Originally Posted by SusanDK

We stayed here two nights and I must say it was the most bizarre and confusing hotel stay I've ever had.

The positive points are that the hotel is perfectly located for being in the middle of all Key West activities, everything is walkable so we parked the car on arrival in the lot behind the hotel and never moved it until departure. We had a standard room on the 4th floor that faced northwest so it had a view of the 2nd floor roof of the next building. While some might be disappointed in the view, it meant we had a quiet room with little or no street noise, a plus for us since my husband is a light sleeper. The room was clean and I would call the renovations a "refresh" rather than full renovation, e.g. old tub with rust, tiles obviously were not new, floors throughout were not new but in good condition. There was a small fridge, two bottles of complimentary still water, Keurig coffee maker with Lavazzo capsules, two robes in the closet. The beds, towels and linens were all new and fresh. We did not want housekeeping but we caught the staff in the hall who happily gave us water and coffee pods for our second day. It was a perfectly fine, clean standard room.

I had booked this with two 85K free night certificates (rooms were 73K per night) and I'm a Bonvoy Platinum member. The reservation confirmation stated that there was a $30 per day destination charge and $35 per day parking fee. It also stated that they had a complimentary EV charging station which was a plus since we were driving our Tesla there. My confirmation also made clear that the pool was not open, as did the check-in screen when I checked in online.

I contacted the hotel by phone prior to arrival to ask what the Platinum breakfast option was - it is listed as an Autograph Collection hotel but does not have a lounge, so they should offer continental breakfast as per the Bonvoy benefits page. The front desk staff who answered my call told me that we would get $30 per day to use for breakfast (I was specific that I was asking about the Platinum benefit).

At check-in, I was asked if I wanted the points or $10 F&B as my welcome gift. Before deciding, I asked about how the Platinum breakfast benefit worked and was told that they were not a resort so did not provide a breakfast benefit. I explained that I had called prior to arrival and was told that Platinum members received $30 per day towards breakfast. The front desk staff (who I believe was the manager) said that there was a $30 daily destination charge that we could then use towards $30 F&B throughout the hotel, including for breakfast. I asked if $30 covered breakfast for two and she said, "oh no, breakfast is around $32 per person." So basically, we are charged $30 per day which we then get back to use on site but it doesn't even cover breakfast.

I didn't think this was quite correct in terms of Bonvoy benefits but didn't want to make a fuss in case I had misunderstood the Bonvoy website. When we got to the room there was a flyer explaining what was included in the $30 destination charge, which is:

Daily $30 F&B credit
Mojito Tasting for 2 people, once per reservation (at either 2:30 or 4:30 daily)
Welcome drink for 2 people, once per reservation
Daily Cuban Blended coffee for two
Daily high-speed internet

All of this is for everyone, so it is clearly nothing to do with the Bonvoy Platinum benefit which I double-checked on the website to be, for Autograph Collection hotels without a lounge, "property to offer daily continental breakfast in restaurant for Member +1" or if not offered, "$100 guest compensation."

We went to the bar for one of our drinks - it was 4:45 so we asked about the Mojito tasting but were told we were too late (15 minutes past the appointed time), so accepted the "welcome drink" (a fruit punch type of drink that barely tasted of any spirits in a plastic cup). On the way to the bar, I wanted to pass by the onsite restaurants to see menus for both breakfast and dinner so we could decide how we wanted to use our $30 per day. The hotel website said that the restaurant was opened daily from 7:30 - 11:00 am and from 5:00 - 9:00 pm, the bar was open until 11 pm and served snacks, and there was a cafe that closed daily at 2:30 pm. There were no menus posted online.

I couldn't find menus by the restaurant, nor any staff nearby, so I asked the bar manager (who had served us the welcome drink) where I could find menus for all food offerings in the hotel. He said it would be easier if he went and collected them and he would bring them to our table. He disappeared for 20 minutes, returned to the bar empty-handed, and never said another word to us even though he looked in our direction multiple times.

I decided to ask at the front desk, explaining that I was trying to see the various restaurant menus to decide where we wanted to eat during our stay. She said, "oh, the restaurant isn't open." She told me that the only food available was at the bar. Yet the bar manager, when I asked for food menus, never gave me even a bar food menu much less anything else. I said I was also interested in seeing the breakfast menu so she walked me to the restaurant and grabbed a menu portfolio, opened it, and it was empty. She kept opening a stack of what appeared to be menus (the stiff portfolio covers) but all were empty so she had to disappear into the back and get help from another staff member to find a breakfast menu. Once I had that, she walked me back to the bar and got a menu for me to look for the food offerings from the bar (basically tapas and small items) which I understood at that point to be the only food offering for evening food.

As I was speaking to her, I again expressed that I found the offering a bit confusing because the $30 F&B credit was something everyone was charged for and then getting credited back, i.e. not a Platinum member benefit. "Yes, that's correct," she confirmed. I said I understood we should be getting a continental breakfast offering as an Autograph Collection hotel. "We don't have our Autograph designation yet." The Marriott website lists them as an Autograph collection, my reservation confirmation says it is an Autograph Collection, and when I checked in online, it cited being an Autograph Collection. "Ok, I'll give you breakfast."

She takes me back to the front desk to fill out four vouchers for two breakfasts each of our two mornings, citing it is good for 1 buffet, 1 coffee, and 1 juice. As she is preparing these for me, the hotel manager who originally checked us in came over to ask if there was a problem. I explained that it I was just confused about the breakfast since the $30 F&B is given to all guests after charging the $30 to everyone as a destination fee, which means I wasn't being provided breakfast as a Platinum member. She said, "but you got the $10 F&B in lieu of 1,000 points." This was the welcome gift. That's correct, she agreed, and then even mentioned herself (without my prompting) that they should offer breakfast or $100 in compensation, and praised me for knowing my benefits so well! If she knew this all along, why did I have to drag it out of them?

