Lets start with some disclosing shall we:
I was a paying guest at the Marriott Hotel - my husband and I decided to go away for a weekend, we walked in to Flight Centre, asked them what was going , and booked.
At no point was I planning to write a review of the Hotel or it's facilities - but by Tuesday morning when we were checked out already , and sitting enjoying coffee and working on our iPad's in the reception, waiting for the Airport Shuttle , it dawned on me , that I needed to tell someone - anyone - about how fantastic I thought this hotel was.
The hotel is rated as 4 star. Which we knew coming in , but with Australia , you can never be sure what you're getting , this is due to a number of factors , which I won't go into in this post , suffice it to say, going to a Hotel or B&B in Australia is always a bit of an adventure and mystery , shrouded in secrecy.
So - what did I like about this place ?
The first things that spring to mind are :
Hotels have to get the big things right , that's a given , but attention to small details ( like fresh coffee packets every now and then ) goes that extra mile , which for me really is the difference between a 4 star hotel that deserves the rating , and a 4 star hotel that doesn't. And they do deserve that 4 star rating IMHO.
Now to the food , and service;
We ate a late lunch on the Saturday at the Bar Lounge , and this is where it got very interesting....
My cocktail was sublime, and made with fresh ingredients. 10 points up to the Barman in my book, and the hotel management for not caving in and buying that cheap premix junk. I loathe that premix rubbish. Why on earth would you want lemon / lime flavoured sugar syrup to mix with Tequila , when you can just mix lime and lemon juice with Tequila and make a proper Margarita ? Seriously, if you have a sweet tooth , drink a cocktail that's made with a sweet fruit , like a Daiquiri. Or better yet , order those fruity thingy's.
Australia's obsession with sugar is a massive problem , and I start to see why they have such an issue eating fresh food , when everything they put into their mouths is sweetened, and refined to within an inch of it's extra long artificial shelf life.
We perused the menu, and saw that they offered gluten free pizza. Now , Pizza is always an issue for me , since not only do I have issues with gluten, but I am also allergic to tomato, not to mention my dairy issues.
Whenever we go out , and a restaurant offers GF pizza bases , they are invariably the ready made frozen kind, pre-made with tomato base. So we enquired as to whether the pizza could be made tomato free.
And lo and behold , the waiter - looking suitably friendly , polite and eager to please all at once - explained to us that everything - and by that he means everything- is freshly made in the kitchen.
Meaning , I could order a gluten free pizza , with a fresh basil pesto base , and whatever toppings I liked, and it would be made, to order , as per my specifications.
I was sceptical. I mean, a freshly made gluten free dough? hmmm...
So we ordered a pizza to share . And waited.
The pizza arrived , tomato free - with veggies and a smattering of cheese for my husband .
And it was delicious. Cooked through to perfection and so very clearly not a frozen ready made pizza base , that it nearly brought tears of joy to my eyes. Although that could have been the final mouthful of my Singapore Sling, which I didn't stir much before drinking ....
I was so impressed , I tweeted them. Right there in the bar while chomping down some artichokes and basil pesto . @MarriottSurfers if anyone is interested.
Which leads me to my one and only , very small , and seemingly petty gripe about this whole weekend. I am still waiting for an acknowledgement or reply to my tweet. From anyone at the Surfer Paradise Marriott Hotel.
Now I understand if they had 600 000 odd tweethead followers , like Joel Madden for example, but they don't .
They also don't get mentioned much , I know because I searched to check in case my little tweet of praise and gratitude maybe got lost in the tumult of rapturous wonderment of their many guests and fans.
It didn't. There was only deafening silence. Seems they only tweet once a month or less. And only when they are running some sort of a competition or something. Other than that , the tweetdesk seems to be unmanned.
Which is really what my gripe is about. If you are a corporate , or a business you can't get your brand onto a social media platform and not treat it like a full time job. I know because I manage the Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn and Google+ pages for our business. We are nowhere near as large as the Marriott brand, but trust me , it takes a good couple of hours a week to maintain the accounts and keep things flowing.
They seem to think a bit like Wombats, or Ostriches ; pick your metaphor. The fact that they aren't logged in and talking , doesn't mean that people can't see them. And it doesn't mean that you can ignore it when people speak to you.
Joining twitter and doing what the Marriot Hotel appear to be doing, is like walking into a networking event and only talking enough to make random announcements to no-one in particular, and then stoically ignoring every person who attempts to engage with them thereafter.
