Marriott Lexington Griffin Gate Golf Resort & Spa — Hotel in Lexington

Great little gem conveniently located near I-64 and I-75 just outside of Lexington. The hotel is a very nice property complete with a golf course, gym, and two pools (1 indoor and 1 outdoor) and two hot tubs (indoor/outdoor). In addition, there is a pool bar, inside restaurant with a bar, and a nice gift shop.

The "resort" is not as big as other Marriott resorts we've stayed at and at times feels more like a nice hotel, but still the overall property is well taken care of and is pretty nice. We spent 4 days in late June here and had a great time.

NEARBY - You are close to several destinations, including "distillery district 7", where you can find lots of cool little distilleries, and tequila bars, live music and more! Also nearby is the "Kentucky Horse Park" which is a great place to explore and learn about all the horses and horse racing/breeding in the area. You can even ride a horse around their property or take the kids for a pony ride! You're also not super far from distilleries like "Woodford Reserve", however do know that while you can easily take an Uber or Lyft out to these properties, getting back presents a challenge - we waited over an hour and finally had to call a taxi service. Still it was well worth the trip to experience this one of a kind facility.

ON PROPERTY - We enjoyed the bar and restaurant several times while we were there. "Edward" was one of our favorite bar tenders and the food in the restaurant was quite good, although nothing "special", but still more than you would expect at a hotel and the price was fair. I would recommend the Chicken Sandwich and we also had a really good strawberry tart for dessert. Breakfast was good and they present A LOT of food for the price, enough to split most meals if you aren't super hungry.

SERVICE - Our biggest complaint was the service around the property. Like many Marriott's I assume this property lost a significant head count of staff due to the fake covid plandemic and the ridiculous vaccination mandates they tried to impose. Like many other businesses, my guess is that they have yet to recover. Couple that with the high price of labor due to recent wage increases and I'm sure hiring and keeping people happy is difficult ... THAT SAID, we had a lot of issues getting good service at the bar (except for Edward). Multiple times we waited well over 20 minutes to even get a water, let alone a real drink. On one occasion I went to the pool bar and ordered an "Old Fashioned" and the bartender said "I don't even know what that is" ... clearly not a bartender. Also the towels at the pool were almost empty on every occasion, no matter the day or time.

Room Service was slow but decent. The maid service was actually pretty good - except that they left dirty silverware in our room all week (not sure why they thought we would want to keep that, but whatever). In addition, our room was in need of repair with the soap dish falling off the wall, as well as the towel rack and toilet paper holder ... but again, about what you would expect from a Marriott property.

I am a titanium elite member and travel almost weekly, staying nearly exclusively in Marriott properties, so I've come to know what to expect across the brands ... all in all, this was actually a "great" experience for Marriott, but not what I would call "FIVE...

Upon arriving at hotel we were met by a newly renovated lobby on Oct 6, 2024, and were told of rooms being renovated on making reservation. We got checked in and headed to our room being Room 533. With entering room we were met with a barn style door on bathroom that would not stay open without putting a water bottle to keep it open, the vent in bathroom look as if it had not been cleaned recently. Turned television on and were met with channels going in and out and a remote that was not functioning. We decided to step onto the balcony which also had not been cleaned for a great while and chair provided was not for the over 60 crowd, the casing to patio was covered in paint spills I guess from some renovation. The wall behind desk and coffee maker was covered in scratches and black. With this going on we checked beds sheets on one Queen bed had worn sheets with alot of wear and almost holes. If we hadn't been tired from drive we would have left the property. The incoming Health Convention had hotel lobby packed with check in so the wait was long to even try to tell someone of our room problems. We went to Dining room that had a dehumidifier in it and noticed all thru Convention hall had atleast 3 dehumidifiers running. The menu is limited and tables look to be a make shift dining room bar combo, very dark as I guess not to notice all the dust on the entry to dining area, the food was not good. Besides the lobby the hallways are very dim lighting, glasses outside rooms set for the 12 hours we were there, thin walls so if a light sleeper bring ear plugs and road noise where this room is located you have Interstate 64 and Interstate 75 Junction noise all night. Great location to get right on interstate, golf course looked okay we went in mansion that had music outside and at one time the mansion was probably very nice but it also was worn badly. The next morning I went to check out well before 6am and girl at desk was talking for 10 min. to 2 nurses who I figured could have problems to communicate with her but seemed to be just hanging out. I asked the girl for the GM Mr. Skaggs card so I could communicate with him on our stay and have sent one return email when I received an email asking about our luxury stay so I answered this with my concerns on October 11, and have sent one other email also. Also have went to Marriott Facebook page and sent a message and have a case number, but still have not heard anything. Also a Toni Pitts had reached out and one response and then nothing and was showing she was on vacation. At a price of 212.92 I would have expected more than a pretty lobby. I suppose if a Convention is picking up the tab you may not get much feedback, but I most always stay at Marriott or sister properties when on vacation and have always been pleased and if problems which can happen the problems have...

I went to the room, which I paid extra for because it had a balcony, and got settled. I went to run a bath and waited for the water to get hot...never happened. I called the front desk and they sent up the engineer. He was unsuccessful in getting the hot water to work so I called the front desk, told them what was happening and they sent up a key for another room, that did not have a balcony. When I opened the door I found the temperature in the room was 60 degrees. I couldn't figure out how to turn the AC off so I went to call the front desk but the phone didn't work. I went to the front desk, told them about the AC and the broken phone. I went back to my room and waited for the engineer...again. He couldn't adjust the AC so he just turned it off. I told him about the broken phone so he checked it out, determined the phone did not work, and went to the first room to get that phone. He plugged it in but that phone didn't work either. He took off the plate and found nothing was connected. While he worked to connect the phone, I went to start a bath but couldn't get the drain to close. I asked if, when he finished with the phone, he could fix the tub drain. He connected the phone then fixed the drain. When he turned on the water to make sure the water didn't drain out of the tub, water sprayed all over him because a part to the shower was missing. He then went to the first room, got the missing shower piece from there and attached it. I finally got to take a bath at 11:00. When I got up the next morning, I realized there were no amenities...coffee, sugar, creamer, shampoo, etc. I called the desk and they sent some up. Since there was limited room service, I had to call for more a day later. Usually a hotel of Marriott's caliber has some sort of free breakfast buffet or at least a continental breakfast but breakfast here had to be purchased. There was no restaurant for dinner, just a few items on the bar menu. A wedding reception on Saturday night took place right under my room and I didn't get to sleep until after midnight. Desk staff was friendly, but I was surprised when no one actually apologized. I know these are trying and difficult times but, when I stay at a Marriott, I expect a certain level of professionalism, attention to detail, and hospitality. I enjoyed Lexington and will be back, but will choose another hotel. Thank you for this opportunity to share my experience. I hope...