vg247

Thanks so much, I'll have my spouse pm them via her Facebook for an email since I don't have FB.


Cheers

Brandinho1

Yeah that's what I kind of thought. We will see when we get there in March.

SHLTP

Based on excellent reviews here - and some friends who went-- I booked a group family vacation here in a little while. I am lifetime starwood and always hesitant to book Marriott esp resorts without the free breakfast ... but the cheapest rate had breakfast included... so I thought I'd give a try.

Thanks for tips on classes. I'm trying to see if I can book in advance or have to wait until I arrive. Will report here after my trip to see what happened and other tips.

They also had a lot of point per room per night.

SurlyJoe

i'm at the resort right now if you have any questions. Just finished up at the buffet after a run on the track and some time in the gym. Suffice it to say, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

SHLTP

Thank you for offer of help on advice! Good to know you don't think we will be disappointed. Can't wait as reviews so strong. I called up property (does Marriott not have hotel emails easily accessible?) and they were very helpful on booking stuff and answering questions.

Enjou rest of your trip!

SurlyJoe

I'll try to post a more in-depth review once I get some time. In short, service has been outstanding from top to bottom. Great value here if you're going to be in this part of the world.

SHLTP

This place is delightful -- one of the most inspiring and beautiful properties I have ever been to. The architecture really is very nice and, looking for the right word, whimsical. I am here on vacation and also to write a book and this is the perfect place for inspiration.

Few brief thoughts:

1) both the beach and the pools are stunning. Too many hotels have one or the other... this JW has both. They let you use paddle boards etc for free which is nice. The ocean water is calm and shallow and perfect to play in. Love love love it.

2) we are in a turquoise suite and might be moving to a villa to give it a try... it is worth the money 100% to get the turquoise suite. Beautiful design and great views of ocean. Do not book the suites or rooms that are in the back of the hotel as they don't have views.

This is one property where paying for better rooms is worth it, even as a plat, to ensure you get something beautiful. The rooms/ suites are really worth the money.

3) Plat benefits generous -- they give free breakfast unlike most Marriotts and plat hour. However, they are I believe getting rid of free plat hour in November/ making adjustments because too many plats are overwhelming the resort.

4) They do give suite upgrades to plats but there are so many coming here it is harder to get. But again, the suites are so beautiful that it is worth paying for them. Do that as it will be hard to get the suites w better views in future. But this is not a property that is trying to game the system. They seem like SGS in Bangkok in trying to make pats happy.

5) There are tons of free activities and ones w minor fees -- lantern making, face mask making, bike making -- that are great. Team overseeing this is wonderful. Several generations of my family are with me on this trip and we have thoroughly enjoyed the activities. The only issue is it is sometimes chaotic booking activities. Book early that will help mitigate some of the issues.

6) Staff: people are all very nice here. There are some English problems (I saw one woman having massive problems getting parmesan cheese as the waitstaff kept bringing different things like butter) and some staff not trained to a luxury level yet. But effort is there. One cannot get upset as staff clearly trying to please but don't always have language skills. This will come in time, especially as this is a new resort.

7) Food is good but limited. THey are opening a new restaurant which will make things great. The only issue w food currently is limited choice. The main breakfast restaurant is open all day but lunch and dinner menus the same. They have a BBQ restaurant at night. BUt property really needs the new high end Chinese restaurant. But overall the food is tasty as surprisingly cheap considering the cost of the property.

Frankly, I view this spot as more a Luxury Collection property than JW. I wish all JWs were this good. But for me, coming from the Starwood side, I have been incredibly impressed and happy with this property and treatment. Incredibly happy.

estnet

Are there any fish that are visible in the ocean (eg any reefs nearby) or is it basically sand bottom and shallow so good for playing and swimming but not so much for snorkeling?

SHLTP

They took us snorkeling (free masks and equipment) near the hote via kualyak or paddle board There was some fish and coral that was great for my 10 year old and mother in law who never really anorkelled before. For me, a scuba diver, it was not great but fun to take people who had never gone. They told me there are trips farther away through tours but not amazing like Indonesia or Philippines.

I wouldnt come here ifyou want a reansnorkelling vacation. Right in front of hotel all sand.

But if inrecall you had been to at regis langkawi. JW blows it away. Three pools w the smallest one being larger than the str one and an ocean that is swimmable. The designer bill bensley did str Kayaputi restaurant.

I had over water villa at str but the suites here are nicer by design. Truly breathtaking.

estnet

Thanks - was there a charge to get to the snorkeling area? I, too, am a scuba diver and wouldn't expect much but sometimes it helps me get a bit more exercise if there's something to see I'm a bit old (and bad shoulder) so paddleboard probably wouldn't work for me - did you have to paddle the kayak yourself?
Yes, I've been to the Langkawi STR but wouldn't go back if they paid me, this place sounds sooo much nicer (esp that they seem to have their service in order as well as a wonderful location) and I'm planning a trip that spans my birthday there (and some time in HCM and probably Thailand)

Did they give you any idea about date of changes - I'd be there end of Nov and was looking forward to having happy hour option (I'll be by myself and would go into town sometimes - is there a (free) shuttle so I don't have to deal with taxis? Also how is the wifi?

SHLTP

We had an overwater villa at str and would never go there again too unless they expanded pool and or figured out how to fix ocean. Even if they comped us.


For us they didn't charge us to get to snorkeling area (I paddle boarded myself, and they had one person take my son On a Paddle board and another take my mother in law on kayak).
that is good service. We registered for a free water activity which is why they did this. I am not sure if they do this regularly or ifbyou have to pay. Just register for water activity and they'll take care of you. Their activity team is absolutely awesome.

Service is friendly. Each station, pool food etc, has at least 1-2 top people. Language is an issue for more junior staff but they friendly. But language is an issue for sure.

Wifi is good at room, beach and pool areas. I had problems accessing because I have the starwood Amex boingo app downloaded that conflicts w their system. It took us a while to figure out the problem. Once I deleted boingo then everything worked well.

They said early november to get rid of free happy hour but they migjt put in afternoon tea instead and make the buy one get one free happy hour early in the day/ extend hours to make folks happy. The happy hour now is nice to have but everything else is so good that even if you lose it is is ok. We are trying to come back in a few months. I am trying to convince the extended family to switch from maldives to come back here for Chinese New Year.

agjil

I was trying to book a couple of nights here using points, but it looks like they zeroed out points room inventory for all dates in 2018...??
I searched for many random dates in 2018 and none of the dates had points room availability, which IMO most likely means the hotel zeroed out the inventory.
Does anyone know what's going on?
Did this hotel stop accepting points reservations permanently?

Diplomatico

I booked a five night points stay for April 2018 last month. At the time I booked, I found availability to be scarce - originally, I had intended to visit in February but couldn't find space.

agjil

I was able to see bunch of point rooms available when I searched last month, but there were no rooms available at all when I searched today.
I think this might be a very recent change.

Srisarin

Wouldn’t be surprised if this property is changing catagories and you’ll see points once again available in 2 days (happened earlier) at Cat 6/7, which frankly is overdue.

If my thoughts are correct, they’ll honor current point reservations (mine is the end of this month), but not changes to current reservations or new ones (including unfunded reservations).