An inexperienced traveler, may rate this resort higher, but those of us who are far more experienced travelers are far more discerning in our review. Any potential Guest---should be exercise caution, before reserving rooms at this property in 2022. We definitely would like to encourage experienced travelers to avoid this property during balance of 2022. Wife and I are retired, late 60s, and travel extensively. We are extremely familiar with JWMarriott, St Regis, Westins, and Ritz. Additional experience with Fairmont, Hyatt, Four Seasons, The Cove. Net: our +100 days per year, across a wide swath of Resort Brands, provides our backdrop, to our review of this property. Read my February Reviews about visits to Marriott Wailea and Westin Maui and you will see how complimentary we can be toward properties that truly deliver what they promise. JWMarriott Grande Lakes did NOT deliver. Shame on us, for not reviewing TA Reviews ahead of our visit. The property has massive construction underway for a new kid pool area. Gone are any moments of tranquility; the construction noise from earth moving equipment, made it difficult to talk at poolside. Separately and even more of a "show-stopper" is the fact that the "return water jets" that service the JWM Lazy River were not working. It is not a Lazy River; you have to paddle yourself thru it; waterfall features were also turned off. We got suckered into a reservation, after reading about the pool and lazy river; we had just returned from Nassau Atlantis, and thought---wow, let's check out this resort's marketed pool features. After all, it is a JWM! So, a tranquil, relaxing time, on the river, was not delivered. Instead the noise levels were unacceptable. We do not know why the LR jets were turned off, but since multiple sidewalks were also blocked---one can assume it all had to do with construction. A separate note: many of the sidewalks, against the lake area, have sunken or broken pavers---making it dangerous for Sr Citizens. There were a lot of potential trip hazards in the area. The Resort Management folks, will advise you that they send "text messages" regarding pool construction. Note: we got a text message, after we had already departed and it did NOT tell us that we would be subjected to massive construction noise level. The Resort did offer the chance to visit pool at Ritz (neighbor resort), but the pathways to the Ritz were blocked and it is a pretty good hike. Finally, I found multiple interactions with JWM Grande Lakes Associates, lacking versus fully trained staff. Our check-in was marred; our room key was NOT set up for Self-Parking, requiring us to be lectured by security; we were instructed to return to front desk. Same Front Desk asked for my CC to be put on file; I politely informed the Associate that it was already on file, because prior to walking into the lobby----the hotel had already charged my CC. Poor gal, did not know what to say. The Associates who work at entry of the Breakfast Restaurant, spent a lot of time looking at their iPad for a table for two. Finally on both days---we were walked into a virtually empty restaurant and seated. Somewhere in the JWMarriott Associate training manual is a reference for "addressing and serving guests". This JWM hotel has not afforded all of their associates this training. Show Stoppers: Massive Construction; non-working lazy river. We requested that they resort refund us the "$40 per night resort fee". Our request was denied. Nuisance: untrained associates, who seem uninterested in premium customer service; no hot water on 17th floor. We don't think we will be back at this property; there are just too, too many alternatives to consider. We hope our review/insights will help you make the right personal decision on this property.…
Traveling with my husband in Orlando, I have been treated to breakfast at the JW Marriott’s Citron breakfast each morning. Where do I start? Whether you are a high protein eggs, sausage and bacon lover, or you have a sweet tooth (oh my goodness you are going to be happy), or like me you want really healthy but satisfying fare (avocado toast, home made smoothies, yogurt etc) you are going to be in heaven! Margaret the hostess greeted us most mornings with a fantastic smile! All the staff are so kind and so attentive including our waitress Ruth who knew what we wanted after the first day and had it at the table quickly. This is not something I expect and it is something that truly felt comforting… We understand that this hotel is still struggling to get enough staff and yet the people that took on the jobs they need all had such professionalism and kind attentive smiles. Lastly, A large glass of fresh squeezed Florida orange juice and wonderful Italian coffee and the best homemade oatmeal I’ve had in ages, made it all so invitingly luxurious. You bet I wanna come back here…. …
The property is lovely. However, this is a very expensive place to stay, eat, and drink. what they don't tell you while making a reservation is that the property is under construction. the pool deck is a mess and blocked off in several places. The waterfalls and jets for the lazy river aren't working. The room present well and the beds are comfortable. however, the A/C did not work properly. I finally cranked it down to 62 degrees.... nothing it never got cool. The hallway is cold. I was literally thinking about sleeping with the hotel door open. the TV remote, fairly minor issue, wouldn't control the power or the volume to the TV. very aggravating. overall I was rather annoyed considering the cost. $40 per day for amenities fee, even with all of the construction going on. $34+ per day for parking, really absurd! When you add all of the costs together, I was really left feeling completely ripped off. Ddoubtful I will ever return.…
Trip advisor has been such a valuable resource I wanted to contribute. I’ve stayed here before for work conferences but first time as a vacation. We are wrapping up a 5 night stay and it has been wonderful. Hotel upgrades are mostly complete and the main areas and rooms are new and modern. Pools are open and the 10% remaining renovations are hardly noticeable and behind walls. Lazy River is open but current isn’t working but with all the people going the same direction… you get current!. Nice large pool area with live musics all weekend. Restaurants have been outstanding, staff friendly and accommodating. Ritz Carlton golf practice area and staff amazing. Course was really nice but very wet from recent rains. Nice tennis courts. Great fitness center with everything you could need. The resort fee and valet is really pricey and I’m not thrilled with that but all in all no complaints.…
Our family decided to stop for a night on the way home from spring break. Everything from check in to the water park to dinner was outstanding. The staff was very friendly and attentive. The property is beautiful and while there was some construction on new water slides it didn’t bother us a bit. We will return and spend more time.
