A terrific resort located in the Costa del Sol area. Marriott Vacation Clubs tend to be high…read morequality and service oriented. This resort is no different. The Concierge desk provides day tours to many different hotspots in the region. Shout out to Tommaso who recommended a great tour for Gibraltar. Also provided helpful info on how to get around the area as well. The room was well decorated. Cleaning service was performed everyday. There is a beach area on the resort, as well as a full gym, and both indoor/outdoor pools. Numerous restaurants are nearby. So overall, a great place to stay and enjoy the sunny southern Spain.

We couldn't be more pleased with our stay here. Everyone was so friendly!…read more We enjoyed the workout classes every morning, the paella class, the 24 hour market place, everything! And everyone who worked their was soooo kind!

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 :-)

Great food and service. No one told us a reservation was recommended though. Beautiful water views!read more

Did not stay here but stopped by for their fantastic Sunday brunch at the Beach Club and to check…read moreout the impressive grounds. Brunch featured great Joselito's Cinco Jotas jamon, Beef Wellington, paella, lamb chops, smoked salmon, shrimp, desserts and more. Absolutely wonderful and worth the 130 Euro. There is a bar called Rudy's that is stunning though closed for the summer months. The waiting room off the lobby is impeccably furnished. High end shopping on site including a Louis Vuitton. Beautiful hotel that attracts a more refined, laid back crowd.

We would typically highly recommend this hotel for many reasons but sadly we are unable to do so…read more The property is beautiful, has impeccable service, fantastic dining and truly all of the amenities and service that you would seek in a resort, but we would like to share the troubling and incredibly disappointing experience that we had while there that left us feeling completely violated.We were traveling as 2 couples and were staying in rooms 167 and 169. On our 2nd day we realized that multiple things from our rooms were missing: 1. Several hundred dollars taken out of the wallet that was on the shelf in the closet in room 167 2. A jewelry case that had many pieces of expensive and incredibly sentimental things that can never be replaced - this was also on a shelf in the closet in room 167 3. Another jewelry case that had many pieces of expensive and sentimental pieces that can never be replaced - this was in a drawer in the closet of room 169 and had been covered with undergarments and bathing suits. We were distraught and went immediately to the guest services office. We were professional and kind while sharing what had happened. Management promised an investigation and review of the security film. Over the course of the next 4 days we spent several hours per day proactively seeking updates and information. One of the hotel managers and one of the guest services managers accompanied us to the police station where we spent 2 hours getting a report filed. On our last night of vacation we still had no resolution as to how the hotel was going to help us so we went back to the office and engaged with Julian (the hotel General Manager and person who responds to these trip advisor reviews). We spent over an hour with him sharing with him in a very rational manner what transpired, how we felt and how disappointed we were that this had happened. He listened and then said that we need to understand that things like this happen and that the hotel is not responsible for any of it. Julian came across as condescending and it felt that he was insinuating that we were not being entirely truthful. He referenced that the Ritz Carlton has bi-laws that state that they are not responsible for things that are taken from their guests. I told him that we have stayed at many Ritz Carltons over the years and have never had an issue, but if we ever did I was certain that they would take care of us and make us feel valued given how impeccable their customer service is. I know that we wouldn't have had to spend several hours over the course of 4 days trying to plead our case to the Ritz Carlton management team while we were told repeatedly that it's not their fault and we shouldn't accuse them of taking our things. He said that the security cameras show that 3 staff people entered our room the night of the robbery and each of them has been working at the hotel for 20 years and that they have never had an issue. We said that we hoped that it wasn't one of the 3 staff members who were in our room but that the reality is that our things were gone so somebody was in our room going through our things while we were gone. He continued to tell us that we should not accuse people on this team of taking our things. The conversation was going in circles as we tried multiple times to plead with him to understand that we are good, honest people who feel incredibly violated. We asked him if he could please put us in touch with the owner of the company and he said no. He said that he would personally call the owner to discuss this matter with him. We asked him if we could please be present for this conversation and he said no. While we can appreciate the loyalty he has for his employees, we also feel that he should have valued what we were telling him vs. debating it with us. The entire thing hugely impacted our experience and took hours and energy away from our trip. What has been most disheartening is the lack of communication, compassion and empathy from the highest levels of management. This is not the gold standard of the rest of the resort experience. There is absolutely, positively without a doubt an issue with theft. It's a terrible and incredibly unsettling thing and it's sad to head home with this type of feeling after what should have been the most magical experience at this resort. It is bad enough that it happened, but it's compounded given that we had to beg them to help make it right. In the end they didn't do that. Very disheartening. We recognize that 99% of the people there are absolutely fantastic but sadly somebody came into our room, went through our personal belongings and took money and things that were important to us and we will never see those things again. Awful in every regard.

