Marriott's Barony Beach Club — Hotel in Hilton Head Island

We had to be out of our room b/c there was a leak that was not caused by us. While we were there several leaks occurred on the property and there were plumbing issues occurring all over our building and parking garage. We were back and forth on the phone with engineering and the vacation club owners advocacy group the whole day with what they wanted us to do, needed us to do, what they promised us they would do to accommodate us which engineering head Jose later reneged on. We asked for that 2nd to last day of our vacation and the only day it did not rain and we were trying to enjoy our vacation but instead were fighting with Jose, to be given back to us and we were declined. I originally asked engineering through the front desk supervisor Matt not to come into my room b/c my minor children were there by themselves and I was heading back up to the room to let engineering in, yet Matt disregarded my request and told engineering to enter the room with my minor children by themselves. Then I had to fight with management to pay for the meal my kids ate at the outdoor food area b/c we could not come back in the room to give them the lunch we bought because a whole team of people were drilling and then removing dry wall and both bathrooms were inaccessible as well as the living room and secondary bedroom b/c of all the water every where. There was a team of workers addressing leaks in both the bathrooms, which also resulted in soaking wet floors in the living room and secondary bedroom. They never came back to dry it up. Engineering head Jose left for the day and told me to take it up with the advocacy team. At 9:30 at night my husband and I had to go to the front desk and request a room change because we were walking around on floors soaked fully with water. Our unit was smelly, moist and fully saturated. We spent the next few hours and our second to last night of our family vacation moving our family. The guy Clark from the front desk had his pants and shoes fully soaked from all the water that was in the room. He volunteered to help us move after hearing what happened. Thank you Clark! Marriott has refused to give us back the 1 day we asked for it in points that we spent accommodating them and being out of room and not being able to utilize the room and fighting with the engineering head Jose on the phone for several hours. The next day someone from management called and my husband fought with her on the phone and she finally agreed to pay for the meal from the day before. She said that we could have used the kitchen area in spite of the construction going on in our unit. How in the world would that have been possible? After we left we received 10,000 points which is not enough for a full day at any hotel in Hilton Head. Everyone knows that! Horrible to treat a timeshare owner like this who does not own points, but actually owns a partial deed to this property. We will never be upgrading our timeshare and every time they call to ask from sales we will tell them why. They treated us so poorly. Horrible customer service Barony Beach Resort. We pay all these fees yearly as owners but the property is dated and needs better upkeep. Not my fault, I pay my required fees every year and promptly. Don’t treat your...

⭐☆☆☆☆ We’ve stayed at Hilton Head Barony Bay Resort multiple times and have usually had good experiences, until this most recent visit. We typically rent through VRBO since the resort is usually booked, which means we pay nearly double what other guests pay. That’s usually worth it… but this time was incredibly disappointing.

Due to storms and car trouble, we arrived later than usual, something we clearly communicated ahead of time. Despite that, we were assigned a handicap-accessible room that we never requested. When we asked to switch, we were told no, and the manager, Ethan, later admitted it was because we arrived late we received the “worst” room. That’s unacceptable. What made it worse was that the “ocean view” we did rent was completely obstructed by a hot tub, giant wooden pillars, and palm trees since it was handicap and bottom floor. We paid a premium for an ocean view villa and got the worst view imaginable, and again, it was frustrating to know that someone who actually needed that accessible room may have been denied it because we were stuck in it.

The issues didn’t stop there: • The TVs didn’t work, and the technician who came to fix them ignored our request not to enter the room while we were gone. He entered anyway, still couldn’t fix them, and left a note & a box of pancake mix as an apology. We found that more bizarre than helpful. • We were charged for a full-day cabana rental we never requested. Had we not looked at the receipt, we never would’ve known. The solution? “We’ll give you one free day of the Cabana.” We never even wanted a cabana to begin with. • We called every day trying to follow up on our room situation as we were told to do, and were constantly told that Ethan was off. When we finally reached him, he told us he’d actually been there every day, which means we were blatantly misled. • There were also roaches — three total — in the sink, the laundry area, and one of the bedrooms. Not one thing was done about that either.

That said, I will say that the food at all y’alls is always great. We genuinely enjoy grabbing food and drinks by the pool or beach, it’s one of the highlights of our trip every time we visit.

But the reality is, after all these issues, the lack of accountability, the poor communication, and the total lack of meaningful resolution, we left feeling incredibly disappointed. Ethan and the staff should’ve made a real effort to make things right, and they didn’t. If we do return in the future (which is unlikely), there will need to be some serious improvements in management, transparency, and overall guest care.

We used to love Barony Bay… but this trip left a bad taste we won’t...

This is our third trip to Barony and we can’t wait to plan our fourth! If you are looking for a beachfront resort with endless amounts of activities; beautiful and spacious rooms; and a family-friendly atmosphere, look no further! The top 4 things we love about Barony are:||1. Location: This resort is broken into 3 sections of oceanfront, courtyard, and garden. Between the courtyard and garden is The Westin (you cross over the Westin driveway when going between sections). The furthest from the beach is the garden section, but it is still only an 8 minute leisurely walk to the beach. Barony is located in the area of HHI called Port Royal. It has a ton of biking/walking trails and is in a quiet section of hhi. Walmart is just a few miles down the street for groceries and there are plenty of restaurants and activities nearby. ||2. Activities: The activities and the people who run them are the BEST! Most activities are complimentary and a few have a minimal cost. The activities that we enjoyed this time were: water aerobics; wine and cheese event; daily front porch social hour drink; bingo; trivia; coke and peanuts social; local beer tasting; s’mores; Oreos; popcorn tasting; and pop tarts and playdoh. Joey is always running around making sure everyone is included and happy and he always has a smile on his face. Joey is an asset to Barony! We can’t wait to see you next year! If you get the chance to do water aerobics with Martha (she is usually there a couple days a week), you must go! She is by far the best water aerobics instructor I have ever had. Hannah did a great job making sure everyone stayed active and ran the exercise programs during the week. She will definitely get you moving! There were several others who always had smiles on their faces and you always felt welcome. ||3. Rooms/accommodations: Once you stay at a Marriott Vacation Club (MVC) property, you will never want to stay in a regular hotel room again. The rooms are over 1300 sq ft; have 2 bedrooms; 2 bathrooms; a full kitchen; a dining area; a laundry room/closet; 3 TVs; and a nice size balcony. The rooms sleep 8 people and there is plenty of room to spread out. The rooms are well-decorated and well-maintained. You truly couldn’t ask for more! ||4. The resort itself: Barony has 3 outdoor pools and 1 indoor pool. It also has a splash pad and a water slide at the pool in the garden area. There are grills throughout the resort and plenty of swings; cornhole; shuffleboard; ping pong; and fire pits. The grounds are well-maintained and we absolutely love being right on the beach. ||Definitely give Barony a try- I promise you...