My husband and I booked into The Marriott for one night only, because of a function in Surfers Paradise, so it was only meant to be a 'stopover'. We were so impressed that we booked in for another night. I wish it had been a week! We had an upgrade to an Ocean View, but to be honest, we would have been happy with a Hinterland view. The room was lovely, not the biggest hotel room I've ever stayed in, but it's not like we were there to do any dancing! There were 2 big beds in the room, perhaps just the one would have been a little better for space, but not the end of the world! The bathroom was lovely and clean, the shower did make rather a strange noise, but it worked and it was hot and did the job! Our little balcony was nice, overlooking the lagoon area below.
We loved that there was a 'resort' style lagoon and swimming pool with plenty of sunbathing chairs situated around the edges. In the saltwater lagoon there are over 250 tropical fish! What a cool idea! It kept my husband occupied as he can't stand lying around in the sun for more that 5 minutes. You could hire various things like snorkel gear and other other water activity items but I think we would bring our own next time to save a few pennies! Because we had only planned on staying 1 night, we didn't even think to pack suncream, but they do sell it in the little lagoon side kiosk....but at a whopping $35 we decided against it but fortunately a lovely staff member lent us a big bottle for our duration. We had a little snack and a beer and cocktail from the poolside bar, which was great. They have all the beers in 'plastic' branded bottles for poolside use, which was kind of cool! There is a water-slide and kiddies play area situated within the 'resort' but the kids didn't bother us at all, there is plenty of room for everyone! There were some fantastic 'day bed' style loungers available for hire...but they were so expensive, we didn't consider it! Needless to say they were empty all day! We had an a la carte breakfast on both mornings in the restaurant Critique and I must say that the food, coffee (extremely important!) and staff were superb. We popped back in mid morning to take a look at the buffet set up for lunch.....WOW!!! The presentation was amazing! We had coffee and homemade chocolates from the little chocolate shop situated near the hotel foyer/lobby, which were fab! There was a gingerbread house on the counter, all decorated with the most amazing edible delights! I was like a big kid! We ate in the Japanese restaurant on the second night, which was definitely different!The decor of the hotel itself is very sumptuous and the sweeping staircase very impressive. Once you step in from the craziness of Surfers hustle and bustle, you are surrounded by elegance, and tranquility...with a full-on resort style lagoon!! (no mean feat for a hotel slapped bang in the middle of a city.) Every staff member from the reception to the cleaners were excellent. Very friendly and welcoming.
Our one and only gripe, was the lengthy waiting time on check-in. It was a Friday night just before Christmas and only 2 reception staff on......dealing with around 30 people trying to check-in. But it didn't dampen our spirits.
The Marriott, Surfers Paradise rocks in every way and we can't wait to go back.

We spent 5 days here and had a fabulous time!! Swimming with the fish was amazing for a hotel pool. We had a room over looking the pool, room was a good size and clean! The front desk were very nice and helpful! Easy parking, great location. Would stay again!

As others have mentioned, the rooms are recently refurbished and very nice. We had a nice big room with a big bed and big bathroom. A nice-sized balcony gave us a partial ocean view. The wifi in the room and public areas was fast and free for members of their Rewards program (even if you only signed up that day). We attended a private celebration party in the hotel and the banquet room and food was very, very good.

When we arrived our room wasn't ready yet, but they gave us a towel & card for access to the pool. Unfortunately the pool area was 120% packed with families and kids and there was not a spare lounge chair in sight. Later I found out it was the last weekend of school holidays. A main attraction is swimming with fish in the saltwater pool, but the few fish we saw looked pretty startled. More worrying was the lack of lifeguards given the black rocks and deep & murky bottom of the pool and hidden sections of the pool in an artificial cave.

The *real* beach is just about 2 short blocks away and stunning. White sand beaches, big surf, and manned by professional lifeguards. But there's not much else around: no restaurants or other attractions in close walking distance from the hotel. This could be a problem if you don't have a car (we did not). There is a taxi booking system that never seems to actually result in a taxi coming to you. The public bus service runs right in front of the hotel pretty regularly but it's not cheap (around $4 starting fare).

We REALLY enjoyed an impromptu night away here on a "locals mini break". Just under an hour from where we live and we arrived at about 3pm and were able to get "straight into the fun" - well almost, except for some car trouble but the wonderful staff helped us out there too by calling RACQ.

The standard room with 2 x double beds was FABULOUS for our family of 3 (1 x couple + 5 year old). Bathroom was huge and we always love a dinky little set of toiletries ;-) Don't bother about paying for an ocean view room. You'll at best get ocean glimpses, but the hinterland and "city" views of Surfers are all the more impressive anyway.

Free internet in the lobby (weren't able to get free wifi working in the room even with the right codes, but that may have been user error *lol*)

We had breakfast in the hotel. At $30 for an adult, it was very priced and we only went ahead with it because our daughter was free (normally 1/2 price, but the 2nd person we spoke to when we sat down offered her for free). Hubbie had an omlette which he thoroughly enjoyed. Thought the pastries and muffins were a little on the tasteless side, but LOVED everything else. Service again was fantastic. Note though: it gets very busy and very noisy, so eat early if you can.

Swimming with the fish was so much fun. Tip: take your snorkel and mask (or goggles are fine too). Don't bother about the flippers. The other pools were great too and the spa was a dinky little set up...although because it was quite dark in that space, you did wonder about cleanliness. Most people can't find it - so we had it to ourselves!

The cocktails were very yummy (pina colada of course) and reasonably priced for a 5* hotel. Kids meal around the pool was great value too.

We ordered room service for ourselves. It was fine but not big servings and there was something on the menu to please most.

You'd park your car and enjoy the hotel and all it had to offer for probably a good 2 or 3 days before you felt the need to venture elsewhere.

Oh - and that tasty little sweet treats when we arrived into the impressive, beautiful reception venue - YUM and THANK YOU.

Marriott is 5* and it shows. If you can afford a little extra next holiday...we thoroughly recommend it!