agent and that they could not fix the issue. Even though we had the print out of the reservation that clearly stated what we booked. They then said that even if the agent is able to fix it they are completely booked and there were no rooms available with those items. When we spoke to the travel agent she said she would figure out what happened and get this fixed for us. We decided to go grab dinner and on our way back we got a call that she got it fixed, so we got back to the desk and again the staff was rude and had an attitude again. My sister was told they have no idea who she spoke to and that they never got a call. They said again that we would not be changing rooms because they have no rooms available. And that we would need to speak to the travel agent. So we called her again and she had American Airlines contact the front desk directly. When AA called the hotel, the agent said the staff was rude and unhelpful and then they were hung up on. So they called back and the person who they spoke to said “we are too busy for this” and hung up on them again. AA offered to switch our hotel, but it was so late and we were exhausted. So at that point we decided to cut our losses and just stay in the room we were given instead of the hassle of having to worry about switching hotels since we also need to switch our delivery of our scooters we were receiving. The next day the staff still had an attitude every time we interacted with them. That evening my sister and I were attending the Eras Tour. While waiting for our car from the valet, there were also some other girls outside as well who were going. Everyone was dressed up. My sister and i use mobility scooters due to underlining medical issues, so we had those with us. While we were waiting, a hotel employee was going around taking pictures of the Swifties for their website. The woman literally photographed everyone outside with us, EXCEPT my sister and I. She literally walked right past both of us to take pictures of other girls going and even walked right into my scooter, without even saying a simple sorry. I felt disrespected and honestly discriminated.

Upon leaving the hotel the next day, we requested our car from valet and the valet almost gave our rental car to someone else without verifying they had the correct person. I had to stop the woman from driving off with our car because no one would listen they gave the keys to the wrong person.

When we finally got home my sister found two different charges on her credit card and wanted to know what exactly the charges were for. So she called the hotel and the man who answered the phone was extremely rude to her and treated her like she was an idiot for even calling and asking about it. He stated “are you telling me u left without a receipt printout?”. My sister then said “no, the girl checked us out as me if i wanted a printout or email receipt” and she said email was fine. Then gave the woman her email. They sent the email to some other address and not what was given.

Again this was by far the worst experience I EVER had at a hotel. PLEASE READ REVIEWS FOR THIS HOTEL as I saw a few reviews about how rude people were at this hotel. If I could give it...

This is a long review, but it’s absolutely worth sharing. I booked the AC Marriott to celebrate my birthday and, as a Bonvoy member, I even used my rewards points to cover my stay. That alone should show how loyal I’ve been to the Marriott brand — until now.||||Check-in went smoothly thanks to a polite young gentleman at the front desk, but unfortunately, that’s where the positive experience ended. The following morning, my husband and I were abruptly awakened by extremely loud drilling noises that sounded like they were coming through the wall. I immediately called the front desk, and the attendant informed me there was construction happening on the 10th floor. When I asked why guests weren’t notified, I was placed on an extended hold while the drilling continued. After waiting several minutes, I hung up and called back, only to be placed on hold again with no response.||||We got dressed and went downstairs to address the issue in person. That’s when we met Anitra, the front desk manager, and the situation went from bad to worse. When I asked why we weren’t informed about construction, she insisted there was no construction happening and claimed the noise could have been “a blow dryer” or sounds from a nearby building. Not only was this dismissive and unprofessional, but she never once apologized for the inconvenience. Instead, she asked, “What do you want?” and offered to move us to the opposite side of the hotel and waive the resort fee — which was unacceptable given the disruption and the way the situation was handled.||||She also claimed she and the engineer went to the 9th floor and heard nothing — but never once came to our room to verify for themselves. My husband later went upstairs to pack our belongings and heard the drilling again. When he went to the 10th floor, he saw tools, drills, and painting supplies clearly visible in the hallway. He spoke with the contractor, Chris, who confirmed they were indeed doing work but had been told to “pause until 10:30.” My husband took photos as proof.||||When we brought this evidence back to Anitra, she continued to deny it and still did not apologize — completely contradicting what her own staff had already confirmed to me that morning. I asked to speak to the general manager, Scott Roberts, and was told he was in a meeting but would reach out when available. Instead of meeting in person, he called our room, speaking casually about the matter, which deserved an in-person conversation. I requested that, and when we met him in the lobby (he claimed he had no office), he spoke loudly in front of other guests, which was extremely unprofessional.||||Throughout the discussion, Scott repeatedly interrupted us, refused to take accountability, and said our stay would not be compensated — only offering a $100 credit. He also dismissed my concerns about Anitra’s dishonesty and lack of empathy. When I asked if there was someone else I could speak to, he arrogantly stated he was the “end all, be all,” and that if I contacted corporate, they would “circle back to him anyway.”||||At that point, my husband and I decided to check out immediately. I refused to spend another minute celebrating my birthday in a place that treats loyal guests this way. The lack of honesty, empathy, and professionalism from both Anitra and Scott was deeply disappointing.||||All I wanted was acknowledgment and transparency — a simple heads-up about construction and an apology for the disturbance. Instead, I was gaslit, disrespected, and made to feel like my concerns didn’t matter. As a long-time Bonvoy member, this experience was beyond unacceptable and has made me seriously reconsider my loyalty to the...