“The staff at Marival regularly puts your safety and health in danger and the management does not care.”
If you care about your health and safety, do not stay here. I am not a frivolous person and trivial issues do not bother me. The issues we experienced at the Marival were not frivolous. We experienced the issues that I’ve seen in some other reviews such as the bad food, long lines at the buffet, slow service, room locks that stick, generally unfriendly staff and all the pool chairs being taken by 7 a.m. etc. None of that bothered us much. All of that I can live with.
First Case of Human Waste in the Pool
We stayed at the Marival Resort & Suites on July 23rd – July 25th in room 1513, near the Club Pool. We started our day on July 24th at the Club Pool. After swimming in the pool for about an hour we decided to make our way to the seating area in the center of the pool. As we entered the seating area I noticed what appeared to be a large brown rock on the bottom of the pool. I reached for it to throw it out, since I didn’t want anyone stepping on it. As I got close to it, I noticed it was HUMAN WASTE! I tell the family to get out of the pool and I go to the bar to report the human fecal matter in the pool. Bartender does not at all seem fazed by my reporting of the waste in the pool. He calls for security. A few minutes later security shows up, security calls the pool cleaners, the pool cleaners show up and declare that yes, in fact it is human waste. They FINALLY tell the other swimmers in the pool that they have to get out because the pool is dirty and has to be cleaned. The Pool, they say, will have to be closed for two hours. One of the pool cleaners jumps in with a net to fish out the waste and quickly retrieves it. As he exits the pool he holds the net with the human waste and begins to walk along the edge of the pool, dripping contaminated water along a portion of the perimeter and a dozen or so pool chairs. I tell him that maybe it would be a good idea to get a plastic bag from the bar so he doesn’t contaminate all the areas he walks around. He looks at me annoyed, puts the net down on the ground next to the pool, with the waste in it, walks to the bar, gets a plastic bag and wraps up the net. A few minutes later he comes back with a co-worker and a VERY LARGE container of chlorine. I’m guessing at least 20 gallons. They pour the entire container of chemicals in the pool and leave. The security staff leaves also. A few minutes after the waste is removed and the chemicals are poured in, new guests begin to arrive and jump in the pool! I tell them they should not be in the pool. They’re grateful that someone alerted them and get out. Then, a few minutes later, a six year old girl and her grandmother get in the pool. Are you kidding me? Does the management there really not care about their guests getting sick?
I ask the bartender why no one from security is there letting people know the pool is closed? Why is there no sign? Isn’t it dangerous for people to be swimming in a pool that just had tons of chemicals dumped in? Didn’t they say the pool was going to be closed for two hours? Martin from security shows up. Our conversation goes something like this:
Me: Isn’t someone supposed to be letting the guests know the pool is going to be closed for two hours and warning them about getting in a dirty pool?
Martin: That’s not my responsibility.
Me: Ok, well, whose responsibility is it?
Martin: I don’t know?
Me: Does the radio in your hand work?
Martin: Yes.
Me: Can you call someone and find out whose responsibility it is?
Martin: Why don’t you go to the front desk and report it?
Me: I am reporting it. I’m reporting it to you.
Martin: Well I can’t help you.
Me: You’ve made that perfectly clear, my question is, who can?
Martin: I don’t know.
Fine, I walk over to the towel hut (and warn a few more kids and parents about getting in the pool that’s supposed to be closed for a few hours on the way). The person at the towel hut lets me use the phone to call the front desk. I ask for the manager on duty to come to the Grand Pool. A few minutes later Judith shows up at the pool. The first words out of her mouth are – “Don’t worry we’re re-opening the pool”. I don’t want you to re-open the pool if it’s not safe! My complaint is that your staff has allowed dozens of people to jump in a contaminated pool without warning them. Judith is very apologetic and assures me that the pool is now safe to swim in even though it’s only been an hour. She apologizes for not posting someone at the pool to warn guests and says it won’t happen again. OK, good. Thank you. Apology accepted. I don’t trust that the pool is safe so we move to the Grand Pool.
Second Case of Human Waste in the Pool
We spend the rest of the morning at the Grand Pool and then have lunch at the La Bamba snack restaurant. Late in the afternoon, we go the ‘kiddy pool’ (not the kids pool) next to the Club Pool. I’m not getting back in that pool! Well guess what? A few minutes after being in the ‘kiddy pool’ next to the Club Pool, Martin the security guard shows up and tells us we have to get out of the pool because it’s dirty. What? I ask him what happened and he tells me there is a SECOND incident of human waste being found in the Club Pool, and the kiddy pool shares the same water. Again! Really? Why didn’t they tell us before we got in the pool?