Having been my first stay in Spain, I was pleasantly surprised with how awesome this place is…read more Let's get to my favorite part first: the food. Food here for the breakfast buffet is honestly pretty good. Don't forget that if you're not a local, you probably won't remember that breakfast is served from 9am-11am (local time). There's a great mix of fruits, vegetables,meats, etc. The one thing to watch out for is a distinct possibility of having a dirty glass to drink from (I guess they don't wash glasses well). Also if you have a lack of spanish you are going to have a difficulty ordering an omelette as well. Remember the phrase "Habla Usted Englais" (do you speak english) as that will save your butt continually. The dinner is a buffet,not unlike the breakfast. However, it is not included unless you order half board (breakfast + dinner) and is served around 9pm (8-11pm), again local dinner time. We booked our rooms through europeandestinations and were pleasantly surprised. This is a very luxurious room - it is spacious enough and beautiful enough to rival a great room at the Venetian in vegas. The view is great, although unfortunately our room was the one set of rooms without a balcony (note: maybe you have to ask for that). Staff service was incredibly polite, bordering on "a whole lot nicer than locals", and they made good effort to speak english when possible (again the phrase above will help a lot). They will validate your parking (not free), rent you towels (no charge for return, 15 eur or so deposit if you don't). They were able to give me good directions and helped me deal with roundabouts before I learned how to deal with them myself,which was not unlike telling a blind man to navigate a place he's never been before - don't ask how bad it was. As a techie, internet is important to me.I am posting this review on their wifi, pleasantly pleased at the decent speeds and reception. However, my room is close to the hotel center -and this means that anyone further away probably has from little to zero reception as the wifi is broadcasting from the hotel entrance (there are ethernet plugs in the room). Back to the room itself - in the bathroom you have a stand up shower, a toilet, a nice sink area, a whirlpool tub, and some kind of douche/ballsack wash. I use the term loosely because I am not entirely sure how it would be used (note: do not google search "how to use a douche" unless you are drunk and want a laugh). It reminded me more of a kitchen sink faucet. The whirlpool does have the "no need for a man" setting, and the water pressure in the room borders on typhoon. The bed is nice and huge in the bedroom, and you have your own personal A/C (which goes off if you open the window). Outside, they have multiple pools and plenty of beach chairs to sit in, an exercise area, a salon and a turkish bath (we tried none of these except the pool). I did enjoy the pool greatly, but it is not heated, nor is the spa-looking pool either. All in all, this is an awesome hotel,I have had a great experience, and if I ever come back to spain to the Andalucia region (which is where this is), I absolutely will be staying here again.

Fantastic hotel, with amazing food. Spent the weekend here all inclusive with a works getaway. In…read morethe restaurant the food is out of this world, and the Mojitos they served in the bar were spectacular.

Good, hip, lively adults only hotel to stay at with great staff. Same group also owns El Fuerte…read moreHotel. Almost feels like a cruise ship with all the amenities and British guests but this hotel has a nice pool, beach club, gym, beautiful rooftop bar and great breakfast buffet. Rooms are nicely appointed; my "Keep the Secret" room had a patio/balcony with side view to the sea. Short 5-10 minute stroll to Old Town and good value for the money. I did wander over to Puente Romano and Marbella Club for an even more upscale vibe that was only a 10-12 minute taxi ride away. Puerto Banus is another 5-10 minutes and you can catch a ferry boat to there from a marina promenade that is just a 5 minute walk from the hotel.

