My wife and I are finishing up our first stay here at Beachplace, we have been Legacy Marriott owners since 1999. We had 10 day Princess Cruise in the Caribbean shortly after the New Year and figured a week here afterwards would be a good use of the travel cost to get here.
Anyway, some impressions for those who have not been here:
1. Weather-Surprisingly cool, but then the whole US is this week, usually at least 15 degrees warmer according to locals so certainly not a rating issue
2. I am sitting in our 19th (top) floor unit typing this and listening to the noisiest air handler (for heat) I have ever heard in a timeshare or hotel. When we first heard it I seriously thought an old Chalks seaplane had fired up on the beach outside the hotel. Seems like serious undersizing of air vents/air velocity problem, just a roar. I do not know if other floors are affected or only higher floors.
3. View on 19th though is great, almost makes up for the noise. Only negatives are daily there are a number of tramp steamships/freighters anchored off the beach apparently awaiting permission to go into the harbor. This detracts from the nice siting of the TS.
3. Pool, hot tub, exercise room all normal Marriott good quality.
4. Security-as noted in other posts there have been "urban" issues at this location that obviously are a concern when you go down to the mall area (non Marriott) with corridors that appear strikingly marginal for nighttime use. My wife (the final judge for us) with no comments from me felt uncomfortable the several daylight trips to eat and shop during the day, I would not be comfortable going out at night on foot unless walking in a big group-best to have car access.
On checking in had to give busboys my drivers license to borrow luggage buggy from lobby to unload, seemed odd since I had to clear Marriott security to even get to the lobby. Never had that asked before in any Marriott TS or Hotel in 30 years of travelling America for work.
5. Parking. Apparently Marriott owns 4th and 5th floor parking garage levels and mall owns lower floors. This results in a rather convoluted parking procedure that after a few tries you get used to, but at least is an attempt to deal with the possible security issues in the Parking area.
And of course there is the nearly unique for Marriott $14/day parking lot charge to stay here, which as other posts note, simply stinks.
6. 2Br unit was typical Marriott TS layout, looks like recently freshened up and was normal good Marriott quality with no negative issues (other than the extreme air noise noted above).
7. Overall, subjectively I would compared to other Marriott TS rate this perhaps a 6 or 7 on a scale of 10. I can understand how other TS owners more used to "Urban" environments might rate this higher, but I would not.
Comparing the overall area layout here to Ko Olina, Summittwatch, Legends Edge, or the many other Marriott TS we have been at leaves us wondering what happened here with the original Marriott design when this and the Mall was constructed, as usually Marriott is the boss of all development work, and perhaps it is time Marriott took a break from their ROFR TS money making activities to study what might bring this overall site (including the Mall area) up to historic Marriott TS standards.
Anyway, some impressions for those who have not been here:
1. Weather-Surprisingly cool, but then the whole US is this week, usually at least 15 degrees warmer according to locals so certainly not a rating issue
2. I am sitting in our 19th (top) floor unit typing this and listening to the noisiest air handler (for heat) I have ever heard in a timeshare or hotel. When we first heard it I seriously thought an old Chalks seaplane had fired up on the beach outside the hotel. Seems like serious undersizing of air vents/air velocity problem, just a roar. I do not know if other floors are affected or only higher floors.
3. View on 19th though is great, almost makes up for the noise. Only negatives are daily there are a number of tramp steamships/freighters anchored off the beach apparently awaiting permission to go into the harbor. This detracts from the nice siting of the TS.
3. Pool, hot tub, exercise room all normal Marriott good quality.
4. Security-as noted in other posts there have been "urban" issues at this location that obviously are a concern when you go down to the mall area (non Marriott) with corridors that appear strikingly marginal for nighttime use. My wife (the final judge for us) with no comments from me felt uncomfortable the several daylight trips to eat and shop during the day, I would not be comfortable going out at night on foot unless walking in a big group-best to have car access.
On checking in had to give busboys my drivers license to borrow luggage buggy from lobby to unload, seemed odd since I had to clear Marriott security to even get to the lobby. Never had that asked before in any Marriott TS or Hotel in 30 years of travelling America for work.
5. Parking. Apparently Marriott owns 4th and 5th floor parking garage levels and mall owns lower floors. This results in a rather convoluted parking procedure that after a few tries you get used to, but at least is an attempt to deal with the possible security issues in the Parking area.
And of course there is the nearly unique for Marriott $14/day parking lot charge to stay here, which as other posts note, simply stinks.
6. 2Br unit was typical Marriott TS layout, looks like recently freshened up and was normal good Marriott quality with no negative issues (other than the extreme air noise noted above).
7. Overall, subjectively I would compared to other Marriott TS rate this perhaps a 6 or 7 on a scale of 10. I can understand how other TS owners more used to "Urban" environments might rate this higher, but I would not.
Comparing the overall area layout here to Ko Olina, Summittwatch, Legends Edge, or the many other Marriott TS we have been at leaves us wondering what happened here with the original Marriott design when this and the Mall was constructed, as usually Marriott is the boss of all development work, and perhaps it is time Marriott took a break from their ROFR TS money making activities to study what might bring this overall site (including the Mall area) up to historic Marriott TS standards.
