The Westin Jekyll Island Beach Resort — Hotel in Jekyll Island

We stayed at this hotel over Easter weekend and were VERY disappointed. We were only going for the weekend and the first night, they told us that they didn't have our room available, we'd have to stay in another room and switch over - a hassle when it's a short trip - but no biggie, we were fine with that. Then, the next morning we went to go order room service, which was listed on the Welcome Packet they gave us, and the receptionist said, "Oh, we don't do that." (If you ask me, then they probably shouldn't have printed it on their packet.) Nevertheless, we came down to the lobby restaurant. We stood at the host stand for 5-minutes and no one showed up. So, we walked inside and someone said, "Take a seat, someone will be right with you." Great!....20 minutes later, no one had stopped by.. So, we walked over to the Starbucks cafe. We ordered hot coffee, tea and breakfast sandwiches. The girl pointed down the counter and said "it's self serve." (Why did we even leave our room? We could have just made self-serve Starbucks coffee there?) And the sandwiches were cold - like refrigerator cold. By that point, we were pretty annoyed. There aren't a lot of options in this area, so we were really relying on the hotel to provide better amenities. However, we thought, "Nothing a beach day won't fix." We walked to the front desk to ask where to get beach towels and she said, "We don't have any, but you can grab pool towels." So, we went to the pool, where there were NO towels and the bartender was on the phone chatting. She eventually got us towels. Then we walked down to the beach and saw they had umbrellas up but they were marked reserved, so we waited at the attendant stand for the attendant to help us set-up an umbrella. 15-minutes later no one was there and another two families were waiting. I called the front-desk they said, "he should be there, if not he will be right out"...famous last words..we waited another 10-minutes...and then finally just put the pool towels down and sat..2-hours later we saw someone come out and sit at the attendant stand for about 15-min. and then he left again. Service was just terrible - all around. I was SO disappointed. This is not the easiest place to get to but I convinced by boyfriend that the flight and 1.5 hr drive from the airport would be worth it for a nice quiet weekend. I was so embarrassed this was the service we received. This was like a step above camping. We ended up walking next door to the Jekyll Ocean Club for drinks after the beach fiasco and they were SO nice and SO attentive and had such good food, that we pretty much spent the rest of the weekend at the Jekyll Ocean Club bar watching the Masters and eating from their restaurant. They were great and made our weekend. I'm not sure whether we will go back to Jekyll in the future after our experience but if we do, it won't be...

More money does not buy you better quality and this hotel proves it. Customer service was an issue from arrival. When I reserved the rooms, I asked for adjoining/connecting rooms. I explained I wanted two rooms that open to each other. Upon checking in I asked again if the rooms open to each other. We arrived to the room door to realize indeed these two rooms—while side by side—did not open to each other. The very helpful valet called someone on his radio after seeing that my attempt to call the front desk wasn’t going through. They were able to switch us to two other rooms but we’d lose one bed for a king bed. Fine. We accepted but the second room was not ready yet. Fine still. Then we finally got the second room. The shower was broken. Maintenance was called. We attempted to take showers and the only hook on which to place a bath towel fell off the door. Maintenance returned and while he was there I mentioned a broken mirror in the bathroom. He repaired all issues. I went down to the front desk to express my frustrations with our experience and the front desk manager Caleb was unhelpful. With a condescending tone, he explained adjoining does not mean connecting and it matters what word I use when booking. Noted. For your reference, I was not yelling. I was using normal words to express very normal frustration. The next day, I called for towels at 10am. When we returned to the room at 2pm—no towels. I had to go down to the desk to ask for towels again. Additionally, when we went to leave the room that day—the handle to the door popped off. Maintenance to the rescue yet again. To use the shuttle around the island, you must call the main line to ask to be picked up. I called five times on one trip to be picked up and no answer. Luckily the valet person was so helpful and thought to swing by and make sure we weren’t waiting. He said the hotel is busy and that’s why the phones aren’t being answered. When we arrived, the front desk manager and another female were both at the desk chatting and smiling. And there was someone seated at the concierge desk. I don’t have an answer for why the phone wasn’t answered. And finally, I went to the cafe to grab a drink and stood in line for 10 minutes while two employees talked. I truly have never experienced anything like this at any hotel in this country in my life. But with it being an upscale Westin—it truly truly is a shame. Valet and maintenance upheld the standard and for this—I give the review two stars. All other parts of customer service especially the front desk and front desk manager and whoever it is that is responsible for answering the phones was a royal disappointment. I would not...

This is a very beautiful hotel and when I have the opportunity to stay in a hotel of this quality I expect the best. This was my first stay here for a conference in the nearby conference center. On the first day; the refrigerator in my room did not work properly and it's very small but I could have worked with that but the drinks I put in never got cold. I called the concierge and they had another one brought to my room right away (that was great) but it was quite large and had a brightly lit front...a bit of a problem at night. The person who brought it said that those little frig's in the room never work (so why have them?). Also, they have in-room coffee setup with Starbucks coffee which is fab but there were only 2 creamers (really?). Every day I had to call and ask for more creamer. Housekeeping never cleaned the filter basket out of the maker (not a big deal--I can do that) but I can't get the creamer quickly. The beds are very firm and I would have liked them to be softer. The biggest disappointment was the food. They provide a "sleep well" menu specifically with foods that help you sleep. Since I have a sleep problem, I was really happy to see this and looked forward to having the "micro turkey salad" only to be told when I called late the first night to be told they did not have any "turkey" -- but please order it tomorrow night is what I was told. I didn't eat anything that night because I wanted "turkey' and they didn't have "turkey". So, the next night, guess what...I ordered "micro turkey salad"; again they had no "turkey". What??? So they talked me into the "micro chicken salad" and said it would be the same price as the turkey and being very hungry that night I ordered it. Unfortunately it was $2 higher than the turkey. Also, why call it "micro" if it's regular chicken strips? When I called to ask if they had made a mistake they said no, that is the "micro". I don't understand. Anyway, it was just okay nothing special and not much food for the cost. Each time I called the concierge to ask for anything I almost always talked to the same person. That person should have realized that there were several issues with this customer that had to call so many times, but she never offered anything gratis to make up for the inconvenience. They also messed up my bill at the end. I don't know...beautiful hotel but the customer service is really lacking. Something as simple as offering a complimentary drink or appetizer would have changed the whole environment of this review. Westin Jekyll; you need to work on your customer service. In the south we want to be made to feel special even...