Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront [Master Thread]
 

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/trav...ch-oceanfront/

Hello everyone - curious to know if anyone had recent experience with this relatively new property. Planning for a “scenery change” sometime in the future....

Thanks!

PS. Mods if this has been discussed before, please merge.

I met up with a friend who was staying here last week while I was at the Hyatt House down the street. Property seems beautiful but he lamented the resort fee, umbrella fee (I believe he said $25/day for an umbrella), parking fee (many/most VA beach hotels have free parking), etc. He also said the service had been horrible, another friend of ours who stayed there 2 weeks before said the same. I was truly shocked when we visited the hotel restaurant and the buffet was in place. We met for coffee and as he predicted it took a while to get coffee and water, he and our other friend both noted very long waits for food & beverage. Sure is a nice looking property through and they both loved Hunt Club.

Currently at the property and it's the typical opening pains -- checked in at 5pm and room wasn't ready after waiting in line for 30 minutes (and no separate elite check in lines). Property is beautiful with a great location on the beach -- rooms are fresh and new and decorated nicely. Dinner was solid but service was slow -again I think they are way understaffed and this will improve over time. They are still working things out like room keys not working in elevator, etc... -- but we would come back any time.

Is the rooftop sushi restaurant open yet?

Not yet -- I was told it would be mid-August.... Only Tulu is open -- or take a quick walk to the boardwalk....

The M-Club is also closed -- once open the views will be amazing...

Recent Stay
 

I just finished a stay here from 9-16May using my final pre-merger Travel Package. My SNA cleared and I was upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite. The room was nice, but the king bed wasn't as comfortable as I'm used to in Marriotts. The bathroom was split with a toilet and sink behind a door to the living room, then a sliding door into the rest of the bathroom which had a shower and sink and opened into the bedroom. There was, of course a separate door directly between the living room and bedroom.
We really enjoyed the property, the outdoor spaces are great and include a few lawns, one with adirondack chairs, one with bocce ball, and one with lounge chairs. The indoor pool was heated and has great rolling garage doors to get more of an outdoor feel. It is located just feet away from the outdoor pool which has lots of lounge chairs and such. Even on crowfed days, there were always vacant chairs.

We enjoyed being just north of the end of the boardwalk as the beach was much less crowded.

As Titanium, we received vouchers for breakfast at Tulu. Five of the days we ordered off the menu, but the vouchers are limited to two options: All American breakfast including 2 eggs, breakfast potatoes, and choice of bacan/ham/sausage or Good Start breakfast including oatmeal or granola with milk and fruit. Both came with juice, coffee and choice of bagel, blueberry muffin or toast. On the weekends, they had a buffet and were much much busier. Some folks had hour long wait times. We ate at Tulu one time for lunch, and it was alright but overpriced. It was hard to beat the convenience, though, being right off the beach.

They were doing daily cleaning with our longer stay, but 1 or 2 night stays only got cleaning by request. The M club remains closed.

Orions Roof on the top floor was truly fantastic, both the food and the views. Highly recommend it.

Even with the Travel Package Cert, it still cost a bit. $20 parking fee per day and $30 resort fee per day, but still well below the $3850 it would have been paying cash for the suite.

It is still a fairly new hotel and the public spaces feel fresh and clean, and being right on the beach is great. Even so, with the high cost, I would consider staying at the Cavalier itself which is an Autograph Collection Property that has it's own beach club next to the Marriott, though guests have to walk the 200-300 yards to get to it from the hotel. There is also a chauffeured shuttle, if you prefer. We couldn't do that this time since it is category 7 and my Travel Package was cat 6.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a3d1b7273d.jpg
Lobby
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...49ee4a3305.jpg
Orions Roof
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9e40a580ce.jpg
Living Room
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...16652e5276.jpg
Bathroom
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...df0950c382.jpg
Bathroom Setup
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...61df75542d.jpg
Bedroom
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...57900bd8ba.jpg
View of the Cavalier from the Marriott.

Stayed here after being walked from the nearby Sheraton.

