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Very UNIQUELY DISAPPOINTING EXPERIENCE had by myself and my family of 6 at the 3 beachfront rooms we reserved at your Carambola Beach Resort in St. Croix, USVI. As a Titanium Elite Bonvoy member and Marriott Bonvoy credit card holder, I have come to expect certain luxuries when staying at a Marriott-branded hotel, and have rarely been disappointed until now. This resort fell short on every level of BASIC, NON-MEMBER, PRE-COVID expectations! In fact, this experience has to be the WORST experience I have had at ANY HOTEL CHAIN in all of my years of national and international travel! Please let me explain THE CARAMBOLA EXPERIENCE:
1. HORRIBLE CHECK-IN very slow, took over 20 minutes before we were even acknowledged. No luggage assistance offered.
2. Rusted appliances and dusty shutters throughout the room. The sofa was soiled (with only God knows what!), was very worn, and extremely dated, as was the outside patio furniture. There were baby roaches in my shower, a larger roach in my closet and near the refrigerator in one of our boys' rooms (both killed by my son), ants on my bathroom countertop, in my kids' coffee pot (as they attempted to make a cup of tea) and in their microwave, and at least two occasions where a bug was noticed ON MY BED! Residual piles of hair and dust was present upon check in and remained in our room for our entire stay! On our way to dinner, we noticed rodents (that we later learned were mongoose) running across our paths, in the dining room areas and kitchen, crawling in/out/around the trash cans, etc. A pair of feral black cats, who also camped out by the food areas, startled us as they started fighting and broke out into a chase as we tried to enjoy our boxed dinner on the "lanai". These animals were not just spotted once or twice, but were pervasive during our stay.
Furthermore, property landscaping was unkempt, with dark to poorly lit uneven walkways, fallen lights with exposed wires, standing water in the corridor outside of our room, holes in the lawn covered with wood panels, rusted generators near the beach taped off with yellow tape, roof panels with holes/partially ripped off, broken hot tub, and a very dirty and UNINVITING pool area!
Standard service requests were perceived as an inconvenience. For
example, we requested fresh towels on Saturday via the Bonvoy ap. This request was not acknowledged and towels were not received until SUNDAY evening (after several additional calls to the front desk). Since we only received two bath towels and no wash cloths upon delivery, we again requested more towels. This was such an issue that we resorted to cutting the bath towel into wash cloths for the remainder of our stay!
Front Desk Reps, Management is UNRESPONSIVE! Marriott Corporate shifts blame to resort, who again is UNRESPONSIVE. Vicious cycle that ultimately leads NOWHERE!
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! If there is any other option, go with it or just stay home!