Honestly, I find it really offensive to have to resort to this kind of conversation to get the benefits due. It's embarrassing and I hate looking like some cheapskate, asking for what I can get 'free' when I'm only trying to get the amenities I earned and am entitled to.

Ok, so now I have breakfast covered and still trying to find out where to use the $30 F&B when I've been told that the restaurant hasn't yet opened, the cafe closed at 2:30 and the bar only has snacks. The front desk agent says that maybe the pool bar is still open, and they serve food. The pool bar? I thought the pool was closed. Oh, it's open now, I'm told. (We hadn't brought swimwear since we'd been alerted constantly on our reservation, the website and check-in that there was no pool.) The staff said they would alert the marketing department to update the information. I popped by the pool bar where they were closing up for the day (it was around 5:30 pm) but got the menu so we'd know for the next day.

Of importance to note is that the $30 F&B credit was "use it or lose it" daily and could not be combined. So we wanted to get some food in the hotel rather than going out on the town so as not to waste the $30 for that day (which we'd paid for). One was given a clip card with a star that the staff would punch when something was used, whether it was one of the $30 credits, the welcome drink, or the mojito. It had to be presented to the server in advance of ordering (as should the extra $10 F&B credit I'd been given as my welcome gift).

In the past when I've had F&B credits at other hotels, I would charge everything to the room, then the F&B credits would be credited at the end in a lump sum off the bill, so it didn't matter if you spent $20 on drinks one day, then $40 on a meal the next day, the 2 x $30 would be credited at the end. Not here. If you only spend $20, you've used the whole $30. If you don't use it one day, it's gone. And if you lose your card, you're out of luck (as is written on the card) because they don't track it. This is even after you've paid the $30 destination fee yourself - it's not like it was a free benefit.

Having finally figured out that our only option for food this first evening would be the tapas at the bar, we ordered a bite to eat. I will say that the quality of the food was excellent and very tasty (we ended up eating here both days), although portions were small for the price. Our server had seen our F&B cards, so when we were ready to close the bill, she took the clip card for the $30 plus the $10 F&B card, returned to the table with a receipt that showed a total of $40.59 and said I needed to settle the $0.59. I handed her a $10 bill in cash, and said to keep the change (as a tip). Oh no, she was not able to take cash for the $0.59. It had to either be a credit card or charged to the room. We asked how she wanted the tip and she said it didn't matter. So I kept my $10 and then added $8 as the gratuity to the slip (20% of $40), for a total of $8.59 to be charged to our room, above the $40 F&B credits. I never noticed until the following day that the bill was $32 for food, to which an 18% service charge was added, plus tax, to reach the total of $40.59! So we'd paid 18% already for service, plus I had added an extra 20% on the total bill.

The next morning when we were seated for breakfast, we showed the server who poured our coffee and water the breakfast vouchers. He tried to tell us that we could use up to $30 (the same spiel we'd been given about our destination charge). We had to explain that it was a voucher for breakfast (buffet, coffee, juice) and not a fixed amount credit. There was no buffet. He had no idea what we were supposed to get. Finally, one of the other servers told us to choose any entree from the menu, plus coffee plus and juice. At the end of the meal, she said we were all set and did not present any bill. We felt we should leave a tip but only had a $20 bill, so I went to the front desk to ask to change it and were advised it was a cashless property so they could not help. We felt bad not leaving a tip, but this was before I'd noticed on the bill from the previous night that we had tipped 20% in the bar after having had an 18% service fee added.

The following morning at breakfast, after we'd showed our vouchers and ordered an identical breakfast (entree, coffee and juice each), we were given a bill that we were asked to sign but were assured that the breakfast vouchers would be applied. The bill was for $68.50 which again included an 18% service fee and had a line for an additional gratuity to be added. I added -0- and also wrote -0- in the total line, to be absolutely clear that we had breakfast covered by the vouchers. I probably should have given a gratuity but by this point, we were getting frustrated with all the inconsistencies and issues.

The included amenities also listed "Daily Cuban blended coffee for two" but it wasn't clear where we were supposed to get this, nor during what hours, so I asked at the front desk. He pointed me to the coffee urn in the lobby near the elevator. I assumed from the way it was written that it was a specialty coffee served either at the cafe or restaurant, not just an urn with paper cups in the lobby which seemed available all day in unlimited amounts (why write "coffee for two" if this was the case?).

We also couldn't find the complimentary EV charging station so asked where it was. This was a 110 outlet sitting on the outside of the building in the parking lot where one was welcome to plug in and charge. It was not an actual EV charger.

We did go sit in the pool area on our second afternoon. The pool is very small, really a wading pool, but the area is pleasant with a lot of loungers, tables & chairs, couches, etc. Almost no shade so we only went out late afternoon when the weather was quite lovely and sun had moved away. There is a pool bar where you can also order sandwiches, wings, wraps, drinks, etc. It closes around 5 pm daily, however, and they close and lock the entire pool area at that time, so you can't go out for an evening dip or to sit outside in the evening. I don't know if this will change in future. It was a cozy, quiet area with the exception of being in the flight path for landing aircraft.

We also went for our "Mojito tasting" at 2:30 the second day, ensuring to be on time since we'd missed it by 15 minutes the previous day. The bartender mixed individual mojitos for us, served in plastic cups, that were very tasty. I don't quite understand why they said we were too late for these on the previous day because it's not like they had a batch made up for multiple people.

Sorry this was so long but it really was quite a bizarre experience with no one really knowing what was going on and a lot of inconsistencies between staff. Everyone was super friendly and extremely nice, but just still seem to be figuring things out. They do need to improve how things are communicated, both online and in person.