There is so many things to love about Marbella, Spain. We happily booked on our Marriott trade in…read morehere for a week into a 3 bedroom villa to celebrate our daughter who's a recent graduate and multi state bar pass attorney. We made it here after being in Madrid for 3 nights with our youngest who works for the FS corporation. I mention that, because one thing that happens in our stay was appalling and trust me , FS employees always notice.. First , this resort is beautiful. It's right on the beach. A beautiful gym; multi pools , including a heated one inside; a kids pool & play area; BBQ areas and multiple outlets for eating. The lobby is small, which made check in a bit slow. There is a market place, but it's pricey as it's on property. But it gets you what you need & our girls loved that it had quick pizzas and Euro snacks on the ready. There is a grocery store down the way , also pricey , but cheaper than on Marriott's property. The villa itself could use a bit of a renovation but it's very quiet and so nice and near so much in S. Spain. We had a large balcony over looking the grounds. The location superb. The villa itself was outfitted perfectly for our daughters and us for the 6 day stay. We had one misfire at the on site restaurant: his name is , ' Rofo' and he is a tyrant. He works at El Med, as a host --- maybe a waiter and wins the award for the rudest, most obnoxious staff member we encountered in Europe this year.. yes. The entire year. He sat us at 830, maybe closer to 9pm? But being in Spain, that is usually the dinner hour. We had been traveling all day so we heard music in the restaurant and one of our daughters had a headache and asked to sit on the patio, which he took issue with. She saw him roll his eyes as we sat at the outside table , ( he said we had to sit by 'his' door and order from the limited bar menu), so she left for the room & we went inside, which again aggravated him and he rolled his eyes again. He slammed the menus down and told us to hurry and order. He then placed bread on the table that we didn't want , ( charging us for it) & returning to say 'yes?' .. meaning he wanted our order. We ordered quickly. This was the vibe through our quick dinner; and when we listened to the great entertainment, that we loved and decided to order dessert since it seemed others were? He yelled at us, 'HURRY UP!! IT's almost 10 and we close!!' While tapping his watch and saying , 'I I , EYE EYE EYE O!' .. to that I finally said , ' that is NOT okay .. you are rude !' And he said ' you showed up late and chef is waiting !' .. I had NO clue what this man meant .. but we wanted our check and I was so angry and humiliated we vowed to never go back to this restaurant again. Moreover, it's a Marriott where we have over a weeks plus worth of points for this trip in Europe like we do every year and the American brands employee treated us that badly at dinner after our long day ? So that was our one HUGE issue. We did check out a day early and leave for Barcelona. The spa was also closed and that is not mentioned anywhere on any site or when you check in- it's only when you ask. That said most of our time here was great. It's a lovely location. There needs to be more restaurants with more variety open and a spa. Some updates are needed but I think we will definitely return and maybe Rofo will have a new career somewhere else :-)
