SpringHill Suites by Marriott Orange Beach at The Wharf — Hotel in Orange Beach

It was great until it wasn't!!

PROS: We had a great view of the water and marina. The location was walking distance to hotels and shops, and dolphin cruises right outside the hotel. Overall staff was friendly. Breakfast seemed fine and breakfast staff helpful. We drove six-hours to get to the hotel. We were supposed to stay for six nights, but left after two nights. We are MVC owners and platinum Bonvoy members.

CONS: WiFi would not work in our room. There was no alarm clock in our room (Odd!!). We were told they stopped putting alarm clocks in the rooms. Room overall seemed cleaned, but there was hair on the bathroom floor that did not belong to my husband or I. Also, the second queen size bed didn't seem like linens had been changed.

WORST PART: After being ill with COVID for over four-months we decided to get away to the Gulf Shores to relax, so I could feel totally restored and healthy. We arrive Wednesday night. Our second night stay, Thursday, while talking to my daughter, at 8:30pm the smoke detectors and the fire alarms in the entire hotel started blasting so loud it was deafening. Everyone started walking and running towards the stairwells to get outside, some half dressed. After waiting outside in the dark, at 8:50pm we were allowed to go to our rooms. No staff gave us an explanation as to what caused the issue.

Then at 9:35pm, while settling down in my pajamas, again deafeningly loud the smoke detectors and fire alarms in the entire hotel blasted again. For the second time everyone walked and ran down the stairwells to get outside. At 9:50pm we were allowed to go back to our rooms. Each time the fire department had to come to turn off the alarms. Again, no staff seem to acknowledge the issue, apologize, or anything from what I saw and experienced.

Literally I was not able to sleep that night because I had PTSD and anxiety thinking the smoke detectors and the fire alarms would go off at 2am in the morning. After the second fire alarm evacuation, my husband and I decided to checkout early. We can have peace and quiet in our own home.

Today, Friday at around 9:00 a.m., I spoke to Michelle the GM. At first she talked about an early checkout fee, but then gave me back our points for two nights without penalty. However, we were denied points for the Thursday night fire alarm chaos and drama. I still do not know what caused the two fire evacuations.

It is unfortunate that hotels today charge high fees, but then expect us to put up with problems that should've not been our problem in the first place. The Marriott and GM do nothing to compensate for disturbances, inconveniences, and taking one's peace of mind during a paid vacation. Refunding our Bonvoy points for days not used should be a minimum requirement, but nothing to make us whole for taking our peace, quiet, and totally disrupting our evening?

I'm thankful it wasn't a fire, bomb, or anything else that happened at the hotel. However, the whole experience was disruptive, unstable, and turned out to be a very disappointing stay and experience. For those reasons we will not return to this...

July-19th—I didn’t get to stay, so my experience is STRICTLY about the service! I reserved this hotel about 2 days before our trip, under the impression that I pay at check in because it wasn’t immediately deducted. With that being said, I locked my card back, because I usually keep it locked until use due to safety! (Ok, I take fault for this) Unbeknownst to me, Marriott tried to run my card at 4am the morning of. I was sent an email informing me that the card declined. The email also stated that I had to add a new card before noon to prevent cancellation. So I went in immediately when I read the email and just added a new card instead of unlocking the original, because that’s what the email said!!!

Fast forward, to around 4:30pm–my family and I were wrapping up an amazing day at Tropic Falls waterpark. I logged into my account before leaving and to my surprise, reservation CANCELLED! So I immediately called the front desk and spoke with a nice young lady who told me it was canceled because my card declined and I didn’t update a new one. I informed her that I did update it around 9:30 am and she said that I should have called to update it because it didn’t update in enough time on the app. That’s crazy because the email literally stated to log into my account and update payment by 12pm (pic attached). However, she put me on hold, came back and asked how far was I, I said about 15 minutes. So she told me to come on because she found a room for me. I thanked her and told her we were on the way! Here’s where things get tricky…….

My family and I arrived SOAKED from the waterpark, ready to get to the room to clean up. The gentleman called us next, I gave my name and he immediately said “Your reservation was canceled because your card declined!” I politely told him that my card has been updated and I spoke with the young lady (who was also at the desk) who she said she has a room for me. He then proceeded to say yea well we ran that card and it declined also. I said can you please give me the last 4 of that card, because she told me that the new card wasn’t updated. He called someone and then he told me the last 4 and it was for the original card, like I thought! I told him that was for the old card and not the new card. He proceeds to nonchalantly tell me that the card declined and they are sold out for the night. Never apologized or anything! He really did not care about our needs, when in reality we did everything the email said. He was not trying to hear anything and was VERY dismissive. Poor taste! My family and I had to drive an hour away to find another hotel that would fit our needs. Will never visit this location again! Empathy and understanding goes a long ways in customer service and he had neither.

This issue needs to be fixed, Marriott! If we’re unable to update forms of payment by the app, then why does the email say that. It should have specifically said to call ONLY! I took ownership for my mistake and you guys should take...

The hotel and the rooms are overall a three-star hotel is very clean and well organized. The only issues that I have with the hotel is the one elevator, lack of accessible stairs and the broken hot tub. They have two elevators but one of them has been broken the entire time I've been at the hotel which makes it very difficult to get up and down to the fifth floor. The stairs do not exit inside the building and therefore you can only go down the stairs not up. Having only one elevator causes a bottle neck situation on the first floor. Getting down has not been that much of an issue since I can use the stairs to go down. The stairs exit outside the hotel and it's just a short walk back to the front desk area. However the stairs are locked and are not accessible outside the hotel. The last issue is with the hot tub. For some reason the Jets are not working in the hot tub which causes it to not get very warm and it does not filter the water very well. When there are 10 or more people sitting in the hot tub everybody with their lotion and sunscreen on You get a film over the top of the hot tub water. Between the broken elevator and the broken hot tub I would give this hotel two stars. But the room and the view increase the rating to three stars. ★ Update: the rating dropped to 1★ because of the prank phone calls that came from some of the kids that are here for the baseball tournament. Last night the kids decided to make prank phone calls using the room to room phone network, after I received several prank calls I called down to the front desk and the lady said she wasn't able to back trace the room that was making the calls. However I know from past experience of other hotels that it is possible for the hotel to see what room called my room because it stays within the in house network or switchboard. But the woman who was working the night shift told me that she talked to her manager and that they were unable to tell what room was making the prank phone calls. So with all the other problems during this hotel stay I am lowering the rating to 1★. Even though we were all told that the elevator in hot tub would be fixed on Monday, it is now Tuesday & the hot tub is still not working & the elevator is still broken. I have been here for 6 days now and the entire time that I have been here the elevator and hot tub have been broken but the cost of the room has stayed the same! And then to add prank phone calls that the hotel is unwilling to put a stop to the prank in house phone calls this has turned out to be a stressful vacation rather than a...