fwfdan

Why do you say no resort fee because you are gold? Isn't it no fee because of points? And what is the BOGO breakfast comment?

Is the JWM mean a marriott?

flyer4512

Reading further I guess anyone who pays on points doesn't pay a resort fee at Hilton but I don't believe that is the case at JWM and the breakfast is actually two continentals for free as a gold perk

The Marriott in Marco is called the JW Marriott so yes JWM is for Marriott.

LondonElite

It is a JW Marriott, so a category higher that the standard Marriott product. It’s a nice but far too large hotel.

fwfdan

I would double check in the breakfast thread to see if there are any reports on that location for hilton breakfast is for gold / diamond. Some locations are better than others for that benefit and some just give a set dollar amount to spend rather than the continental breakfast benefit. Plus if you are looking at now many hotels are doing different things due to covid. Sometimes best to call to be sure if that is important to you.


I figured that JWM was JW Marriott, but wanted to just to be sure since this is a Hilton thread. Plus I am not always up to date on FT abbreviations!

ExpatSomchai

I was at the Hilton just over a year ago as a Gold and received 2 full breakfasts but as mentioned things may have changed.

Hawkeyefan

Anyone venture a guess as to why NO std award nights in Feb, but nearly ALL nights in March have std rewards?

TRAVELBABE

This resort is weird on how it opens up award availability. We just stayed from 1/6-1/9, but a standard room award only opened up if I booked 1/6-1/10. So we advised the front desk we would be checking out on 1/9, which they said was fine. They said it might take 6-8 weeks, but the points deducted for the 4th nite were back in my account in a week.

hockeystl

Just finished a four night award stay. Two free night certs from AmEx Aspire and two with points. Overall I'd say it was a very average stay.

No upgrade for Diamond status. No suite (didn't expect this), no upgraded view (disappointing) and a low floor (4th out of 11). The low floor was particularly disappointing. When I asked for a higher floor view the agent simply shrugged his shoulders and said they were sold out. I had a partial ocean view booked and think they could've done better than 4 out of 11. Thumbs down here.

Another big annoyance was the WiFi. The supposed "premium" wifi for Diamonds was barely able to handle streaming video and CONSTANTLY required logging in. Anytime a device would go inactive for around an hour it would require re-entering the password and logging back in. VERY annoying.

The resort fee was waived but they still charged $26.75 per day for parking. Breakfast included the full buffet but the omelet station was not staffed. Had I been paying the cash rate of $33 (tax and tip) per person, I'd have been quite annoyed at the lack of an omelet station. We had dinner at The Deck at 560 one evening to eat up the $250 Resort Credit from the Aspire. It was above average and I'd recommend.

The hot tub was down the entire stay which was another disappointment and there was a shortage of lounges at the pool - get out early if you want one.

There was a nice strip mall across the street with a surf shop to grab souvenirs... A movie theatre and some nice restaurants and ice cream shops. Da Vinci Ristorante was particularly memorable. Pasta made in-house and everything we ordered was very high quality.

Decent choice if you're burning free night certs but there's no way I'd pay out of pocket for this resort.

dwbf11

Random question for those who have stayed here before - looking at a February stay and wanting to know what the rules are for bringing guests to the pool/beach common areas. Are there daily passes that can be bought, or anything like that? Do I need to reserve (at additional cost) more lounge chairs? Is this even a possibility?

Thanks!

drod

I was there last weekend. They give each guest a bracelet at check in but we didn't wear them and no one asked to see them. There's no one guarding the door and you don't need a key card to go from the beach to the pool, so I don't think you'll have any issues bringing guests.

As for chairs, I don't think you need a reservation - just go down and ask for them. I had 3 in my room but the resort charge only came with 2 chairs. I was given a third chair for free.

Hawkeyefan

Has the Hilton Marco brought back their brekkie buffett? We were there last spring and it got covid'd out which sucked.

hockeystl

scroll up a couple posts for my report…

Hawkeyefan

Just read....location of the resort is amazing and the pool area with warm pool is nice, but stunk for you the hot tub was down I like sitting in there at night. I will also agree treatment of Diamonds is poor, we got a lower floor non poolside room last spring as well on points.

arollin

Just got back from 3 days there over the long weekend. You don't get any real benefit for being diamond at this property. The pool is nice, the rooms are fine, but we were placed on the 5th floor (out of 11) in the room furthest from the beach, above a dumpster and the hotel was not full. There were plenty of rooms available in the front half of the building that have a better beach partial view and no dumpster view. There were plenty of rooms on the pool side. There were suites available, but they just give a big middle finger to diamonds at this property. The food credit that replaced the buffet is a joke. $12 buys a bagel and a coffee at the fast service location or 90% of a drink at the pool bar. Diamond complimentary late check out, nope not here. Asked the day before was told to ask after 8:00 ... asked after 8:00 was told to ask the next day ... the next day I was told to wait again and nothing, despite our checkout day being a Tuesday and the resort half empty.

Diamond status has been so devalued at properties like this that I really don't see any reason to work to maintain status.

LondonElite

Plus you didn’t really have great weather this weekend.