Scotch

Donna,

Sorry to hear about your disappointing stay at the Marriott. I hate cockroaches and certainly hope not to see it in my hotel room! They have finished renovations and the photos look nice. Based on the comments here the two hotels don't seem to sound too different except for the fact that the Marriott resort is much bigger with more elaborate facilities. I'll have to do more research and figure out where to stay. The rates at the Hilton are roughly $30 less per night.

sportbilly

Hi all,

subject says it all, any help?, staying there from 3rd - 7th Nov, like to try and prepare the ground as it were..(for upgrade)


ta,

Bill

ohmark

I've read the older threads. Anybody recently visit both properties? Comments?

mspguy

Stayed at the Marco Hilton over Thanksgiving this year. Very nice resort and well run. Nice size rooms and recently redecorated/upgraded. Hotel common areas were very nice and upscale. Restaurant(s) had good service and the menus/food was very good. Great seafood buffet on Friday nights. The hotel was properly staffed with experienced workers. Would stay there again.
The Marriott has some construction going on according to some people I met on the beach. They said the Hilton was a better choice and nicer of the two. Both properties are within walking distance of each other and are both right on the beach.


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Athena53

I agree with mspguy although we didn't use the restaurant. We were actually on Marco in May to attend a meeting of my professional society at the Marriott and chose the Hilton because it was a lot cheaper than the "special" group rate at the Marriott.

From what I remember of the Marriott, it was nice, too- but my experience was limited to the usual windowless conference rooms and catered group meals.

inloworbit

Just returned from a 6 day stay at the Hilton Marco Island.

The staff were friendly and helpful, it was also interesting that there were many foreign workers there, made for some interesting talks that I enjoyed.

The property was nice, but the rooms were out dated and smell very musky, we were on the 9th floor and near the end of the building facing the tennis courts.

We had a problem with some of the admenities in the room, but they were properly fixed and we were compensated for with free breakfast for our party for the rest of our stay, nice touch!

The pool area was nice, nothing to brag about. But the drink prices were rediculous, $8 each.

The beach was nice, a little rough on the feet from all the sea shells. We paid the $9 hotel fee and got our free lounges, but we paid for the unbrella to get some shade. The water was the prefect temp just not as clear as I thought it would be.

The breakfast were good, lots of things to try and eat. We also ate dinner there two nights which were also good. We also went up the beach to the Marriott to have diner 2 nights, food was better and so was the view, but the service was worse.

I would stay there again, but there are many places, beaches, to explore in Florida. Hopefully they plan on updating the rooms soon.

Always from above,

Inloworbit

rack him

Thanks for the post inloworbit - good information.

I read on Hilton's website that the Marco Island property has "Junior Suites" instead of standard hotel rooms. When I think of a suite, I envision a two-room hotel room, consisting of a living room and a separate bedroom, like what is found at the Embassy Suites. Is this what the hotel rooms are like at the Marco Island property?

YVR Cockroach

The rooms are a bit larger than average in a pretty much hotel standard layout. Maybe a bit longer and angled at the window for a seaview. Enough room in the living room area for a sofa and armchair or 2.

There appear to be some large rooms/full suites but no one has reported being upgraded to these.

MIKEM

Since I can not do a search I was wondering what you all think about this hotel for burning a GLON?

SteveR325

Personally, I like the hotel very much as a paying guest.

For the past several years, I stayed at that Hilton for a week ever October and it has been on one of the better Hiltons that I have stayed at for the past several years.

Being a Diamond member, last year I was upgraded to a huge suite which overlooked the Gulf and it was perfect.

They do not have an execcutive level on the hotel,

The cold breakfast which was complimentary to Diamond/Gold members was excellent and for several additional dollars you can upgrade to the hot.

The only thing that I did not like was that the pool was not big enough for me.

The Marriott which is only a 5 minute walk down the beach recently renovated their pool area and both my wife and I visited it several times each day.

Good luck.

Janjanjan

We've stayed here several times in early December. With the time of year we travel, we'd never burn an award here, the price is too low to make that a good value. The breakfast is great, but other meals at the casual restaurant are not. We like Quinn's at the Marriott as well as some hole-in-the-wall places in town. The beach is perfect for long walks and you can walk to a bookstore or swimsuit place. Very relaxing, and I concur with the previous post that the upgrades are exceptional.

general45

I stayed at the Marriott a few weeks ago for a convention, but took time to visit the Hilton. The hotel seemed to be very pleasant and the staff very friendly(greeted with hello's and smiles from everyone). I am thinking about coming back next year and staying here. I love the Marco Island location. Yes it's Florida, but it seems to be a very different Florida, away from the strip malls and congestion just 15 miles to the north in Naples. There are good restaurants everywhere, and an outlet 5 miles out of town. For a change of pace, church groups and civic organizations had flea-markets set up in town while we were there. You can jet-ski, parasail, fish and collect exotic seashells. To the south you have the Everglades and all the touristy attractions i.e. airboat rides, gator farms. The other thing the area allows you to do is relax and enjoy the beautiful Gulf beach. Marco seems to have escaped some of the devistation that areas just an hours north experienced.As SteveR325 mentioned, rates vary for the time of year you visit, so be careful how you burn points. Rates during February 17-21 this year were running about $250-300 a night.

CloudsBelow

Can you or anyone please expand on the pool issue. Heading down there and pool time is one things I like to do. Is there an issue getting chairs? Any supplemental info about the hotel or other nice ones in the are would be appreciated.

Donna D

Use to stay down in Naples area all the time for work - I never stayed at the Hilton on Marco Island but did stay at the marriott - fortunately, it was a very low rate or I would have been very upset - there were roaches in my room! Hopefully the Hilton is much nicer. Personally love the SW gulf coast area - lots of wonderful restaurants, people are nice, etc. As I recall, summer is off season so you might want to check the rates - sometimes they can get very unexpectedly low down there and you might prefer to pay for some nights than to burn alot of points. If you can get a good rate for a night at the Hyatt Resort - its a gorgeous property you might want to check out.

BJfly

Stayed there at the beginning of May 2005 on a 6 night reward. They didn't give this diamond a room class upgrade when I checked in, although they did give me a nice ocean view. The second day I enquired at the desk, and they did, give me an upgrade to a suite, which made all the difference since we had our child with us. I left a nice note for the manager saying thank you, and he left a voice mail for me saying that he hopes the stay is enjoyable.

Re: the pool. It is smaller than most resort properties, but not tiny. There were a fair number of chairs and we never had trouble getting seats together, but it could be hard to find seats in the shade. On the plus side, unlike other hotels we have been at, there was not a lot of seat saving (people plunking their towels down before breakfast and then not using the chairs until the afternoon).

Note: Beach chairs and umbrellas for the beach are NOT included in the room rate and are a fairly hefty rental cost per day.

Also, no wireless in the rooms, and highspeed access was extra. I actually ended up at the coffee shop across the street most mornings to use their internet and save money. Parking was ample and free at the hotel.

Breakfast was pretty good (buffet or menu options), but could be a line at peak times. Part of the breakfast dining room is out doors (screened in), and it can get very hot out there, so we would wait for an indoor table. The health club was also nice. The one time we ordered from room service it was good.

For us this was a very nice stay, but the property had a sign that it is going to renovate in the next year or so, and I would say that it needs it. So while this isn't a 5 star resort (and the Marriott mentioned in other posts is clearly nicer), I would stay here again without hesitation.

Hope this helps.

BJfly