Courtyard by Marriott Jekyll Island — Hotel in Jekyll Island

Our experience with this hotel was mediocre at best. A friend and I had booked on the same site at the same time for two of the exact same rooms. At check-in she was told that her payment method had been declined. Not only had she not paid with a card that they told her was declined (nor have that type of card), but she had confirmation that the payment had gone through at the time that we booked. They asked that I put a card on file for incidentals which was no problem, this is standard procedure. However, despite having told my friend that a card she didn't have was declined they did not ask her to also put a card on file. That struck me as odd, but I figured they were trying to compensate for the mistake with her payment method. More than one guest was expressing frustrations about their rooms, but I didn't think to much about it. We had booked weeks in advance for an ocean view room so I was sure that our room would be great. As it turned out our room had a view of the parking lot and you could only see the ocean if you leaned halfway off the balcony.

The hotel had a very limited menu with only a partial amount of the items actually available. The bedding was disappointing. It is so heavily starched that it sounds like you are rolling around on paper at any slight movement. The fire alarms went off multiple times in the early morning with no explanation from the staff so we decided to check out early.

Upon checkout I was told that they needed a credit card to pay the "destination fee" of $22.00. The best explanation that could be provided was that was for them having "coffee and other stuff" available in the surrounding area, but that it wasn't a resort fee. I informed the woman at checkout that I had booked in advance and already paid for the room. It didn't seem like they should be charging for what essentially seemed like a hidden fee for what amounts to no more than standard amenities at most hotels. Supposedly neither the woman at the check out desk nor her counterpart could figure out how to charge my card on file for this fee even though I told her that it was showing as approved when I ran it. They asked that I provide another card which I did which also showed as approved when they ran it. I asked if they had charged both cards since both showed approved, but they stated that only one had been charged. They said that they would email me a copy of the receipt which they did not do. I asked my friend who had also stayed if they charged her the destination fee as well and she said they had not. Again, we both booked through the same site, at the same time for the exact same rooms which were next door to one another so why would one guest be charged a fee that another guest staying in the exact same capacity would not? Cell signal in the area is awful so I checked both accounts as soon as we were at an area where I could get reception. Not only had they charged me for the room when I originally booked several weeks prior, but they had also charged my original card a second time and my other card two time as well. Not for the $22 destination fee, but over $300 for each separate charge.

I immediately called the hotel. I was informed that I should not have been charged for the destination fee because I had booked in advance (which I repeatedly told them during checkout) and they would refund that. When I expressed my unhappiness with having been charged four separate times for the same room, three of the amounts all being completely different and none matching up to the original charge I was told that they would refund those amounts but it would take several days to show back up in my account. The woman then promptly hung up on me.

The growing pains of this new hotel are highly evident. My experience was not favorable and for that my family is unlikely to return. I am giving a two star rating because the rooms were clean and the...

6/10/21 The booking process replied "get a better room?" with an additional fee for "ocean view". Sounded good. Unfortunately, what we got is a room overlooking the interior courtyard and pool. Yes, you can "see" the ocean....a little bit....from a certain angle. I paid for an upgrade to get an "ocean view". This was extremely disappointing and misleading. I called the front desk immediately and asked for them to change our room or discount us for misleading booking. They did neither. "We're all booked. Sorry!"

6/11/21 Then we were BLASTED out of bed this morning with a fire alarm at 6:00AM. Everyone had to spill outdoors and wait. No staff came out to speak with anyone or inform anyone what was going on. No managers addressed anyone during the entire experience. Well....you could make the best of it and grab a cup of complimentary coffee right? No. You can BUY some coffee at their interior Starbucks. Unless you book on the "residence" side of this hotel, you get nickel and dimed for everything. I wish that had been made clear in advance during booking. Maybe they should convert the toilets to coin-operated while they're at it.

That SAME night, housekeeping knocked on our door at 10:45PM "did you ask for towels?" NO. We did not. We did not ask to be blasted out of bed at 6AM and we did not ask to be disturbed by housekeeping at quarter of 11 the very same DAY!!

6/12/21 UPDATE: Day two....FIRE ALARMS AGAIN at 9:00AM!!! Two days in a row. Should I be grateful that this one occurred at 9AM rather than 6AM?

The room is mediocre. The pillows are sub-par to other Marriotts, the faucet in the bathtub is detaching from the wall when you pull the lever to switch from tub to shower, no ventilation in the bathroom, no pad of paper/pen. There was a used coffee pod in the machine awaiting us. The thermostat is tedious and dysfunctional. When I tried to order some breakfast, half the menu was unavailable due to "no avocados". It just goes on and on. This is not a good experience for a room priced at over $360/night. Management should have responded properly to my first call and made an effort to rectify. ANY symbolic gesture could have prevented this review. This has been an insulting experience thus far. The 6AM fire alarm and the 9AM fire alarm the next day with ZERO managerial presence just pushed the whole thing off the cliff. I'm in the process of buying a house on Jekyll right now. There is no way I will recommend this place to anyone after this experience.

6/13/21 Still no attempt to contact or rectify by managers. Don't count on Marriott for value. These other two reviews are obviously coerced. The entire hotel was a madhouse for two mornings in a row. NO ONE who stayed here during this time is 5 star happy.

6/23/21 Update - still no contact from management. It ain't gonna happen! Bottom line, this hotel will completely screw you over and make NO attempt to rectify a horrible experience. Only a fool would book here after reading all of these reviews of zero managerial attention to people's terrible...

I’m a very loyal Marriott member having the worst experience I’ve ever had at a hotel. I’m in a room with a blocked shower drain. I haven’t been able to shower properly in two days because of the unsanitary water coming from the drain. I’m also concerned the tub is going to overflow. I’ve let the front desk know multiple times. Instead of apologizing and fixing the problem, they are treating me like I’m the problem. Extremely defensive and rude staff. Was initially told there is no manager or supervisor on site. After multiple phone calls begging to have maintenance come to my room, a young man came up and said he would make a note to bring Draino. Then I learn from someone else there is no Draino (which I was appalled they use in the first place) and no fix for the shower. I was told the shower drain is not fixable. The front desk keeps giving different stories to us. One woman told us multiple maintenance people have been in the room and the problem cannot be fixed. Another man told us no one has been in the room. I’m so confused. We talked to another woman claiming to be supervisor who told us the only solution is to change rooms right now. I told this supervisor we’ve been out all day and would like to go to dinner first. The young man named Anthony I think at the front desk when we got back to dinner was so angry and sarcastic when I arrived at the front desk and wouldn’t look at me or acknowledge me. I asked if there’s a manager. He said the GM’s name is on the wall and that I already spoke to a “supervisor” and there’s no supervisor on-site right now. I tried to explain again beyond the unsanitary shower drain backing up I’m worried the tub will overflow when I shower because it’s over one foot of water. He gave me a key to a lower floor next to the elevator in a handicap room. That room is having the same problem. I now think it’s a larger hotel plumbing problem. When I go back to my original room where my belongings are they locked us out of our room. Our keys and mobile key didn’t work. I’m so uncomfortable and quite frankly feel unsafe because the kids at the front desk are messing with us at this point. There’s also an extremely aggressive young woman working at the front desk. I’m so baffled with how this whole situation is being handled. I requested to stay in my room and that I’ll just deal with the unsanitary blocked shower drain. I’ve never written a poor review before. I’m shocked that Marriott would allow a hotel to not have a manager onsite. I’m writing this review here because I don’t know what else to do. I thought the hotel would be glad to know they have this maintenance issue so they can quickly address it, but instead I’ve been treated horribly for simply...