The hotel looks and feels brand new. The lobby is gorgeous. For the most part everything was well-designed though the automatic light in the bathroom was a pain in the butt. The bed, like another reviewer, wasn't comfortable. The linen was rough and felt like a cheap polyester-cotton blend. Staff are very young. Zero elite recognition. Had to ask for an upgrade. But I did score a junior suite with northward views of Virginia Beach so no obstruction from all the towers to the south. They charge an annoying $20 resort fee that basically no benefits in the winter. The resort fee includes enhanced wifi for all guests. I asked about the replacement benefit per Bonvoy. Front Desk said they didn't provide a replacement. I asked for a manager who apologized and said they take $10 off the resort fee for elites who are supposed to get free wifi. That's better than nothing but the wifi prompt says enhanced wifi is $13 a day. So there's where I really take issue with the resort fee. I don't think this was intended to be a resort because there is a M Club. But the M Club has never opened since the hotel opened in 2020. At check-in I was asked to choose between 1,000 points and a restaurant breakfast. I chose breakfast. Interestingly, hey are also giving 750 points per day for having a closed lounge. So again that tells me this isn't actually a resort. In the restaurant, they refused to let me use my breakfast voucher for anything off the menu or even the buffet. The restaurant supervisor said the voucher got me a choice between oatmeal and a $17 "all American" breakfast. That was kind of funny because I wanted to order something that was cheaper than $17. Like the resort fee replacement benefit, a hotel manager claimed the restaurant was mistaken and the voucher could be used for ANYTHING under $22 on the menu plus coffee, milk, juice, tip, and tax. Supposedly the restaurant is being retrained to know this. All things considered this is one of the nicer Marriotts in the Lower 48 but there were a lot of things missing. No robes or slippers, no bathroom amenities besides soap, shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Dispenser wall mounts have been added so I suspect the individual bottles of toiletries will be going away soon. There wasn't a gift shop or pantry, which is an issue since I didn't see a store within eyesight of the hotel. No newspapers, local information, or even a concierge. The resort fee includes a concierge but you have to go to the Cavalier, their neighboring hotel, for that service. The owners of this hotel and the Cavalier are building a Hilton Embassy Suites to the south of the Marriott as part of the Cavalier resort. Interesting that they aren't building a Marriott branded property.

There is a 7-11 around one block south of the hotel, immediately south of 40th street.

Thanks for the review, I usually go to VAB 2-3 times per year and always struggle with hotels, it's typically very tough for me to justify the price tag of the oceanfront properties. I have had a couple of friends stay at this hotel and it looks nice, but they have had service complaints and it's very expensive in peak season. The Sheraton used to be my go-to, they were always eager to upgrade to a 1BR suite in the SPG days, but I haven't stayed there in a few years and I just saw your review in that thread... seems it has gone way downhill which is a shame.

I would put it at more like 2-3 blocks. But yeah, there is no gift shop or pantry in either the Marriott or the Cavalier. I just posted about the Cavalier. Having stayed at both properties, I would pick the Cavalier for a special occasion or a wedding. But otherwise, I'd stay at the Marriott. If I was going on vacation during the season, I couldn't imagine not staying beachfront. I didn't like not being on the oceanfront at the Cavalier even if the service and amenities were of a much higher standard. I also didn't like having to constantly go to the Marriott for things like bikes and other resort amenities. I would also note that crossing Atlantic Ave by foot can be deadly. I don't understand why there isn't a traffic light or an underground walking tunnel. Something. Anything. Cars do NOT yield to pedestrians even though there are several big yellow signs saying they have to do so. Some of the cars go 40 mph or faster on that street.

I had a recent stay. I found that booking a junior suite with ocean view was the same price as a normal room, so I booked that. What I received was kind of a down grade and kind of an upgrade. The shape of the hotel is long and thin. The thin part faces the ocean so there are only 5 ocean front rooms on each floor. The rest of the rooms and suites are ocean view. So I was downgraded to a normal sized room, but upgraded to a full ocean front room. In any case the hotel is new and the rooms are of good quality. As are the common areas. The F&B is pretty good, especially the Orion restaurant on the top 23rd floor. Reservations are strongly recommended. I went early, before 7pm on a Monday and was lucky to get a bar seat. Later when I left there were many people waiting for a table or bar stool. It is quite a popular local spot.

The hotel was very busy over the sunny hot weekend, and less busy during the cold wet week. I expect it will be very busy next weekend with the holiday.

Platinum and higher elites get a $22 breakfast credit which was more than enough for one person, but not two.

The hotel bar is nice, but has no TV's for sports. The Orion bar does have TV's. The Cavalier has it's own beach bar which is very nice and you can charge back to the Marriott. The prices weren't high as I had expected. It also has games on TV on one end. The beach bars and breakfast restaurant seemed to be staffed by college students who weren't very experienced, yet had a good attitude and tried hard.

Self parking is $20 with an extra $6 if you want to valet. The hotel elevator also stops at each floor of the garage.

Shouldn't it have been $22 credit per person?

You may be right. I only remember seeing $22 printed on the card and I was by myself. I think they told me my omelet and double espresso came to $16.