Social Media is not the same as TV , print or even static web space on a company website, all of which are one-way communication tools . Social Media is interactive, dynamic, and if you are going to get into it, you need to be ready to interact. When your clients (read followers) decide to. Not when you decide to.
If you aren't going to do that , then you shouldn't have a Twitter Account. Did you get that @MarriottSurfers?
Now - back to the things that were wonderful.
The Day Spa , was ethereal.
A 2 hour candle massage on Sunday , followed by treating myself to a new haircut , and hair treatment in the salon. Just sublime. Although I am not 100% happy with my haircut , I have to admit it is one of the better ones I have had since migrating to Australia. ( The flood of mediocre hairdressers is maddening. I don't have an issue paying good money for a good haircut. I expect a good haircut for the good money though, and so far , average and acceptable seem to be the best I can get from the most expensive hairdressers around. Seriously ... where are all the amazing hairdressers in Australia ? Am I really that fussy? Is my hair that difficult to cut and style ? )
Dinner at Citrique was essentially a feast for the senses. It's a buffet style restaurant , but with food so fresh , and so fantastic , you could not go wrong. My husband pretty much ate a whole desert bowl of their Rum-Soaked Raisins in dark Jamaican chocolate sauce. He said it was brilliant. Lucky bugger.
Every single person we interacted with was friendly polite , and sincere. They were genuinely happy smiling people , which for me is a dead give-away to a good employer.
Maybe they liked my money more than me, that may said , but at least they liked my money long enough to make me feel like they liked me , and that I was getting something for the money we paid to stay there.
I would go back once a quarter if we could spare the time away from our business, and we had oodles of extra money to spare.
I even liked the place so much I joined their rewards program, which allows me to accumulate points towards my Singapore Airlines Krisflyer membership. So the extra points count towards getting me to South Africa next year to visit the family, assuming of course I get the chance to go back within the next year or so.
I would stay there again, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting a sublime relaxed, worry free few days away.
I was a paying guest at the Marriott Hotel - my husband and I decided to go away for a weekend, we walked in to Flight Centre, asked them what was going , and booked.
At no point was I planning to write a review of the Hotel or it's facilities - but by Tuesday morning when we were checked out already , and sitting enjoying coffee and working on our iPad's in the reception, waiting for the Airport Shuttle , it dawned on me , that I needed to tell someone - anyone - about how fantastic I thought this hotel was.
The hotel is rated as 4 star. Which we knew coming in , but with Australia , you can never be sure what you're getting , this is due to a number of factors , which I won't go into in this post , suffice it to say, going to a Hotel or B&B in Australia is always a bit of an adventure and mystery , shrouded in secrecy.
So - what did I like about this place ?
The first things that spring to mind are :
- 24 hour room service
- 24 hour gym
- on site Day Spa ( not to be confused with a massive jet bath / jacuzzi which is also puzzlingly called a Spa in Australia)
- 4 fantastic restaurants , all rated fabulous by Urban Spoon ( which is my dining bible ...)
- Beautiful , spacious room, with an Ocean view , and all amenities were working and in good order
- The complimentary coffee and tea was fresh - and had not been out long enough to congeal in the packets ( yes, that has happened to me before , in a 4 star establishment , in Australia ...) .
Hotels have to get the big things right , that's a given , but attention to small details ( like fresh coffee packets every now and then ) goes that extra mile , which for me really is the difference between a 4 star hotel that deserves the rating , and a 4 star hotel that doesn't. And they do deserve that 4 star rating IMHO.
Now to the food , and service;
We ate a late lunch on the Saturday at the Bar Lounge , and this is where it got very interesting....
My cocktail was sublime, and made with fresh ingredients. 10 points up to the Barman in my book, and the hotel management for not caving in and buying that cheap premix junk. I loathe that premix rubbish. Why on earth would you want lemon / lime flavoured sugar syrup to mix with Tequila , when you can just mix lime and lemon juice with Tequila and make a proper Margarita ? Seriously, if you have a sweet tooth , drink a cocktail that's made with a sweet fruit , like a Daiquiri. Or better yet , order those fruity thingy's.
Australia's obsession with sugar is a massive problem , and I start to see why they have such an issue eating fresh food , when everything they put into their mouths is sweetened, and refined to within an inch of it's extra long artificial shelf life.
