The Waikoloa Beach Marriott is a wonderful hotel. Cheryl and Kristy at the front desk went above and beyond to help our guests and make sure that everyone staying in our room block were comfortable and had what they needed. Michaela helped with... our breakfast and was so sweet and friendly when also in the pool area. Uncle Stevie, our bartender, was awesome and all of our guests enjoyed chatting with him during our reception. Michael, Director of Events, was also willing to take the time to listen to our concerns and feedback we had about our overall experience. They all deserve a FIVE star review.
The reason I am leaving a poor review is due to our experience with Crystal. There is not enough of a character limit to post my entire review, however here is an abbreviated version. Over the two years that we worked with them communication was very challenging. We constantly had to reach out to them for information, specifically around covid, and responses were not in line with the Marriott’s 24 hr response policy. We had multiple issues with our BEO (banquet event order), including an almost $11k charge (that we did not owe), being missed on the “final” BEO by crystal. We then found a lot of errors with our Floral quote also not being updated. We were told to show up by 4:45 for our pre-wedding meeting and Crystal did not arrive until after 5. On the day of the wedding, she showed up after all of our vendors. During our reception, four people crashed the event. One even ate cake off the table. No one could find Crystal to alter her, so I had to ask them to leave myself. I requested to save all of my flowers, and when I went back to get the, my bouquet and 3 others were missing. Crystal told me she saw my friend walk off with them. I checked with all guests and no one took them. I don’t understand why Crystal didn’t stop them if she saw this happen. When we received our bar tab it seemed really high and we mentioned that to crystal (14 drinks a person high), and rather than helping us understand how the bar tab works, or how drinks are measured, Crystal told me "Anna when I saw you and Jeremy in the lobby yesterday you told me your guest had a good time and several were hungover and one of your bridesmaids didn't make it to breakfast because she had too much the night before." Her lack of customer service and attitude in this situation was astonishing and very disappointing. The lack of professionalism that was shown to us by Crystal was very unacceptable and not something any other couple or paying customer should ever have to endure. I didn't enjoy the wedding planning process. This first year of planning with them, prior to needing to postpone our wedding was so disheartening that I did not want to postpone our wedding in 2020 and find a new venue and coordinator who placed more value on communication with their clients and professional customer service practices. We did not cancel as we were told too much had gone into our planning and we would not be eligible for receiving our deposit back. Again, the hotel deserves five starts, but because of our experience with Crystal I cannot give that. I would not recommend this hotel/venue. I don't think anyone should have to willingly go through the same disheartening, disappointing, and frustrating experiences we had, especially as paying customers trying to plan their dream wedding.