My wife and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary at the JW Marriott Cancun Jan 13-18th. We had read many reviews on Trip Advisor and now wonder how anyone could write a negative review of the place. Our experience was that the property was very luxurious, the staff was incredibly outgoing, and the food was delicious. We stayed on the property nearly all 5 days, except for a snorkeling day trip, which we booked at the hotel. The restaurants were great (Beachwalk, Mikado, Sasi Sai). We especially enjoyed ordering lunch from the Beachwalk poolside every day. The gym was really nice and never over-crowded. The indoor pool was great for laps. The bed was really comfortable. Every JW Employee was happy and helpful. The only negative I can point out is the prices of food at the on-site restaurants and gift shop, though this is on-par with other resorts I've been to (non-all-inclusive). Also, the breakfast buffet at Sedona Grill was awesome. We had a great time and definitely hope to go back someday.

We just got back from spending 9 nights at this hotel, yes hotel, NOT resort. I was utterly SHOCKED after my experience here that they had received the AAA 5-diamond award in 2012. In my humble experience (having worked for the Four Seasons Hotel brand), this place should not have received even 4 diamonds! Our check-in experience was one of the worst. We were arriving to Cancun around 1pm, so being as we were traveling with a toddler, I knew to call ahead and request an early check-in and for our minibar to be emptied out. We arrive.....NO ROOM READY. OK, fine. They weren't even at 50% occupancy, but again, ok, I'll deal.They said an hour. We'll go grab lunch.
We ate lunch poolside. The food was nothing to remember. It was certainly edible, but not a step above that. After eating, we asked for our check so we could get back to the check-in process and get our kid down for her nap. After 15 minutes of waiting, we asked again. Then again. 30 minutes went by and finally our check arrived. We go back to the front desk.
I ask about our room situation and this is the woman's response, "It is going to be an hour. We'll send a maid now." Well, we have already waited the hour we were told to wait. We go and puts around on our iPads in the lobby and I go back an hour later AND GET SCOLDED BY THE GUY AT THE FRONT DESK FOR INQUIRING! He hands me the keys in such a rude, abrupt way, I had to confront him and ask why! We were never told how to get our luggage that had been checked when we arrived, we were never told about any of the amentities of the hotel. When I asked, he again RUDELY, pointed to the bellhop and said, "Over there!" In the states, this man would no longer have a job. If I have EVER treated a hotel patron like that, I would have been fired on the spot. I never complained to the manager, but there were enough of his colleagues around for someone to step in.
We soon came to find out that really NO ONE at the hotel is taught to smile or be friendly. The door staff were great, the lounge singer was amazing, but aside from them, the waiters at the pool were unfriendly, the people in the gift shop/deli were THE WORST, and the concierge was utterly unhelpful (we tip well, so we knew it wasn't that).
On to cleanliness......I think the housekeepers do the best they can. It appeared they were understaffed because we only had them clean our room every other day and they never got to it until very late in the afternoon when we were returning from the pool. The jacuzzis had a file (I took photos) that made you want to puke. It was like a yellow bubbly substance. SO gross! The pools, the bathrooms, the everything just needed a major facelift, probably a few million. Eeek. OH-----you like sleep?? You won't sleep here. The beds must be from 1970 and they put a down comforter on the mattress to make it appear "plush." No thanks.
I would never....and I mean NEVER ever go back to this place. I would suggest you look elsewhere if you are even considering it. I understand it sounds like a cheaper option when not doing an all-inclusive (we couldn't commit to an all-inclusive because we like fine dining and variety), but expect to pay $10 per beer and then some. The food options for lunch were pretty terrible, so we would opt for the deli and spend $11 on a bag of Lay's potato chips. We would have been better off doing a super new contemporary all-inclusive and still eating out every night. Oh well, you live and you learn, but if I had read an honest review like this one, we would have never booked.

We love Cancun and always stay at either the jw or casa magna Marriott. They are in a great location, right across from the aqua world water sports facility. The jw has a very nice scuba diving pool where you can do a resort course or refresher. And the staff is top notch.

We had a pleasant visit to Cancun, enjoyed the beach and view of the beach from the hotel, and were amazed by Chichen Itza. However, we experienced a number of problems.

1. Front Desk

The front desk staff are nice but there aren't enough of them. Check-in took about 20 minutes waiting in line, check out was slowed by a problem with the bill which required three phone calls to fix. This is the management's fault.

2. Housekeeping

Upon checking in, we found two candy wrappers and three orange seeds on the carpet. Turn down service was irregular. One of the sinks was perpetually clogged. Bad training and supervision.

3. Construction quality

On the first two nights, an impolite guest upstairs or poorly insulated floors woke up repeatedly. Must be a flaw in the construction or renovation of the building. Particularly annoying since we paid extra for a suite.

4. In-house travel agent

The "hotelbeds" travel agency is recommended by the concierge and has an office on the main floor. We booked our day trip to Chichen Itza through them. Mistake!

a. "Deluxe" tour includes only a ten minute stop at the lovely little village of Vallalodid, but a 90 minute stop at a tourist trap, ostensibly a sinkhole for swimming but mostly a very bad souvenir shop preceded by touting "Mayan cartouche" jewelry by the tour guide on the bus.

b. "Deluxe" also means free alcohol served on the bus starting right after lunch. Not what I had in mind.

c. "Deluxe" also means Mayan alcohol in small flasks is sold on the bus, and passengers are expected to assist in distributing the bottles.

d. "Deluxe" means being picked up late, taken to the Wet n' Wild water park parking lot, and being made to wait in the sun for another bus for the actual tour.

e. "Deluxe" means being kicked off the bus in the evening to transfer to another much shabbier old bus to be taken the last ten minutes to our hotel. Ick.

f. The sheet from the concierge indicated $119 per person for the tour but they ripped us off for an additional $12 or so per person with some exchange rate scam.

Aside from the lovely beach, the only part of the hotel that gets five stars is the food and beverage.

We are Marriott regulars and one of us is a former US employee of the brand. We were very surprised at how weak the whole place was, and will stay somewhere else when we return.

However, on balance, we had a nice trip and we will not let this particular experience put us off Cancun for a future trip. It's a good place.