Same drill as before. Everyone gets out of the pool. Pool guys clean the human waste and DUMP IT IN THE GARBAGE CAN NEXT TO THE POOL. They pour a ton of chemicals in the pool. Tell everyone that the pool will be closed for two hours and leave. No one stays to warn new guests. No sign is posted. How can that be? Didn’t Judith tell me that wouldn’t happen again? 10 minutes after the pool cleaners leave people begin to jump in the pool again without being warned by any staff. That can’t be safe and it’s really not fair to the guests jumping in the pool that just had waste in it and tons of chemicals dumped in it. I ask the bartender to call for a manager. About 10 minutes later a manager named Marie (I think) comes. She’s not as nice as Judith. In fact, she’s not nice at all. I begin to explain to her that the same thing happened in the morning. She stops me and tells me that she’s already aware of the incident and my earlier complaint. Uh, ok, then why didn’t you post someone here to guard against someone jumping in the pool? She begins to tell me that she doesn’t have enough staff. She’s telling me this as six staff people are standing around listening to us talk. I kindly point this out to her and let her know that it only takes one person not the six peoples standing around. She assigns one person to watch the pool for the two hours that it’s supposed to be closed and leaves. The person she assigns to watch the pool stands around WAITING FOR PEOPLE TO GET IN THE POOL and then telling them they have to get out. After watching this for 15 minutes we go to our room in disgust and do our best to wash the fecal matter off of us. There’s a knock on our door, it’s someone from room service with a tray of cookies, candy and what appears to be crackers and a letter on a tray. That’s nice of them, bringing me snacks to apologize at an all-inclusive resort where I can get as much of that stuff as I want at any time. I tell the staff person that I appreciate the gesture; however I won’t accept the snacks. I tell her to send her manager a message: if they really wanted to say sorry they’d give me something that I can’t already have such as an excursion. I NEVER HEAR FROM MANAGEMENT AGAIN. We go to bed in the hopes that tomorrow will be a better day.
Third Case of Human Waste in the Pool
We start July 26th hopeful that the day can’t be worse than the day before. Unfortunately, we’re wrong. The day is worse. We begin our day at the Grand Pool, there’s no way in heck we’re going back to the Club Pool or the ‘kiddy pool’ next to the Club Pool after the two incidents the day before. I wake up before 7 a.m. to make sure we get lounge chairs with shade by the pool. We have breakfast and swim at the pool until noon. At lunch we go to the La Bamba snack restaurant for lunch. My wife takes our youngest to get his lunch while I take our oldest. As I’m serving myself pizza from the bar one of the employee’s takes an empty pizza tray back to the over for the pizza cook to refill. He drops it on the ground on the way to the oven. I expect him to walk it to the dirty dishes pile, instead he picks it up off the ground, takes it back to the cook at the pizza oven who loads a fresh pizza on to it. Now, because I’ve already complained twice yesterday I decide not to say anything about the incident, even though I knew better. I take my son back to table and go to the bar for a beer. After a 10 minute wait it get my beer in a their tiny plastic cups with lipstick on it. Really? A dirty cup? Am I on candid camera? Can this all really be happening? I go back to the table chuckling to myself in disbelief. When I get to the table I look at my wife’s plate, you guessed it, it has pizza on it. I ask her where she got the pizza, she points out the tray and I tell her not to eat the pizza and proceed to tell her the story of the server who dropped the tray on the floor. She chastises me for not saying anything and I’m feeling really guilty about it. During lunch my wife tells me she really doesn’t think she can stay at Marival any longer. She wants to move to a different hotel. I tell her that we’re on vacation. Let’s just make the best of it. I don’t really want to go through the trouble of moving. After lunch we go back to the Grand Pool and just when we’re about to jump in we hear an announcement for a “codigo ocho”, I have a bad feeling about this. I think I know what a “code eight” might be. You guessed it – HUMAN WASTE IN THE POOL AGAIN! I guess it happens often enough that they have a code for it. Fortunately we’re not in the pool this time! (There’s another review on tripadvisor.com with the same complaint pool closed two days in a row because of human waste). Same exact drill as the day before. Everyone gets out, human waste fished out and dumped in the garbage can next to the pool, tons of chemicals dumped in the pool, and one security guard stays. The security guard again WAITS FOR PEOPLE TO GET IN THE POOL before telling them the pool is dirty. Two 60+ year old ladies enter the pool within 20 yards of the guard and he just watches them walk down the pool steps. He takes his time walking over and tells them the pool is closed. They don’t speak Spanish so I walk over to translate for them. They’re really upset that no one told them the pool was dirty before they got in. That’s it. I’ve had enough of how the staff here treats their guests. I really can’t stay at the Marival any longer. I take our oldest son to the Lobby to ask for our Orbitz representative so he/she can move us to a different hotel.
