leeky

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...-thailand.html

(and hopefully these threads will not be merged as the Rayong Marriott is located at least an hours drive from Pattaya)

Madone59

Thank you!

ExpatSomchai

So just booked a two night stay. Good to see them offering cash+points. Anyone know the answers to the following:

Will they extend Gold benefits to two rooms?
Do Golds get breakfast and is it the full buffet?
Any ideas on the room upgrades

Thanks

Kacee

No personal experience here, but any Marriott with "resort" in the property's title typically means no breakfast.

Wiki says 20% discount off the buffet.

tide

Got breakfast as a Gold 2 years ago. There is no lounge though.

ExpatSomchai

Not very impressed so far. Emailed the hotel to ask some questions and no reply at all. Not very professional

ExpatSomchai

So just an update. Room has been pre upgraded to a Premium Ocean View. Reached out to hotel as they were offering a promotion and was considering changing from a C+P rate to paid rate however the promotion was only available to Thai Citizens and had to buy a voucher at a travel exhibition in Bangkok although advertised as though could buy directly.

eddibabyyeah

Stayed here last September with my family. I am Plat. I booked a standard room and was given a great suite with sea view. I was told that there was no breakfast, as this is a resort.

The place was at about 10% capacity for the five days we were there. A couple of days we were the only people around the pool.

ExpatSomchai

Just had a great stay here. Booked through a TA as rates were far better and couldn't LNF. Offered all the above benefits at check in and was upgraded from a standard room to a Prem Ocean view. Room was very spacious and well equipped. Grounds/Pools are fantastic and service exceptional. Breakfast was fantastic with every conceivable option available. Nice lobby bar with happy hour from 6-8 PM and many specials for both F&B.As only a 2.5hr drive from BKK it serves as a great get away.

Only downside was that the hot water ran brown.

cln

any recent reviews ? Stayed here some years ago and wonder how thing developed ...

narvik

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, so can't comment on "...how thing[s] developed..." but I am writing this from the property on a two-night stay, and can report that it is well maintained with friendly, efficient staff and the food is great too. Currently the FISH BAR is closed for refurb until October 5.
As Plat Elite I elected to have free breakfast (it was an option that needed to be selected on check-in) but they still made me sign the breakfast bill, so I will need to check that with reception.
Overall, pleasantly surprised with this property.

Typhoonpilot

Just finished a 7 night stay over Christmas., 2018. I have also stayed here previously over Christmas 2015. I used a 7 night stay certificate booked well in advance this time. There were 3 of us, including my son. I am PPE so was offered free breakfast for 2 at check-in. I asked if they could make it 3 and they did so that is a nice benefit. Room was upgraded from the Garden View to a larger Ocean view with two double beds. It was perfect for us. I really like the sitting area window ledge that they have in all of the rooms.

I like this hotel and I like the area because it is nice and peaceful. The beach is great for a long walk and the ocean water is reasonable to swim in, if not very clear. The large pool is awesome in design and function. The smaller pool with it's nearby kiddie pool seems to keep the babies away from the large pool, which is fine with me. I was greatly disappointed with the cleanliness of the pools this time. The water was so dirty I could barely see 5 feet in front of me when swimming. It had a lot of debris from trees and sand from the beach in it. Both pools were the same. I made comments to the manager after the first day and they did get slightly cleaner for a few days, but not anywhere near to how clean they were back in 2015. I met an old guy from Finland who lives in the condos next door. Those residents are allowed to use the Marriott pool, but not vice versa. He mentioned that Marriott only has one or two guys cleaning the pool, whereas their condo has 4. The second issue with the pool is they did not turn the pool lights on at night, even though the pool is open still. I asked about that, but never got a reasonable response and they were never turned on during my stay. The third issue with the pool is that the wooden planking near the beach end of the big pool has started to wear and is loose. Same thing happened to my community pool in Chiang Mai. It gets really dangerous. So it appears that this property is not spending the time and effort to keep the facilities in good shape. I do really like the hotel overall, but if they can't keep the facilities clean and in good working order I will stop returning.

There is a nice beachfront restaurant a few hundred meters down the beach that is a good alternative to the Marriott F&B. It's less than half the price of Marriott F&B, not that Marriott's is super expensive at $10 for a hamburger, but lower price options for local food are always nice.

The hotel does run a shuttle bus to the ferry pier in Ban Phe for trips out to Koh Samet. Timings work pretty well for a day trip with a morning shuttle at 10am and a pick-up at 4:30pm. They run another shuttle to Mae Phim where there are a bunch of seafood restaurants along the beach, but the return is less than an hour so it makes it difficult to enjoy a nice sit down dinner. There are very few taxis and no Grab/Uber to get back if you miss the shuttle.

goodeats21

Thanks for the detailed review. I always had the impression it was a bit out of the way, and not really an ideal location, especially without a car.

Might try Hua Hin sometime this year. Have a lot of 7-night certs I need to use up.

narvik

Is this what you call the "smaller pool" (attached pic)?

I am surprised about the debris/dirtiness. Maybe they had a storm/mini-tsunami before your arrival?


It was crystal-clear on my visit a few months ago:







It definitely is off-the-beaten-track, but that is what made it attractive (to me).
I agree though, a car is pretty much a must.

Typhoonpilot

Yes, that is what I call "the smaller pool". Nice picture of it and it looks very clean in the photo. When I was there you could not see the bottom of the pool from that position. It was that dirty and it stayed that way the entire time I was there. Only one brief rain, about day 5, so really no excuse for it to remain filthy like that the entire time.