pharmawalk

We stayed at the JW recently and were happy we did. Other than things like the pool, etc already mentioned, in my opinion it comes down to room size. The standard room size at the JW is comparable to the 'executive suite' at the CM. We were in the Grand Oceanfront suite at the JW which was over 500 sq ft larger than the best CM suite (not counting the Presidential suite at CM).

bitterproffit

I made a reservation at the Marriott Cancun resort in November 2017 for a stay in March 2018. Checking the reservation today, it appears they have added a $25 a day resort fee. My confirmation has no mention of a resort fee and the cost for the stay has increased by $175 from the total quoted to me in the confirmation. I called Marriott customer service and they say it is up to the property to decide to honor the total amount quoted or change the total on me. Customer care says the property will email me soon with their decision. I am new to Marriott and giving them a try, and have never had the experience before where you pull up the confirmation code and the amount of the stay is different from the amount quoted. I get that resort fees are all the rage now, but when I made the decision to book the hotel, I made the decision based upon the amount they quoted.

Has anyone ever had this happen before? Is there a good chance Marriott will honor the originally quoted rate? Any advice and experience would be appreciated.

SkiAdcock

Do you have a print-out/email of the reservation confirmation. If so & it shows no resort fee I think you have a good chance to argue it.

Cheers.

bitterproffit

Thanks. I do have the email. I will report back when the property contacts me later this week.

jtwiz

I had this exact same thing happen for the Marriott in Puerto Vallarta in November (although it was a $15 a day resort fee.) I arrived at the hotel with a printout of my original reservation and they waived the resort fee, but I will say the actual day the resort fee started was toward the end of our stay anyway. The total resort fee amount we would have been charged was only $45. I pretty much figured between the currency conversion from dollars to pesos for our 10-day stay vs. the rate when we actually booked - $45 was just noise! But they were very pleasant about removing it. I have read some different stories on-line from others in their experiences (here on FT, as well as on TA), so YMMV.

I think you are smart to contact the hotel in advance of your stay. But document any agreement you get with them on removing the resort fee, because my experience is that it will show up again on your final bill because that is what their systems automatically do. You will most likely need to ask to have it removed when you check out, so have any documentation at hand.

bitterproffit

That is a really good point. I will print out the original confirmation email and any response from the hotel and have it with me. Thank you for the advice.

bitterproffit

Update: Very nice email from the Manager at the Marriott Resort confirming that it would not be appropriate to apply the resort fee to my reservation after the fact. I will print that out in case there is any confusion upon checkout.

SkiAdcock

Great! Thanks for letting us know. Enjoy your stay.

Cheers.

danger

After a reasonably late arrival from Miami I enjoyed a circa 16 hour stay at the Courtyard Cancun airport recently and was quite impressed.

Firstly, the hotel offers a complimentary airport shuttle but Cancun airport has no free wifi and no courtesy phones so unless you wanted to pay roaming charges there was no way to contact the hotel to get the shuttle. And it's a monopoly market for airport transfers with Super Shuttle and the taxi company (who I actually think are the same) charging MXN400 (~USD21) (or maybe it was MXN450) for transport to the hotel. I refused to pay it and after a few minutes was approached by a self-employed guy and his driver who wanted USD15. I countered with USD12 and we were quickly on our way or the five or six minute trip.

On arrival I was promptly helped with my excessive luggage and checked-in by a polite and helpful agent. I'd booked the entry level room but was upgraded to a one bedroom suite complete with its own steam room. It also had a kitchenette. The hotel has a self-service laundry with free detergent.

I don't think there's anything nearby but for an airport hotel I was very pleased.

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the update on the Courtyard airport. Much appreciated.

Cheers.

rockdocs

With the point devaluation about to occur, I am looking for a property for next January to book.

Preferably as a Plat Elite which property would be the best use of points and use the ammenities of club level or free breakfast?

I see some posters have been at the JW and paid for Club 91,

Suggestions?

3Cforme

Check the Starwood forum master property threads, too. Starwood resorts aren't exempted from the Plat breakfast benefit.

mmayer

Stayed at the JW Cancun in late January -- our second stay there.

Booked on points then paid $125/Night for the Club 91 upgrade. The Club 91 room is a Premium Ocean view (a $25/Night upgrade), so essentially it is $100/night more for Club 91. Also, airport transfer is included, a savings of ~$50 round trip.

Can't say enough good things about the staff, everyone was really wonderful and attentive. The original Club room is currently undergoing renovation/construction, so they converted a Suite into a temporary club. Still a good experience, but you could tell it was quite a bit more work for the staff. The food offerings were scaled back a bit, due mostly just to limited space to put everything out.

Breakfast always had Eggs, Bacon, Potatoes, Sausage, Oatmeal, pastries, bagels, Smoked Salmon, etc. Coffee and Espresso were available from an Illy machine.

Lunch was generally small sandwiches, guacamole and chips (I ate a LOT of guac while I was there), meat and cheese, plus a couple of other selections and desserts.

There was an afternoon tea service that we never bothered to head up to.

Evening "Discovery Hour" featured dishes from the on-site restaurants. They ranged from okay to really amazing -- the curries that Chef Luis prepared on Sunday night were AMAZING. That was the only night we seriously considered blowing off our restaurant reservation. In hindsight we probably should have. All of the dishes were substantial enough that you could easily have made a meal of them. The other thing that is unique at Club 91 is that if you request it, the chef will make you something that is above and beyond the tasting menu. I saw him serve a beautiful piece of salmon with broccoli to one guest -- said guest reported that he had a Filet Mignon the night before. Obviously a nice tip is deserved in this situation.

Desserts were available after the Discovery Hour -- always plentiful and tasty.

Water, soda (Pepsi, much to my wife's chagrin) and Beer (Dos XX and Tecate) were available all day in a small fridge. Wine and liquor/mixed drinks are available from 6 - 10. Walter, the usual bartender, was always suggesting something interesting. We had Mai Tais and Mojitos, plus sometimes just a bourbons on the rocks. Don't expect a huge range of liquor, but enough to find something you like.

For the net $100/day spent, I'd say it is worth it given that drinks on the beach were ~USD10 each and entrees were USD10-20. I think the breakfast buffet in the restaurant was $20-25/day.

We walked thru the Marriott next door. The lobby is really spectacular, but no experience staying there.

hockeyinsider

This is a good deal if you have friends or family that equate to 10 or more guest rooms. I would negotiate the contract to include any guest paying individually at the group rate receives full elite status benefits, including upgrades, and access to the non-complimentary club lounge.

vivrant