A few notes from a recent stay:
- Hotel staff was universally friendly
- Location was great that it was so close to the airport, but if you want a sandy beach this is not the place for you
- We walked along the beach to Hacienda Blu for dinner one night, which was a bit more of a treacherous walk than wed anticipated.
- Platinum breakfast was a choice of meh buffet or a la carte options. The a la carte options were really good
- A lot of older reviews focused on the crowded pool area. That isnt an issue anymore as there is a huge new second pool area. The hotel was sold out for our entire stay and there was no problem getting chairs.
- Since hotel was sold out, our SNAs didnt clear, and we werent upgraded at all. We had a ground floor Bark "resort view" room on the ground floor.
- The "suite" format- a smaller room with the bedroom and bathroom, which has A/C, and the "living room" with a hammock and sofa--without A/C-- is interesting in concept but not very useful in practice. It gets very hot, and in our room there was nothing to look at but people walking by anyway. The closet/shower area is not air conditioned and it is also awkward that the door to the shower is in the closet.
- The resort fee included yoga (offered select days), a coffee tasting,, kayak rental, and a SUP lesson/rental at 7am. We did the SUP rental and were the only ones on the
- There was a wedding on property which blocked views of sunset on first day, but far worse ws the outdoor reception, which we concluded must have had a marching band. The bass was so loud it made my room shake and prevented a pre-dinner nap, and it was still going when we got back to the room 4 hours later. We called the front desk and they said it would end at 10, but it didnt until nearly 10:30.
- Gym is very small and two of the cardio machines were not working properly
- Nice platinum welcome amenity of a jar of macarons and merengues and another one of fruit. Each night there was a bag of sweet treats at turndown.
- In all, definitely recommend as a boutiquey property that still has the benefits of Marriott, with excellent service.

Bark suite "living room"

Bark suite bedroom

New pool area

Chairs by beach (set for wedding)

Entry/ outdoor lobby

View of our room from outside

Sunset at beach

"Old" adults pool

gym