Oh my goodness, where to start?! I fell in love with this city and to a great extend it's because…read moreof the comfort and service we had here (aside from Marbella's amazing beaches and views of course!). The hotel is right by the ocean, and our room opened to a balcony overseeing the beach. So needless to say, the view was AMAZING. The balcony is awesome to sit and relax and enjoy a drink. And the room is so comfortable and has very good amenities. The room features are controlled via a smartphone that can also be taken out and used for internet and navigation if needed. That was a pretty nifty thing to have around, so I thought it was cool. The shower is awesome and the water pressure is great. The toiletries are good and that's all I need to say about that. I also experienced the SPA. I had a deep tissue massage, and although it wasn't that deep, it was so relaxing and refreshing. You also get a pass to use the SPA facilities for the day, but I ended up not using that... since I wanted to be by the beach instead. There's hotel-only beach seating area with service staff available for food and drinks. We tried some appetizers and they were awesome. We also ate at the hotel restaurant on beach level. There was live music, which was awesome... although the sound wasn't really balanced, so we could barely hear the singer while we were able to hear the music just fine. The staff are super friendly. Happy to help, take pictures, provide service, whatever you need. The hotel also has bicycles available for use for the day which is great for riding along the beach. We'll definitely come back to this place when we revisit.

On our visit to the south of Spain we decided to make a stop in the famous resort town of Marbella…read more(we were underwhelmed) . Given it was off-season we found this well rated lodging for a reasonable price. It is located in the old town which was handy for restaurants and shopping but not great for parking (we parked about 500 meters away in the Mercado garage for 22 euros/day). It did not help that it was raining when we arrived... The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful with good suggestions and advice. Since it had been two months since I had booked the room I forgot what I had signed up for so I was a bit surprised by how small our room was. It was nicely appointed and the bathroom itself was roomy but the bedroom portion was tight. It did have a coffee maker and a small frig but little room for luggage. The room was quiet at night as long as you had the windows closed. In summer they offer breakfast on the terrace of their main building. We took advantage of this terrance, since it was unused, to read in the late afternoon since no one else seemed to know about it. It would have been interesting to see the other rooms of this lodging which are spread out in other nearby neighborhood buildings. Overall a fine place to stay as long as you know some of the downsides.

Tourists to Marbella, gather round. I'm going to tell you about a little gem in this popular…read moretourist destination Marbella has the whole range of accommodatio options from swanky chain hotels like the Melia Don Pepe with its penthouse suite with hot tubs overlooking the sea through to cozy B&Bs in the Old Town. However, Villa Marbella is a true wonder Tucked away on Calle Principe in the northern part of the Old Town, I suppose the closest pigeon hole to put it into is a boutique hotel though unlike many of the style over substance brethren, they are generous in room size and room amenities Marcos, the manager, was very helpful and responsive to my queries about the hotel and he was very accommodating in helping me make my booking. In fact, all the staff I encountered during my stay were all fluent in English and super friendly and helpful. Made it feel like a true home away from home The rooms are all themed and named after exotic Eastern resorts and that's a fair comprison because they've really tried to bring a sense of tranquillity in the rooms with cool relaxing colours, Far Eastern decor and sculptures and nice music playing when you walk into the room for the first time. It all adds to the peaceful nature of the charming part of town that the hotel is located in The main office is on Calle Principe but the hotel is spread out over several nearby buildings. I was kindly upgraded to the 2 level Sarawak self catering apartment, which could sleep 5 in 3 bedrooms. The decor was tastefully modern with some exposed brickwork and the facilities are all top notch. They have given all the facilities you would expect of a 5 star hotel like a safe and bath robes in the bathroom. The kitchen is fully equipped including washing machine. There were also nice touches like the chocolates on the beds. OK, yes I did eat all 5 chocolates! Due to its prime location in the Old Town, you are in the heart of the action and you're surrounded by fantastic restaurants and nightlife. I can recommend Il Cantuccio (http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/il-cantuccio-marbella#hrid:c2BzQtQucMk7AahbAV0Pvg), Tempora (http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/tempora-marbella#hrid:eiBpNAE6Xbsd-k9W6ZDM0A) and Restaurante Skina (http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/skina-marbella#hrid:gI27pAE4hcvwd122tSq4Cw), all within 5 minutes walk. I think I've just found my new favourite hotel in Marbella.

Nice cozy time share. Full kitchen and secluded outdoor patio. Within walking distance of many…read moreattractions in Marbella, including the casino.

