When I was planning my trip to Curacao I searched for "luxury hotels in Curacao" to see what the search returns. The Marriott Beach Resort consistently tops searches for the best Curacao hotels. But after a week-long stay at the hotel, I find it difficult to understand how this property can be considered luxury by any measure. It's mid-range, at best, and to even consider it mid-range is generous in my opinion based on my experience. There is ample parking on site if you opted for a rental car, as I did (and I was glad to have the rental, given the location of the hotel). The hotel is about a 15 minute drive from the airport. It's also about 15 mins to Willemstad, 15 mins to the organized beaches at Mambo and Jan Thiel, and 30-45 mins to the natural beaches west, toward Westpunt. The hotel is mostly in the middle of everything, but not close to anything at the same time. On arrival, the first impression is the hotel is cute. Fountains in the driveway. Verdant grounds. An open air causeway lobby with view through the lobby to the ocean and pool beyond. The lobby bar is nice. The view past the lobby to one of the two pools is nice. The open air lobby gives the feel of a true tropical resort. There was a bit of a wait to check in, which wasn't terrible. There's a reception desk for Marriott Bonvoy members, which is good. Check in was easy enough. I wasn't booked on an all inclusive rate but was informed of the option. I was also told about the additional fee if I wanted to enter a lounge area separated from the lobby bar. I wasn't compelled to spend USD$50 daily for access to this lounge. Someone might disagree if it's imperative to have an air conditioned lounge, rather than sitting in the open-air lobby. I was directed to my oceanfront room. Nobody offered to help with luggage. The hallways are open-air causeways, with lots of lush greenery, trees and birdsong. It's a nice feature of the property. My oceanfront room was spacious but plain, dated and tired looking. I might even say it was a sad room, with little to suggest this was a luxury hotel, as promised. It wasn't plush, and it wasn't stylish. It was a very modest, if not basic, room. The bed was not comfy. Four pillows on the bed were all anemic, stacked together they barely provided enough support for a comfortable sleep. I didn't care for the way the pillows smelled, either. The air condition worked well. The shower and bathroom area were spacious. The room is equipped with a refrigerated drawer if you wish to get supplies for your stay (there's a great Carrefours grocery store about a 10 minute drive away). There's an in room safe, Nespresso machine, two drinking glasses, a hair dryer and towels (just two bath towels in my case). There was no water, no bathrobe, and no hotel slippers - these items all had to be requested. I asked for all three and they were provided the next day. Water was replenished by housekeeping as they saw my supply dwindle over the week. While the room looked clean, it didn't feel clean. There was long hair stuck to the shower wall. Walking barefoot on the tiled floor resulted in blackened feet. I got the impression there a greater focus on sweeping over mopping the floor. I'd leave notes (and tips) for housekeeping staff if I wanted extra towels, or water, or to have the sheets changed (they're changed every three days). A call to request extra towels was fulfilled one day but not on another. I got white vinegar and some rags and wiped down the floor myself. The are two pools. The larger of the two pools invites adults and children to swim while the second pool is adults-only, a quality which is enforced by hotel staff. One afternoon, squealing children and their father slipped into the adults pool and were promptly asked by staff to move to the other pool. At night the pools are beautifully lit. By day, there are ample loungers, with many of them unoccupied throughout the day. Of course, that didn't stop some people from getting up early and going down to clip towels to loungers, or leave various personal items on the loungers to indicate they had been claimed - true all-inclusive resort guest behaviour. The worst offenders of this behaviour would be away from the pool until 3pm, presumably until after they returned from an excursion, and usually tied up the best loungers all day. The pool loungers are adequate, but they're not equipped with cushions. There is food and beverage service pool side from the pool-level bar and eatery. The drinks are served in plastic cups and the food is delivered to your lounger in a paper bag holding paper take-out containers with your food - a distinctly not luxury food and beverage experience. The food was unremarkable. The drinks were sufficient, if not a bit on the small side, portion wise, in light of the cost. The staff are attentive, circulating the pool deck frequently, and quick to fulfil orders from the menu and bar. There's no music at the pool. You can lay in the sun quietly, which is most people did, except when some couples came along and saw fit to play music from their bluetooth speakers, whether anyone else liked it or not. When I was there, I recall hearing Sia on one side and Phil Collins on the other. There is no entertainment at the pool and no "animation" to join in on. I saw yoga happening early in the morning on a deck at the beach, but I suspect that was privately organized. Overall, there really is no vibe at the pool. It's just people sitting quietly in the sun, most of them reading or listening to their own music (the bluetooth speaker crowd notwithstanding), with many of them swanning about the pool carrying their aluminum thermal travel mugs, presumably filled with booze - another true all-inclusive resort guest behaviour. The beach was tidy, with the same loungers and umbrellas as the pool. Entrance to the water was very rocky so you might want to pack aqua socks in your luggage. The hotel bar was cute. The bar staff were friendly, attentive and quick. But the bar was a ghost town most nights, with only Saturday seeming a busy night. There was only entertainment at the bar later in the week, a trio performing, or a guy playing a keyboard. The bar didn't have a vibe either. It pretty boring there. The food was mediocre, inexplicably heavy on asian-inspired menu options like sushi. The breakfast buffet, in my opinion, was inedible. I tried it one day and left two plates of food unfinished except for a bite out of each item I selected. The patio was cute and the inside space was well air conditioned. There was a line to get into breakfast later in the week, by mid morning. I preferred the sandwiches in the lobby coffee shop, where the staff were lovely and you could find snacks, water, beer, croissants, cookies, muffins and small gourmet take-home items like tea, honey, and hot sauce. Searches for "best restaurants in Curacao" return the eating options at the Marriott at the top of the search returns. This made me think someone working for the hotel's marketing department is really good at optimizing search results because the food was completely uninspiring to me, a quality that is also not indicative of a "luxury" hotel. Overall, I didn't care for the Marriott Beach Resort. While some might say it's a luxury hotel, to me it was just a mid-range all-inclusive resort - that's not luxury. It just wasn't my vibe. It had no style, no substance, and no reason I could see to warrant a luxury classification.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.