Zero stars! JW Marriott- Grande Lakes ruined my family's first post-Covid vacation. We selected Grande Lakes for several specific reasons. Less than a week before our arrival date, I received a poorly written email at 10:58p telling me my room was "relocated" to a different Marriott due to "delays with room renovation". I thought the email was spam due to the writing. I quickly called Marriott to inform them they'd been hacked and someone had access to my reservation info. When I called the hotel, I was told my reservation had been cancelled for an unknown reason. I spoke with 3 different people that night (and into the early morning hours of the next day), but no one could explain what happened. Each person I spoke with assured me they’d fixed the problem and my reservation was reinstated without issue. I even received an updated reservation confirmation, although the price had been increased by $600 for the (now) lakefront view I didn’t ask for. I was assured I wouldn't be charged the difference. The Marriott Bonvoy loyalty rep I spoke with (person #3 who kept me on a nearly 30-minute hold) was the final one to assure me everything was fine. She said I'd receive a new confirmation directly from the hotel with the corrected price. The next morning, I hadn't received anything, so I called the hotel again and spoke with person #4. She said the reservation showed cancelled again. What?! I'd spent hours on the phone past midnight just a few hours ago. Person #4 wasn't sure what happened to the reservation, but, after a while, told me she'd fixed the problem and my reservation was fine. I explained how upsetting the entire situation had been and how I couldn’t trust that everything was okay because she was person #4. She assured me she'd fix the price and would send the updated confirmation in 10 minutes. A couple hours later, I get an email from person #4 saying she was able to confirm the original email (the poorly written one) was, in fact, correct and my reservation had been relocated to a different Marriott location. Now, I'm back at square one. Not one time did anyone say there are no rooms available at the property- remember they'd upgraded my room to a lakefront view. After several back-and-forth emails with an Assistant Front Desk Manager (Tricia and the writer of the original email), I was basically told there was nothing they could. I told her that was not acceptable and she eventually came back to say she would allow me to keep the original reservation at Grande Lakes vs. the relocated reservation at World Center. Who just relocates a family's hotel location? Obviously, the room renovation excuse was a lie because each person I spoke with kept reinstating the reservation. To make matters worse, when I asked for a confirmation from Tricia after she “allowed” me to keep my original plans, Tricia told me there wasn't one- I needed to use one of the numbers Marriott Bonvoy had already told me was no longer valid. So, I was supposed to trust this email chain with the cancelled, non-valid reservation number as I traveled to Florida from out of town. Not happening. I told Tricia to cancel the room altogether. After all the hours spent on phone calls and emails with 5 different people, random cancellations, random reservation modifications, and false assurances that everything was okay- I do not trust anyone’s word at Marriott. Our planned vacation led to a stressful situation for something that was supposed to be fun. I spent several hundred dollars making last minute plans, didn't get to see my family, didn't get to our planned activities all because of this debacle! Marriott- your service was deplorable and I truly hope you do not cause such grief for any other families.…
Just about to leave after a fantastic week here for a work conference in OCC . Our Room was newly renovated. It was very spacious and beautifully decorated and overlooked the pool . The breakfast in Citron Restaurant was delicious and there is a coffee shop and starbucks for a quick breakfast on the go . The level of service from every staff member was 5 star . The pool has fully reopened but the lazy river is currently not operational . I’m so sad to be going home !
My wife is here for a conference. The pool is being renovated, so guests have to go to the Ritz' pool next door. It is much smaller and must handle all guests from two massive hotels. The noise of the Marriott renovation is very loud. We are on the 7th floor overlooking the project. See picture. Added to this, the hotel turned off the water to our room for 6 hours today. So, I filled up the bath tub and am using a wastebasket to fill the toilet cistern.
It’s tough to tell why the pool isn’t done, but it’s not done and by the look of everything there won’t be a pool or spa area anytime soon. Very problematic when it is Spring Break week. There is a pool at the Ritz, but it’s more for lounging and a ten minute walk - not the best with young kids. The restaurants were good, service was extremely attentive and the rooms were clean. The clear negative was the WiFi would go out consistently - it was off for 7 hours one night. Tough to be efficient with that type of issue constantly popping up. Let’s chalk up the pool to COVID or really bad planning and maybe next year a more complete review can occur.
Stayed here for business conference this past week. This JW is connected to a Ritz Carlton and they share a fitness center. Room was clean and nice size and housekeeping happened daily as well a turn down service. Issues - I was happy to get my mobile key to bypass the front desk however, when I tried to access the gym, did not work. Had to go get a regular key? No mention of this anywhere. The gym was very clean and had good amount of equipment and weights I received a text message while on the plane that the pool at the JW would be closed - and I could use the Ritz’s. That pool Was pretty long walk.
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