We perused the menu, and saw that they offered gluten free pizza. Now , Pizza is always an issue for me , since not only do I have issues with gluten, but I am also allergic to tomato, not to mention my dairy issues.
Whenever we go out , and a restaurant offers GF pizza bases , they are invariably the ready made frozen kind, pre-made with tomato base. So we enquired as to whether the pizza could be made tomato free.
And lo and behold , the waiter - looking suitably friendly , polite and eager to please all at once - explained to us that everything - and by that he means everything- is freshly made in the kitchen.
Meaning , I could order a gluten free pizza , with a fresh basil pesto base , and whatever toppings I liked, and it would be made, to order , as per my specifications.
I was sceptical. I mean, a freshly made gluten free dough? hmmm...
So we ordered a pizza to share . And waited.
The pizza arrived , tomato free - with veggies and a smattering of cheese for my husband .
And it was delicious. Cooked through to perfection and so very clearly not a frozen ready made pizza base , that it nearly brought tears of joy to my eyes. Although that could have been the final mouthful of my Singapore Sling, which I didn't stir much before drinking ....
I was so impressed , I tweeted them. Right there in the bar while chomping down some artichokes and basil pesto . @MarriottSurfers if anyone is interested.
Which leads me to my one and only , very small , and seemingly petty gripe about this whole weekend. I am still waiting for an acknowledgement or reply to my tweet. From anyone at the Surfer Paradise Marriott Hotel.
Now I understand if they had 600 000 odd tweethead followers , like Joel Madden for example, but they don't .
They also don't get mentioned much , I know because I searched to check in case my little tweet of praise and gratitude maybe got lost in the tumult of rapturous wonderment of their many guests and fans.
It didn't. There was only deafening silence. Seems they only tweet once a month or less. And only when they are running some sort of a competition or something. Other than that , the tweetdesk seems to be unmanned.
Which is really what my gripe is about. If you are a corporate , or a business you can't get your brand onto a social media platform and not treat it like a full time job. I know because I manage the Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn and Google+ pages for our business. We are nowhere near as large as the Marriott brand, but trust me , it takes a good couple of hours a week to maintain the accounts and keep things flowing.
They seem to think a bit like Wombats, or Ostriches ; pick your metaphor. The fact that they aren't logged in and talking , doesn't mean that people can't see them. And it doesn't mean that you can ignore it when people speak to you.
Joining twitter and doing what the Marriot Hotel appear to be doing, is like walking into a networking event and only talking enough to make random announcements to no-one in particular, and then stoically ignoring every person who attempts to engage with them thereafter.
Social Media is not the same as TV , print or even static web space on a company website, all of which are one-way communication tools . Social Media is interactive, dynamic, and if you are going to get into it, you need to be ready to interact. When your clients (read followers) decide to. Not when you decide to.
If you aren't going to do that , then you shouldn't have a Twitter Account. Did you get that @MarriottSurfers?
Now - back to the things that were wonderful.
The Day Spa , was ethereal.
A 2 hour candle massage on Sunday , followed by treating myself to a new haircut , and hair treatment in the salon. Just sublime. Although I am not 100% happy with my haircut , I have to admit it is one of the better ones I have had since migrating to Australia. ( The flood of mediocre hairdressers is maddening. I don't have an issue paying good money for a good haircut. I expect a good haircut for the good money though, and so far , average and acceptable seem to be the best I can get from the most expensive hairdressers around. Seriously ... where are all the amazing hairdressers in Australia ? Am I really that fussy? Is my hair that difficult to cut and style ? )
Dinner at Citrique was essentially a feast for the senses. It's a buffet style restaurant , but with food so fresh , and so fantastic , you could not go wrong. My husband pretty much ate a whole desert bowl of their Rum-Soaked Raisins in dark Jamaican chocolate sauce. He said it was brilliant. Lucky bugger.
Every single person we interacted with was friendly polite , and sincere. They were genuinely happy smiling people , which for me is a dead give-away to a good employer.
Maybe they liked my money more than me, that may said , but at least they liked my money long enough to make me feel like they liked me , and that I was getting something for the money we paid to stay there.
I would go back once a quarter if we could spare the time away from our business, and we had oodles of extra money to spare.
I even liked the place so much I joined their rewards program, which allows me to accumulate points towards my Singapore Airlines Krisflyer membership. So the extra points count towards getting me to South Africa next year to visit the family, assuming of course I get the chance to go back within the next year or so.
I would stay there again, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting a sublime relaxed, worry free few days away.
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