Took my wife for a birthday weekend to Atlanta. Enjoyed eating at her favorite Atlanta restaurant, Cheesecake Factory, and spent many hours shopping at Lennox Square Mall. We chose the JW Marriott because of our great experience at the San Antonio JW Marriott. Though the hotel was nice for the most part, they were missing in a few areas that would be very simple to fix. First, the tv programing is very confusing. We ended up paying $5.39 including tax for a 30 minute episode of Family Guy by accident because we had problems figuring out how to get to the normal telecast area. The second, which is standard at MOST economy hotels is not standard at this place. Two days before this I stayed at a $99 a night Embassy Suites and had a rather large mini-fridge. Here we paid $200 and had NO REFRIGERATOR. This simple, standard amenity in most hotels today was missing. And our wonderful barely touched dessert, which we could not eat after our meal from being too full, went to the waste basket due to no way of keeping it from spoiling.

The staff was friendly, and being connected to the mall was definitely a benefit since it was cold and raining outside. The room was spacious and comfortable with a great view of downtown Atlanta in the distance.

Room was great, clean and everything you'd expect – Hotel facilities in bar , restaurant , shop all great ... Valet team outside very friendly but that’s where it stops - I have never stayed in a hotel where no one smiles or is friendly . Not one person from reception, to the bar, to the housekeeping smiled – it felt like intruding in someones house ! I have no idea if something had happened in the hotel as it was quite a surprise for a JW Marriott team to be so sullen. It got to the point I dreaded speaking to reception and did it over the phone as over my 5 day stay it was starting to grate. Had I not paid upfront through BA.com - I would have checked out. A perfect example that summed up the staff attitude was with something as dull as dry cleaning - I put some items in Day one - for next day return - Day 3 still not arrived - i chanced reception ( sadly in person ! ) to be told to see if concierge had it . Asked concierge , no response - she walked off returned with some hangers , Asked my name - went to hand it to me and said they hadn’t had chance to deliver it – although a day late .... I kindly asked them to send it to the room as I was off out. Hugely disappointing. Bad enough for one night - but 5 was draining.

Normally JW Marriott properties are very well-appointed, service is great, rooms are spacious and clean, and all the elements of the property are well-designed. However, I found this hotel to be very poorly run, poorly maintained, and awkwardly designed. My department held a weeklong meeting there in mid-January, 2013. The staff was absolutely top-notch in terms of friendliness and accommodation. Shortly after checking in, I used the lobby bathroom and it wasn't clean. At all. The room was nice, clean, and large. The bed was comfortable. Above the bed, though is a smoke alarm with a bright green LED. Bright and annoying. Multiple people taped things over the light from the second night on.

On several of the days i finished with meetings around 430-500 pm only to find that housekeeping had not been to my room. One day, they didn't come at all. The restroom by the conference areas is just a mess. Fixtures pulling out of the wall, screws missing, stalls unclean.

I will say that the food was good (though i never tried the actual restaurant) and they had a lot of healthy options. There are several shuttles that will drive you within a certain radius for free. Getting one is a little bit of a CF as there didn't appear to be much of a system.

This isn't a bad hotel. It is, however, a terrible JW Marriott.

Overall, it was a good experience. But for the price, I would expect an outstanding experience. I'd say it would be a good value if booked at a discount.

Love that it's literally across the street from a MARTA station, making it very convenient for downtown activities.