The odyssey with the least helpful front desk staff ever
As I’m walking to the front desk one of the sales people from the timeshare desk approaches us to ask if he can help. I ask if he knows where I can find my travel rep from Orbitz. He asks if there is a problem and I tell him that we’re having a really bad time at Marival and need to move to a different hotel as soon as possible. He smiles and say’s ‘It can’t really be that bad?’ I tell him it is really that bad and I just want to talk to my rep. He informs me that my rep is in the Club Lobby. He kindly offers to walk my son and I. We walk over to the Club Lobby. There is no one at the travel rep desk. There is a sign that says the time frame when the rep will be back. The time share sales guy rights the Orbitz rep’s cell phone number down for me on a brochure. I walk the phone number for the front desk and ask if they’ll call the number for me to I can speak to my Orbitz rep. They tell me they don’t have phones for guests to use in the Club lobby; I’ll have to go to the main lobby. Back I go to the main lobby and ask if they’ll dial the number for me. Sure, for $3 dollars per minute; really, $3 per minute? It’s a local number. It’s the Orbitz rep; I need to talk to because I want to move hotels because I’m having a horrible experiene. Sorry, it’ll be $3 per minute. They suggest I go to the concierge desk in the Club lobby so I go to the club lobby AGAIN. I tell them that the other lobby won’t make the call unless I pay $3 per minute, it’s a local call and I’m really having a bad time and need to speak to my rep, will you please call? They finally agree. They ask if they can help. I’m not really in the mood to tell them the entire story so I very nicely explain that I’m not having a good time and we want to move hotels. “It can’t really be that bad can it” they say – uh yes it is. I tell them the story (all the while they’re trying to reach my Orbitz rep without any luck). I ask them, how upset would you be if the children getting in the pool 15 minutes after human waste is fished out of the pool and tons of chemicals are dumped in where yours? One of the concierge people – Octavio – says he would be a lot more upset than me. He’s surprised I’m being as calm as I am. The other concierge, Maria, still can’t get a hold of my Orbitz rep, after 20 minutes and is getting frustrated. Octavio offers to transfer us to the other Marival property down the street for a fee of only $100 per day. No thanks I say, we’ve had enough experience with your company, I think we’ll pass. He keeps trying to convince me to go to the other property while his partner continues to try and find my Orbitz rep. At this point I’m pretty thirsty so I tell them that I need to go get some water and I’ll be right back. When I come back, they still can’t get a hold of my Orbitz rep. Octavio says that he can get us to the other Marival Residences without us having to pay the extra $100 per day upgrade, it’ll only take 4 minutes to get there and if we don’t like it, they’ll have found our Orbitz rep by the time we get back. Ok, I say, let’s take a look.
Well, the Marival Residences is a world apart from the Marival Resort and Suites. It’s a completely different atmosphere. The staff is extremely nice and attentive. We have no reservation tipping the wait staff at every meal. The grounds are gorgeous. The room they show us is the smallest one bedroom penthouse, still a very, very, very, nice room. Really beautiful top floor unit that has a spiral staircase that takes you to the rooftop garden. Pools are great (and no more fecal matter!), food is awesome. I have no complaints about our stay at the Marival Residences. Octavio saved the day. He was the only one we worked with that really seemed to care.
Here’s my dilemma, even though they made it right for my family and I, I feel as though I owe it to other families to tell them how the Marival operates. It’s like the Pizza tray that was dropped on the floor and I said nothing. It came back to haunt me. Also, I really want the Marival to implement a policy on how they handle human waste in the pool. They should have a policy and protocol in place that protects their guests from getting back into a contaminated pool too early. It’s not only gross, you can contract bacterial infections.
Upon our return to the states I called the Marival Resort and Suites to ask to speak to the management team, because remember – NO ONE FROM THE MARIVAL MANAGEMENT TEAM EVER COMMUNICATED WITH ME – even after my complaints. It took me 15 minutes on the phone to find someone that could help me. They make it very challenging to find a manager. Finally I find a manger named Edith Perez Ruiz. She says that she is the right hand to the General Manager and she’s in charge of running all the operations for the Marival Residences. I tell her that I didn’t have a problem with the Residences, only the Suites, is there someone there I should speak with? That’s ok, she assures me, she’ll get to the bottom of it and fix it. So, I go through the 20 minutes it takes to explain what happened. She is really apologetic and very sorry. She says she’ll speak with her manager and get back to me. Several days pass and I hear nothing. I email her to no response. I email her the next day, no response. I call back and ask for her. She’s not available. So I ask for her managers’ email. I email her again and copy her manager. Finally she responds to say that she’s still looking into it and will get back to me as soon as she can. Another day passes with no communication. And yet another email to her again with no response. So now the Marival Residences has let me down as well. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything different. A week later I call Orbitz to let them know about my experience, they call the hotel so I can speak with the manager. The manager on duty is Judith. She is very nice on the phone. She tells me that the General Manager for both hotels is fully aware of the situation (and still has not called or emailed me to apologize) and that they actually do have a protocol for how to handle human waste in the pool. She admits that it was not handled appropriately. So I guess that’s the end of it. They have a protocol, that in my experience they clearly don’t follow. Go if you want, at the risk to your own health.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
