Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront Resort — Hotel in Virginia Beach

Edit to Response: Please do not act like you, now, care. We left a day early because it was so bad, and you still wouldn’t reimburse us. Why don’t you reach out to us?

Our vacation at Marriott turned into disappointment within the first 3 hours. We arrived at the hotel at 5:45pm Monday, and were met with a lengthy system outage. We waited in a long line to check in. We finally got to the counter, and filled out a form with our credit card info, room number, & phone number since the system was down. We were told we’d get a call when our room was ready. Despite assurances, we received no communication. My wife went back at 6:45pm, and was told things weren’t ready. At 7pm, I went over and was then told “oh, I think we have your room key ready”. This delayed our check-in significantly, and totaled a 1hr and 15 min wait. We were exhausted from the 4hr + drive. We were going to go out for dinner, but couldn’t due to the wait.

We finally got to our room at 7:15. The issues continued with no WiFi. Several TV channels showed “no signal”. At 7:30pm, we tried ordering room service. The website that the QR code took us to wouldn’t work. We went to the lobby for help. We tried asking for a wifi access code, but were told that wasn’t possible due to the system outage (other guests had wifi). We went in person to Tulu at 7:45pm, the restaurant to order room service from. The host (who was very nice), got us their designated room service employee who took our order. At 9, we got a call, “Did you place a to-go order at Tulu’s? It’s been waiting here for awhile”. I had to ask for it to be brought up, and it only arrived due to the generosity of a security staff member. Despite these challenges, I still tipped generously on top of a hefty service charge, recognizing the efforts of the staff. My wife & I hadn’t gotten any time to relax. The first night was pretty much wasted with stress.

Moreover, finding a large, unclean hand-print (photo attached) on a bathroom towel raised serious concerns about the cleanliness standards. This stay did not live up to Marriott’s reputation, especially paying over $400 a night plus fees that staff couldn’t explain. I understand mistakes happen and outages occur. However, it was just one issue after another. I feel like a fool. The only good thing about the hotel was the bed (super comfortable). Despite paying for ocean view, you couldn’t hear the ocean from the balcony due to the loud HVAC system.

The next day, Tuesday at 6pm, we got a call from the lobby. They asked for our payment information, which was given to them via paper form upon arrival. Staff said they shredded it because it was too much to try to enter in, and some guests’ handwriting weren’t legible. I put my card on file, which shouldn’t have been charged for some things until checkout. Marriott Corporate told me on the same day, on Tuesday afternoon, that the general manager would be in touch “shortly”. Marriott staff, on the same day, also gave me the general manager’s email. I emailed him directly on Wednesday at 7am. It is now Friday at 12pm, and he just returned our email. He gave us points and was apologetic, so I'll add an extra star.

On Wednesday, my wife and I were waiting at the elevator to go downstairs. There was the housekeeper, who was very nice, standing with an employee that looked like a manager. The manager said “well let’s see if they (mentioned room #) take their DnD down, and we’ll see what we can do”. The housekeeper pointed out that we were right there, so that the manager was aware. The manager repeated herself so we could hear her. It’s amazing that they act like we inconvenienced them. Look at how nice we left the room (images attached). We checked out Wednesday at 1pm, when our actual checkout was scheduled for Thursday at 11am.

I will say this (What we liked): The proximity/walk to the beach was so convenient. The hotel is a gorgeous hotel. They happened to have an airshow that was phenomenal to watch. The best part was the beach and the city itself, that's it. It's truly the service that...

Watch out for shoddy staff at the bars when opening a tab. They will sneak extras onto your tab hoping you won’t discover it. This happened (3) times. Twice at the Tulu bar inside and once at the Cavalier bar outside, all three times were when the tab was $100 plus. Obviously if you order two drinks and cash out, you’re fine. Beware!!

The hotel really is lovely, the location is tucked away from the hustle and bustle and feels very private. The rooms were clean, spacious and airy. The AC from the buildings next door, made enjoying the balcony difficult. If you’re on a high floor, the views are gorgeous - so much so, you forget you are in Virginia. The hotel is full service, so if you forget basic toiletries- they’ve got you covered. It may take two hours to bring up to your room, but they get you what you need. Which is always nice, especially when traveling with kids.

