Apartment was very nice, clean with good views. Breakfast was included in our deal, which again was good with not a great deal of room although we never had a problem getting a table.

Don’t believe any of their pictures of the beach. Dirty brown sand mixed with building rubble. And you have to pay extra for a deckchair !!

Main problem being October half term was amount of room (or lack of it) around pool area. The weather was mixed so the kids used the indoor pool in the main complex. This was dirty and I complained at reception several times for the floor to be cleaned, but it remained dirty all week, so we avoided it. Beware of the pump in this pool under the surface that sucks the water in for the fountains. My daughter got sucked against it underwater! She had a ringed mark on her leg (from the blood coming through her skin) and managed to pull herself away from it. I did complain to the hotel management but they didn’t seem to understand the significance of the danger to other smaller children.

I have been to this area of Spain 8 years ago, and was disappointed at how the service in local restaurants had deteriorated, prices doubled and how much concrete (in the shape of new buildings) has ruined the place. Airport car hire also a mess. Recommend you pick up a car outside main airport building.

I won’t ever go back. But if you just stay at the Marriott and go to Marbella town you should be OK.

We visited this resort the last week in August and the first week in September.

First of all the complex is very well run with friendly staff and the usual Marriott level of service. The complex is extremely well maintained with peaceful, mature grounds, very clean and very pleasing on the eye. It's not enormous and you never feel "overpowered" by the buildings.

We had a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom apartment which was pleasantly furnished and of a good size. We had 2 kids in tow of ages 4 and 1 and there was plenty of space for them to storm around and bounce of the walls. The availability of a good (clean) travel cot was another bonus for the youngest. There was a pleasant, if not enormous (especially if there’s 6 people staying), balcony.

We mainly used the larger swimming pool located at the beach end of the complex, this is obviously geared towards the families with plenty of sunbeds available and lifeguards on duty. The smaller pool away from the beach is a much more sedate affair with luxurious beds and extra-large canopies. The beds did seem to be ‘towelled’ very early so set those alarm clocks if you want to bag a couple.

Contrary to a previous posting about this resort I found even though the complex was virtually 100% occupancy there was never a problem getting a place by the larger pool, in fact that’s something I would praise the complex for, having sufficient facilities to cater for every guest even at full capacity. Also (apologies to whoever you are) I used my Marriott points for the trip (I’m a heavy stayer!) and there was no problem at all??

Due to the kids being so young we never used the restaurant so can’t comment on its standard. We had a meal at one of the beach restaurants (Tony’s I think) about 200 yards to the right which was very nice, recommended.

We used the kids club a couple of times for my elder daughter which she really enjoyed, the staff were extremely enthusiastic and seemed to have a brilliant attitude with the children. I agree with a previous comment that this not a full-on club but what programme they do provide is carried out with passion.

A car is absolutely essential for those trips to the supermarket and the likes of Marbella (about 10 mins) and Puerto Banus (20 mins).

Just one disappointment about the whole trip, with the kids being so young we enjoy a gentle stroll in the morning (to tire the monkeys out for one!) and since the complex is quite literally ‘on the beach’ there’s neither a covered path or road to wander along. Try drudging through heavy sand carrying or dragging 2 kids and you’ll soon appreciate this need! There’s also not particularly any ‘pretty’ walks outside the complex being located in a built-up area.

We took a trip to the other Marriott Vacation Club down the road between Estepona and Puerto Banus called the Playa Andaluza. This is approximately 2/3rd’s complete and out of the 2 resorts I’d chose this newer one. Obviously everything is new (although the guide stated the Marbella Beach Resort is to undergo a full refurbishment during this Winter), the beach is a little more private even though by Spanish law you cannot run a private beach, the grounds were just as high standard and the apartment blocks were better laid out. If you want to visit the area it may be worth checking this location out as well.

So all-in-all a very pleasant experience and I’d highly recommend it to all families and couples looking for a high standard of service and facilities in a very up-market region of Spain.

Check out supposed to be 10 am rude person from housekeeping ringing door bell at 9 am and pointing at watch. On site restaurant very poor.

Our stay at the Marriott Marbella Beech Resort was a mixture of the good and the bad. Trying to remain positive I will start with the good:

-The apartments are very well appointed and laid out with a lot of space in our two bedroom setup
-The staff are very friendly and helpful, especially Marcus the German Front Desk Manager
-The grounds/garden are kept very neat and tidy and are nicely/tastefully planted
-The complex is in a quiet suburban area but it is very easy to get to Marbella and other locations if you have a hire car

And now for the more negative points:
-We visited in peak summer season (i.e. last week of August and first week of September) the resort was at 100% capacity as you would expect. What I did not expect was the shortfall in pool facilities. They do have two outdoor and two indoor pools but let’s face it in August the indoor pools are not very important. The main pool is a large rounded affair with a bridge across the top of it. Almost all of the sun beds were fully taken and even if they weren’t they were all so close to each other it would only appeal to people who like their holidays very noisy and very crowded (sardines spring to mind). The other outdoor pool is more elegant but on our first few days we noted that all the sun beds were “taken” not necessarily with people but rather with their towels. In the end we were forced to take out quasi German nationality and bag some sun beds by getting up at 6:00am (at that time several sun beds had already been taken!).

-You have noted that being overcrowded is our main criticism of this resort. The apartments as mentioned before are nice inside but once you step onto your balcony your view is basically the many balconies of your fellow resort guests. The apartment blocks are built VERY close to each other. You may have noticed the main promotional picture of a block of apartments overlooking the elegant pool – it looks great but the camera omits to include the apartment blocks on the other side of the pool and the perspective is to put it mildly a bit odd as it makes the pool look bigger than it actually is.

-The apartments are very nice but they are getting a little worn and we had severe concerns about the quality of the air-conditioning (a problem if you like it cool inside like we do). We did change apartments (thanks to the extraordinarily patient and helpful Markus) and it did get better but I don’t think their “compressors” are working properly.

-We have an 8 year old daughter (an only child) and therefore a kids club is of great importance to us. On a positive note the staff are very friendly and take a genuine interest in the kids BUT – the club is limited to 30 kids and you cannot book in advance. In the week before we arrived queues were forming 15 minutes before opening and some kids could not get in due to the limit. We make no criticism of the limit as this is for sensible health and safety reasons – but we believe there should be more warning of this and/or a booking system. Some of the activities were a bit tame (e.g. simply watching a video) and several days there are only activities in the afternoon (– this is no Markwarner or Club Med).


In conclusion we did enjoy our stay and I can understand and appreciate the positive comments I have read on tripadvisor. We noticed a significant improvement on our last two days when the resort dropped to 95% capacity, I suspect it would be even nicer at 75% capacity.

We are neutral about the restaurants Charlie’s is fine for burgers and pizzas but if they are busy watch out as staff numbers were very low. The Beech Restaurant was OK but rather dull.

As you can detect although we enjoyed our stay we were disappointed and as a Gold Elite Marriott member I am a little disappointed about their Vacation Clubs based on this experience… and don’t even get me started on trying to use Marriott Reward points that may be the subject of a separate report I write for tripadvisor depending on how they resolve my current and vigorous complaint.