Nice people work there, but there is very low motivation and empowerment. We first stayed there in 1993 when it was the Royal Waikoloa, and have been there 7 or 8 times since. The property (beach, pool, setting) is fantastic. The quality of our
more +stay has declined steadily the last 3 or 4 times. Even with a Costco package we spent 450/nt for ocean front (times 2 rooms.) At least I saved $1500, if I'd purchased directly from their website, the ripoff would have been $1500 worse! The place has become a dump. The gym is dirty and the equipment is run down and even rusty. The entire hotel was understaffed. We had to wait in line for everything. The food quality is cheap and the drinks were weak.
Our children got sick (not the hotel's fault of course) and the hotel (500 Rooms!) doesn't even possess a proper carpet cleaning machine. The hotel first explained theirs was broken. Then they borrowed one from a vendor for an hour and did the bare minimum. This was only after I said "borrow one from the Hilton next door!" The next day they returned with a floor polisher and ran that back and forth accomplishing virtually nothing. The children had to stay in a smelly, unclean room for half their visit GROSS!. We had to ask housekeeping to reclean the room on 3 or 4 occasions. A spray bottle and a rag is not cleaning. The hallways are dirty and the windows haven't been washed in at least a year. The staff and management were very sympathetic and kind, but generally ineffective. There is no standard of quality, or perhaps the standard is to do the minimum possible. I felt like this was the resort equivalent of the Chrysler K Car.
We like to sleep with the window open. It is lovely to hear the palm trees and the water. The pool and grounds maintenance staff play their radios and converse on 2-way radios at 5:00 in the morning. After the 3rd morning complaining of that I gave up calling.
The pool had inadequate chairs and towels for most our visit. People would "save" more chairs than necessary, they would sit vacant, but the pool staff was unwilling to assist on the guest's behalf. We would ask people if they could spare a chair, but what to do when they said "No"? Why should I, on a vacation at $900/night, need to create a conflict with somebody just to get a chair by the pool? When I asked for assistance I was told "We're very sorry, we're just really busy this time of the year." Yes, but, it does repeat every year. They could anticipate it. In the end I would go down at 6:30AM and reserve a chair like everyone else. It's OK, I'd already been woken by the maintenance staff. When you could get a towel, the pool staff was often stingy and suspicious if you'd left your towel coupon in the room: AS IF I WOULD WANT TO STEAL YOUR THREADBARE TOWEL!
It is really strange: The have a BEAUTIFUL property. 90% of the staff have been there for several of our visits. They are always very friendly and kind except for the pool and beach activities people. The beach activities people (obviously a franchise)seem to dislike their jobs, and resent the guests. It could be fantastic, but it is far from it.
My impression is they lost money for the entire year, so when the holiday came it was time to wring every penny from the guest. Lunch for the family in the restaurant was always ultra slow. For half the visit we had to eat our $100 lunches with plastic forks...CHEAP plastic forks. Rarely was more than one person at the front desk. The "concierge" often had a line of 7 to 10 people. I quote concierge as the person is an activities salesperson employed by an activities re-seller, thus there is no objective information about activities either.
For three consecutive visits we've noted the continuing decline. 2 visits ago my wife was physically accosted on the property by a local. It took their security 10 minutes to respond. Now, three strikes. They are out. I used to think Marriott stood for quality. They've got a great property there. It has been run in to the ground.
Date of Stay: 12/27/2011
Children in Party: 3
Tweens (10-12) Tweens (13+) Accommodations Dining Kids Play Area Money Value Pool & Water Fun Staff
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Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa
