Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino

The hotel is beautiful and has a lot of amenities. We stayed for 6 nights and have stayed at this hotel previously. Full disclosure: I’m a Bonvoy Platinum member, and I’ve stayed at several other Aruba hotels: Renaissance, Hyatt, Holiday Inn. My observations: - Room was great and the maid staff was generous and helpful. Don’t forget to tip them. The room was very large and comfortable with plenty of storage. - Pools were nice and clean but only 1 hot tub at the main pool and none at the adults-only pool. The pool chair situation can be challenging during the high season. Plan to go out at 6:30 am and ask the people in the towel hut what time you can save chairs and how. Otherwise, they’ll take your stuff away. - Gym is one of the best hotel gyms I’ve used. If you travel for work and like to work out, you’ve experienced the so- called gyms consisting of a few pieces of equipment stuffed into a small space. This one is 2-levels with lots of cardio and weight equipment, water, towels. - Beach is beautiful with calm water. Reserving a palapa is a blood sport. Your success reserving one depends on the speed at which you can refresh the app at the appointed time to reserve one. We were in the Tradewinds Club. There were separate palapas for Tradewinds and the beach chairs had a nice cushion. The downside was that none of the bar/ food servers came by all day during the 3 days were had a palapa. They did service the “regular” side but we could not get their attention and the attendant was unsuccessful getting any of the servers to come over. Overall,

Nice hotel as you would expect from Marriott. Good location on the beach and walking distance to restaurants and shops. Overcrowded at the pool, on the beach and in the gym. Pool chairs are taken EARLY and there aren’t many umbrellas. Must use lottery system on their app to get a palapa on the beach. Food, drinks and room are very overpriced. In room furnishings are uncomfortable and the temperature was hard to regulate.

First time staying here with my family. Long line to check in and I am a Marriott Bonvoy Member and got acknowledged but I didn’t get offered an upgrade or “free gift”. Rooms are ok. Bathroom has a weird shape to it. Ac works good, mini fridge and safe in room. We had a garden room with easy access to the pool. Food is super expensive and they are always looking for tips on everything. Most of property is cashless. Little shops and extra activities on beach seems to be cash or credit care, no room charge. Some non motorized sports are included with your stay which is nice. Lots of tv channels but weird setup, shows are included English and commercial in Spanish.house cleaners pretty friend don’t speak much English. Casino is small but enough to entertain. Get pool chairs early!! Overall not a terrible property.

My wife and I have been coming for at least 15 years except for Covid. It felt like we were home when we arrived at the hotel to check-in. It was wonderful!! The staff with whom we had contact were very gracious and welcoming and it was perfect. Everywhere we went the staff had a smile and were very engaging. I would like to compliment the following members of your staff who were especially helpful during our stay: Beverly Morris at the Reception Desk: John, Javier, Isabelo and Henel at the Palapa Station; Gabriel was our Server at the pool and Waves; Nora at the Gelato Stand was great; Glendy Maduro in your onsite Reservation Department was terrific to work with; Ludwig Croes who works for Marriott Vacation Club was always upbeat and engaging even though we did not participate in the program; and, Angie (Anceleen) and Moises at the Concierge Desk were very helpful. We will return to Aruba and stay at the Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino. Our home away from home.

1) They DO NOT offer pressing of garments service, this was confirmed by the front reception counter as well as the floor staff manager who told me point blank that they do not offer any such service, only full dry cleaning services, which are not free. Attached is a photo of the laundry slip in our bathroom closet showing only dry clean service offered. 2) No bottle of Prosecco was waiting for us in our room upon arrival. No bottle was ever presented to us and when questioned we were told that the Tradewind lounge offers beverages and we should go there if we want a glass of champagne. That is very different from enjoying a full bottle with your spouse in the privacy of your hotel room. 3) Our room DID NOT have a premium ocean view, instead we overlooked the garbage dumpsters and listened to the beeping sound of garbage and other trucks backing into the garbage/loading/unloading area all hours of the day and night. Completely the opposite of the photo and description on the Costco Travel website. See photo attached of our view. 4) We purchased many things in the stores in the hotel lobby only to find out on day 4 when we happen to have our room key in hand that stated "Elite Room" on the card that we were entitled to a 10% discount on our entire purchase every time we use any of the stores. Not Costco's fault but nowhere was this written or told to us, except by chance more than halfway through our vacation. 5) The ice machine on the "Elite" 8th floor, for Tradewinds guests only, was broken from day 2 to day 7 of our 7 day stay. If there's a floor for Elite guests, the ice machine should work and we had to walk down to the floor below every evening to refill our ice bucket. 6) Upon arrival at 1PM we were told check-in was at 4PM and we would be texted or called as soon as room was ready. At 4PM, a very tired and annoyed me asked again at the desk why our room wasn't available yet only to be told it's been ready for a few hours and they apologized that nobody called or texted us that info. Bad start to a trip and an omen of everything else that was to come. 7) Once finally given our room key we entered the elevators only to find no 8th floor available?! The person behind the counter suggested we could go to 7 and walk up to 8?! Can you imagine! The baggage porter could see and probably hear my loud frustration and was kind enough to show me that there is a button for the 8th floor in the elevator, it just isn't marked at all. Somehow, we were supposed to know the secret unmarked button was for our floor, the "Elite TradeWinds" floor. 8) Last but not least the Costco description states the Tradewinds lounge dinner is available from 6-9PM, however every night at 7:30 they would quickly put all the food away and only beverages were available from 7:30 to 9PM. Too bad I guess for the customers coming for dinner after 7:30. It seemed as though they wanted to clean up and leave early to me. We paid 100% premium because this was the height of busy season, however we chose this week because I celebrated my 50th birthday on Wednesday Feb 5th. Having paid the highest premium for each day of this week I was really expecting a premium experience, but this hotel failed miserably on that expectation, starting immediately on check-in.