The rooftop restaurant is very nice, but you will need a rsvp. The hostesses could be a little more welcoming, but at each attempt, each staffer was “intense”. We tried four times on various days and times to be seated, despite not appearing to be busy, with more than half of the tables open - each time was a hard no. We finally made a rsvp at 9pm (it was the only one) and enjoyed everything, we didn’t feel rushed and our server was very nice and knowledgeable. They were out of a couple of things at that time, and he felt really bad because of my husbands dietary restrictions, the alternative wasn’t what he wanted. But, he didn’t complain and enjoyed himself very much. We tried to check the roof top out a month prior when we stayed at the Hilton, and that’s how we discovered the hotel.

Parking garage was a little tight, but you can self park or valet, which is always a plus when you have the option.

Tulu’s menu was okay, nothing impressive. They had a nice variety and vegan options too, which was thoughtful. (We are not vegan). We tried almost everything on the menu over our 5 night stay. Breakfast was always a mess, because the cooks were late, someone called out, someone didn’t show, etc. They had a breakfast buffet, which looked like a typical breakfast buffet, but was popular. For us, since Covid we have personally stopped doing the buffets and will never do them again.

Besides a few of the shoddy bar staff, the only complaint was the swimming pool. The water was always cloudy and the pool always had sand at the bottom. This was morning and evening. I realize the traffic from the beach to the pool, the wind, children and adults not rinsing before swimming. BUT, this is a resort and they can do a little more to keep it clean. We didn’t enjoy the pool, because it was always cloudy. And I was worries the ph levels were not safe.

The hotel is absolutely stunning and probably top (3) in VA Beach overall. The Hilton/ Catch 31 was always my top #1 but over the years, it’s now dated and needs a renovation as it’s now losing its appeal, but this Marriott is definitely taking names.

I would have left a 5 star if the swimming pool was visually clean and the bars didn’t over charge us three times!

I would definitely return but would never again open a tab...

We came for a family reunion and vacation combined on 7/12/2024 Friday evening at 6 pm. Unfortunately the weather was horrible, crazy rains. We are from northern new jersey so our drive was pretty tiring. (1)We requested an adjacent room with my brother, but they put me in an adjacent room but not one that connected with each other. I guess i asked it in correctly, but ok…. the agent’s response was that they were fully booked. (2). Our bathroom door had a broken lock, which the engineer said was on back order. He asked my husband if he wants him to take one off another room and place it in our room. Also asked, “ do you really need it?” Is this really an appropriate response? (3) Being a loyalty member, i asked for an upgrade… no, not possible, they said it will cost money, so i said I have points and also a free room certificate…. but they did not give me a chance to upgrade because apparently the place was full. (4) Late check out; I asked through chat for a late check out and the agent wrote “ sure, your new check out is 12pm”. I thought in my mind, wow this is a first. The agent decided what time my request was for without asking how much time i would need. Every marriott i have stayed at has been kind enough to ask. So i got annoyed and left early. Not only that, they wanted me to wake up, come downstairs to the reception desk so that they can extend 1 hour. Seriously?! . So we just packed and got the hell out. (5) Because friday night was a bust because of the weather, and the indoor pool was packed, we decided not to use it. Outdoor was closed because of rain. Remember we paid $772 for a night in which we did nothing. Then we decided to make the best of it and hit the beach early. There were no chairs, umbrellas, canopies that we could request. Everything was chained up and NO attendants to help set up. My husband called and they said they are assessing the weather and may come out to set up at 10:30 am. While they decided on whether they should set up, we were roasting in the blazing sun, I almost had a heatstroke and had to go inside. (6) We got 13th , a partial day to enjoy a resort where no one comes to ask if you need anything. It’s like the dumbest resort I have ever stayed at and I learned my lesson. Never will my family and I pick this place. My cousin told me she had no clean towels, the cleaning crew did not clean her room over 24 hours and when she asked , the agent told her this is 200 room facility so it takes time…. seriously?! - is that HER problem?!! For the amount we spent on this facility, it was such a waste of time, effort, and money. We should have just stuck to planning something carribean…. this was just an effort to keep the money we spent in the US rather than having to spend it on another country. Hard lesson learned! (7) There was no mention of a loyalty program or thank you for being a marriott member and choosing marriott like every marriott i have stayed at says…… they should be ashamed to call themselves marriott….. My home -based Marriotts are million times better, not sure why we drove 8 hours to come to this...