Spent the whole week of Xmas in a one bedroom studio time share we paid $500 for on Ebay. Having said that - it was a phenomenal deal, the room listed for $300+ per night on the Marriott website to rent as a hotel room. We had a kitchenette, balcony, sitting area. No daily maid service. $14 parking per day was included (we did not find that out until check out, so was a pleasant surprise). If I had paid $300 a night or was a Marriott time share owner I'd be very disappointed. The property is adjacent to Beach Place, a 3-story entertainment area with primarily bars. We had an ocean front room on the 15th floor and still were kept up at night from teh loud music at the bars on 2-3rd floors below us. The room was ok, aged and abused. Elevator situation sucked and many times had to go into adjacent public parking lot to get an elevator. Parking was a nightmare, plan at least 10 minutes to get in and out of the ramp. Marriott parking is on levels 4+5 of public ramp, really it's more like 8-10 by the time you circle the narrow ramp. Hope you don't have a nice car because the spaces were undersized. Major sewer problems the week we were there, the entire ramp stunk, see photos of roto rooter trucks. Pool and lounge area was way undersized for size of resort. By 10 the chairs were gone and by noon the pool was in the shade anyway. The beach was fine. $35 to rent two chairs and an umbrella, so bring your own. Been told this is the "gay beach" area. The beach gets packed as this is the prime tourist area and is across from the bars. Don't recommend it for families. If you're in your 20's and can get a deal on Ebay - this is the place to be.

A nice resort that has all the amentities of an apartment. We traded a timeshare week for the full two bedroom. The kitchen had all the needed essentials (except for non stick frying pan). The room was clean and spacious. The mall/restaurants below the resort were very convenient. We stayed on the intercoastal side and did not have any issues with loud music or night crowds. The month of December seems like a slow time in the area, but the weather was great. The pool is somewhat small along with the hot tubs. The parking issue stinks, but anywhere you park in the area you are going to have to pay. Most parking lots are for daytime only and you cannot park overnight, so in the grand scheme the parking garage was not all that bad. There is a Publix grocery store just before you cross the intercoastal waterway or further down past the resort. I advise you shop at one of these grocery stores rather than the market in the hotel. We went mainly to go diving and did so everyday. A great dive location (contact Miss Conduct for your diving needs). Overall the resort was above average, I would stay there again. I do not know what all the negative comments were about, but don't let a few negative comments deter you from staying here.

We stayed on a timeshare deal so the overall experience wasn't so bad. The room was very nice but I would be upset if I paid top dollar to stay here. The parking garage is a big pain you have to go up to level 4 or 5 which in reality is really going around 6 floors because the first levels aren't counted, very narrow and 2 ways, the pool was horrible there was so much chlorine in the pool that even after washing my bathing suit with Tide it still smelled, small ants (common sugar ants in Fl) in our bathroom they did come spray right away and we didn't see them again. We stayed on floor 19 which has a breathtaking view off the Intercostal way (glad I read reviews and asked for that). I was really disappointed in Beach Place Itself (the mall/restaurants), it use to be a bit classier, it has really gone done hill.

My wife and I traveled here with our two teenage boys, ages 15 and 17, and we stayed here for 3 nights, August 9th – August 12, 2007.

CHECK-IN: Taking a recommendation from this site, I called the night before check-in to request an Intracoastal Waterway view room. They said no problem. We drove down from Orlando (about a 3 ½ hour drive with no stops on the Florida Turnpike) and arrived around 2:00 p.m. I asked if my 2 bedroom Intracoastal Waterway view room was ready, really not expecting it to be ready since regular check-in is 4:00 p.m. The very friendly lady at the front desk said the studio half of the room is ready and we can check in if we wanted to, which we did (2 bedrooms are what Marriott Vacation Club calls “lock-offs” because one side could be made into a studio and the other side a 1 bedroom). The 1 bedroom side was ready an hour or so later.

ROOM: We stayed in a 2 bedroom timeshare unit on the 16th floor in room numbers 1622/1624 overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, as we requested. We had no long waits for the elevators as other had commented during our 3 night stay, Thursday – Saturday nights. In another area, I guess we were lucky, too, because the place was very clean and did not show any signs of wear and everything was in working order. However, neither king bed in either unit had the very comfortable new Marriott bedding, which was disappointing, but the beds were OK. The studio side had a king bed, pull out queen couch, TV, small fridge, microwave, 12 cup coffee maker, small table and 2 chairs, servings for 4, and sink (no washer/dryer, oven, or dishwasher). It also had a full bathroom. The 1 bedroom side has an apartment size washer/dryer, full size fridge, oven and stove, dishwasher, microwave, bar/counter with 4 stools, table and 6 chairs, servings for 6, pull out queen couch, TV, DVD player, large balcony with table and 2 chairs, king size bed, 2 person whirlpool tub with a single sink, and then a full bath with toilet, sink and shower.

Daily maid service does not come with the timeshare units and as we were only staying 3 nights, we did not order any additional maid service.

POOL: Someone at Marriott must have read the previous review and looked at the photos, because when we stayed there the pool and pool area were clean. The pool is small for this size resort and can get crowded. There are plenty of lounge chairs surrounding the pool and on the sun deck. The pool bar is small, with only 4 stools, but they do serve a good frozen drink or canned beer.

PARKING: We had no problems parking in the garage and did not find the garage to be particularly tight, as others have commented. Perhaps if you drive a large SUV or are not used to driving in a parking garage you may find it confining. However, I found this to be a pretty standard parking garage for a building like this, but then again, I park in a garage every day in DC so maybe I’m just used to it.

LOCATION: I think this ocean front location is wonderful! You have 4 floors of retail shops and bars/restaurants an elevator ride away, including Hooter’s where we only have a drink, and Sloppy Joe’s where we had sandwiches. The grilled grouper sandwich was very good by the way and the patio dining overlooking the ocean was a nice touch. You are only 2 blocks from the water taxi the goes along the Intracoastal Waterway and Las Olas Boulevard. Within walking distance, all along the road (A1A) in front of Beach Place are numerous bars and restaurants. About 2 miles away is a large indoor mall the Galleria. Also about 2 miles in the other direction is a Publix grocery store.