The Marco Island Hilton sits on the beautiful southwest coast of Florida overlooking the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. We chose the Hilton for our 6 day vacation in June since I had enough Hilton Honors points to use for the entire stay. Although our experience was mostly good, there were a few issues. First the good:
The hotel is located at the south end of Marco Island, right on the beach and across the street from Marco Walk which had many restaurant and bar options. Parking was easy ($8 for self-parking). The lobby is nice and the hotel property is setup well with the pool complex in the middle, restaurants and meeting rooms at the north end and all rooms on the south end. There are two walkways to the beach: one from the pool area, one off the main hallway of the room tower. There are plenty of chairs at the pool (both in shade & sun) and there were complimentary chairs on the beach (umbrellas can be rented for around $18).
There are a couple of eating / drinking choices at the hotel: Paradise Café had a terrific buffet breakfast with cooked-to-order eggs & waffles plus French toast and many other items. Sandcastles is the more upscale choice but we did not eat there. You can order food at the Beach Grill and there is a Starbucks kiosk for breakfast. The bar at Sandcastles was nice with daily drink specials. However, the night scene was pretty quiet.
The rooms were large with two double beds, a refrigerator, two sinks (one inside the bathroom, one out), an HD TV, a couch with a queen pullout, a large desk and two chairs. There is a balcony on every room with two chairs and a table.
Now for some issues:
First, as mentioned throughout the reviews, there is major construction going on next door and it is noisy and an eyesore. Fortunately the rooms are heavily insulted that you cannot hear it inside but if you are sitting on the balcony in a south end room or on the beach, it is distracting. I suspect this will take another 6 – 9 months to complete.
Second, the workout room that is advertised as 4,000 sq feet is barely 400 sq feet. It was sorely lacking in variety. But a new spa and fitness facility is being built (also on the south side) that will be finished late this year. The tennis courts is now a tennis court due to the spa construction and is in poor shape.
For some reasons, the Hilton resort pools lack much imagination. Since the pool is a big part of a Florida vacation, having waterfalls and creative design (like the Marriott has a few doors up) would have improved the experience.
Lastly, the front-desk staff lacked the hospitable treatment that was shown in all other areas. We called ahead to ensure we got a room not facing the construction and said they would try but when we arrived there were none available. They offered to move us the next day – which they did to a 2nd floor room overlooking the walkway. As a Hilton Honors Gold member I would have expected better.
