Summary - if you're looking for a quiet and family oriented place to relax with your family this is not the place for you, otherwise, you'll have LOTS of fun because this place is really full of life.

Here's more details: 5 excellent and 1 terrible
Hotel room: we stayed at a 2 bedroom villa, which although is not in new condition, I didn't find anything wrong with my place. But it was very clean, and in perfect order. Score: "5"

Parking garage: 14 dollars if you're guest. Parking is kind of a awkward and complicated. I mean, is not straight forward as we are used to in other hotels, but it's not terrible. Hotel guests need to park on the 4th level, which means that levels 1-3 is for public parking. People going to the beach, to the bars, etc. Score: "3"

Staff: they were extremely helpful when we needed. We requested to give us another room, and they did that with no problems. Score: "4"

Elevator: really, not as bad as I expected. It just took some time for me to get used to how the buttons are arranged. But it is not slow as I have read in other reviews. Score: "3"

Safety: well, because there is a mini shopping mall in front of the hotel with bars and all kinds of activities, access to the elevators is very easy, and sometimes I noticed that it could be very easy for someone to access the elevators. Score: "2"

Pool: I didn't even go. very, very small. Score: "2"

Beach; Great. I loved it. Keep in mind that you have to pass the little shopping mall, bars and cross the street to be in the beach, which I found kind of awkward, but the beach in itself was great. Score: "5"

Area/environment: like I said before, this place is packed with action, live music, restaurants. People from all over town come to this place because it's a really 'happening' place, which is not my type of environment for vacation, but I was able to manage with no problems. We didn't want to go out and walk around at night because EVERYTHING was extremely loud and too many crazy people drinking and having fun, etc., especially on the weekend. I will give a low score because this is not my type of environment. Score: "2"

Internet: free wi-fi in the rooms, but there are computer centers with 5 computers. But there's a fee of 20 cents per minute, and the connection is really slow: Score: "3"

Recommendations:
If you want to have a somewhat quiet night, stay on the Intracoastal side. The ocean front is really noisy, and can be an issue to sleep at night.
floor with generators
Request a room on the south side of the buiding. We were given a room on the furthest north side of the buiding on the 5th floor. As soon as we opened the door for the balcony, we couldn't even talk because of the LOUD, I mean LOUD machinery, I'm not sure exactly what it was maybe HVAC, generatos, etc. I requested a different room right away, and the staff was extremely kind in changing my room.

The Beach Place Towers are in a fantastic location. This is the 2nd time I've stayed here and learned to request a west view. Ocean views are great but noisy due to all the restaurants at the base of the hotel.

Lu Lu's Baitshack is good along with Fat Tuesday's for drinks. Don't waste your time and money at Sloppy Joe's. Its dirty and the food is of poor quality.

As for the hotel, check in and check out was fast and easy. You can walk to everything and the water taxi is only a 5 to 10 minute walk out the back of the hotel. Our room was clean and having a kitchen was a nice perk.

Yes, the elevators are slow and the parking is a bit of a pain but if you know that going in, all else is top notch.

My wife and kids stayed at this resort in a great 2 bedroom 2 bath condo that was just huge. the view from the balcony on the 19th floor was incredible. I was expecting a bad trip based on the reviews, but this was one of the best places we ever stayed. If you are famliar with large hotels in urban locations, than you will feel right at home. Highly recommend it.

my husband and I got some of the best sleep on the two nights we spent at this hotel, prior to a cruise. The small balcony was a plus as it gave us a chance to have a drink and take in the scenery of the intercoastal waterways as well as the beach. Because our room was (I believe) on the 6th floor, we did not experience any noise from the broadwalk.
Room was fairly standard for Marriott, but clean, and the toiletries more than adequate. For pre or post cruising it's a great location, within a $15 ride to either airport or the cruiseship terminal. However, if you want a quiet vacation this is not the place. Hotel is on the broadwalk and right on the beach. The outside restaurant and bar has good food and drink selection, and a lot of tourists stop by and take advantage of it. This did not bother us much as both the hostesses and waiters remembered us well as hotel guests and gave us preferential seatings all the time. The second day we rented a small 'cabana' from an independent outfit because the hotel small pool was pretty crowded. The man put the cabana right on the beach and located it only a few yards from the broadwalk and accross the hotel. Even with joggers, walkers and rollerbladers going by it was cozy enough.
The hotel concierge was not great but certainly tried hard with the limited first hand knowledge of the area's restaurants. My husband and I would again stay here without hesitation for one or two nights, but unless you have to entertain teenagers, or are young and interested in social nightlife, this is not the place to vacation. Best description: beach/broadwalk side of the hotel is reminescent of South Beach on a much smaller scale