I checked in the hotel,and all I can say is that the restaurant is 10 plus,I recomend this…read moreplace,the continental breakfast is 16€,the prices for restaurant are normal,not expensive,good value for money,also a good parking place in front of the restaurant.

This was a very clean, well decorated, modern hotel with friendly staff. We only stayed 1 night…read more(really, only from 3pm - 4:30am), but it was very pleasant. The shuttle to the airport was only 5 Euros per person & when we got to the lobby a couple minutes before we scheduled to leave, the driver was already there waiting on us. *Just make sure you schedule your ride the night before (I think the cut off time is like 9:30pm to schedule?)*. For the look & feel of the hotel & great service, we had a very well-priced room (54 Euros including tax), but I understood why it was on the cheap side once we got there. We came off a cruise and needed to stay for the night to catch an early flight the next morning. The whole way from the cruise port, our taxi driver kept insisting that we let her drive us around town to take a tour, since she said nothing was by the hotel. We thought she was just trying to sell us on a higher fare & declined, thinking we would walk around a bit once we arrived. Well, turns out, she was telling the truth. The hotel is located in an industrial area quite a ways away from anything worth walking to. Only warehouses & strip clubs were nearby (the hotel is actually directly next door to a strip club). Anyhoo, with only a 5 minute ride to the airport, a restaurant with delicious food (although a bit pricey), a beautiful rooftop pool/bar/lounge area & even a casino downstairs, we weren't complaining. If you're looking for a close stay to the airport with modern amenities, this is your spot! If you want to explore Málaga on foot, well, you'll probably want to go elsewhere.

There was a lot I loved about Blue Bay Banus and a lot I think could be improved. It's so close to…read morebeing a five star resort and with a few changes it could be! Pros: - Great location. Only a short walk via the beach/promenade to Puerto Banus restaurants and bars - Good Staff. Room cleaned every day and reception, pool and concierge staff were extremely helpful - Excellent Pools. There's two pools. One is small and relaxing and the other is much larger (25 meters) and it has showers, a bar and around 150 loungers. - Room Facilities. We had a large balcony, a fantastic shower, plenty of sockets, a safe, Satellite TV and a built in hair dryer. - Great family facilities - there wasn't too many kids at the hotel but there seemed to be a lot for them to do including an activity centre and park. There's also a stage and evening entertainment if you don't want to leave the complex. Cons: - Could do with a general update/maintenance. Our air con ticked all night and the ceiling fan sounded and looked like it was about to fall off. As a result sleeping without ear plugs was a bit of a nightmare. - Pool food was poor. We only ate once at the pool bar because of this. The food cans about five minutes after ordering which is always worrying. - No free wifi - for a four star hotel this is unusual. The daily charges were extortionate. In terms of cost it was reasonable, we didn't pay over the odds as we were booking out of peak season but if you booked peak season you might feel a little hard done by. I'll have to give it three stars, which is A-OK! Would definitely go back but I would have a closer look at other options too.

I stayed here a few weeks ago and I have to say it was one of the worst experiences I've had at a…read morehotel in a long time. Let me count the ways: 1. No air conditioning - When I informed the front desk that the air-con didn't work they told me that it was too bad and they had no other rooms. When I told them this was not normal in a 4-star hotel, the told me "Our prices are more like a 3-star so you get what you pay for". 2. VERY rude staff - the staff there was just awful from top to bottom. I asked for a private car to take me to the airport and they said "We don't offer private cars in Marbella. You have to use a taxi". So a 5 minute internet search later, I ordered a private car who informed me that this hotel has ties to a particular taxi company and therefore won't even let you know other options exist. The guy actually said the bus would be a good option. 3. Incredible lines for taxi service into Puerto Banus and Marbella. If you want a taxi at a peak time, you need to walk to another hotel and use their services. 4. Food was awful - especially the breakfast buffet. 5. Wifi is PAID and unreliable. Even if you pay for wifi - you only get access for one device so if you need to make a Skype call on your mobile and also look something up on your laptop - you can't. This is unacceptable in 2015. In other words - you're better off not going to this hotel if you'd like to have a good time in Spain. They absolutely ruined my trip there.