Marriott's Aruba Surf Club

My husband and I arrived the first week of June 2026 in the evening. We inquired about restaurants available in the area for a quick meal that evening. The clerks at the counter referred us to either the convenience store at the hotel or to the business strip close by (never mentioning the restaurants available at the next door Marriotts). We were charged 10 US dollars for a gallon of water (more expensive than a gallon of gas at 8 dollars). We thought the convenience store was actually a rip off store but as it turned out everything was expensive in the end. The short walk to the small strip took us thru a poorly lit back street to more expensive food places where tips are almost requested on top of the 10% service tax. Taxis are also expensive, even for very short distances. The city bus and Super Food supermarket were the only 2 good values around. Needless to say we watched our purchases all week. Everything is expensive for what is offered so Aruba is highly over rated in our view while knowledgable and courteous desk clerks are noticeably absent at this hotel.

Terrible beach! I was so grossed out by the disgusting silty sand in the water. It was sticky and felt so weird, like mud. I would never go back to this hotel when there are so many nice beaches all over the world. If the Marriott Surf Club wants people to plunk down $45,000 for a time share, they need to start with cleaning up the muddy silt in the water.

As for service, nothing to compliment about. No upgrades as a Marriott Elite member, no breakfast. They did not clean the room every day. This is a time share and it is a lot more dated than the other Marriott hotels along the beach. The lazy river is their claim to fame, but it is very small and gets full of people who bump into you. If you are picturing a large lazy river like in Orlando, think again. You can go around it in 5 min.

I would not go back to the Marriott Surf Club. We also stayed at the Renaissance in Aruba and what a difference! At the Renaissance, we were upgraded to an ocean view room at the Ocean Suites, with complimentary breakfast. The best breakfast at a hotel is at the renaissance in Aruba. Also went to the Renaissance island with a ton of fish in the protected reef and flamingos too!

Beautiful & clean hotel. We had a villa for a family of 4 it was super spacious & comfortable. Front desk & most ground employees are very friendly. Plenty of food options, once we found the strip with all the restaurants & shops which is walking distance we were thrilled. We enjoyed our stay & cannot wait to come back.

My husband and I had an absolutely wonderful stay and can't say enough about the staff.The General Manager,Mario,Natasha,Jazmin, bellstaff and housekeeping were awesome!Their professonalism was matched by a warmth that made me feel like family.Unfortunately, my husband became ill and passed away on our Anniversary trip but the staff from the very first moment of the emergency responded with urgency and took care of me with every detail . Mario was a true blessing and guided me through this difficult time until my daughter and her husband arrived.I can't thank you all enough and my family and I will return some day and would highly recommend this hotel.

Love it. Except the hot tub supposed to close at 10 and blocked off by 9. No towels. On vacation and no bed by 10.

Aruba Surf Club is our favorite and best place. Associates treat us like family and are so friendly.
Also, we always feel safe.
The Management team is excellent- Joop, Jasmin and Ryan. Housekeeping Supervisor, Hilda. Security- Mario, Mavis, Cedric, Arleen, Novlet, Erik.
Grounds- Leonardo. Engineering - Mori, Berto.
Bellmen - Joseph, Shaun, Anthony, Eric, Vickson, Erikson. Exercise Room - Jesette.

The resort is great, but the room we had really was subpar. Shower leaked all over the bathroom floor and we notified the front desk the first day and the maintenance person that came up was nice and said they would call when they came back. Now on our last day, came up to the room and two maintenance workers were in our bathroom. Basically locked us out of our own room on our last night for over 5 hours. Ended up ruining our last night here, can’t take a shower to get ready for dinner to make our reservations. Now the manager is saying my wife is liar….. I would not recommend coming here….

Photo is my wife n myself waiting in the hallway for over 5 maintenance personnel in our bathroom with our floats!

Travelled to Marriott Aruba Surf club with family. Stayed in a 2 room suite. Property was nice. We enjoyed the pool and accommodations. Beach was not spectacular. No waves, a boat dock located in front of property and broken shells and coral scattered on beach. You have to travel 15 minutes south to Eagle Beach for pristine beach conditions. Biggest problem and chief complaint was that 5 days in a row we returned to our room and were nearly overcome by the odor of burnt marijuana entering the room through the bathroom vent. We contacted the hotel staff repeatedly and they did nothing to resolve the situation. The building operations manager., Jazmine, was particularly ineffective. Our clothes and belongings began to smell like marijuana. Nothing was offered as compensation. The matter will be taken up with the credit card company.

Aruba is a beautiful Island with amazing beaches, food and scenery. I would say the Marriott Surf Club is a very nice hotel but lacks on the Beautiful beach piece of what Aruba is supposed to be about. The water isn’t clear and the sandy floor you would expect only last for a few feet before it turns to mud and muck. Make sure you are floating in the water because standing feels more like bottom of a lake. Hotel rooms are great, amenities are good and service was also great.

Interested to know if and where construction is taking place at the resort. We will be there the first part of May 2026.

Excellent time at the Surf Club! Had an amazing room in the Lighthouse tower looking out at the Ocean. From the time we arrived to the time we left, the staff throughout the entire place was great! Great location and close to many awesome places. Everything from ATV’s to Snorkeling was fantastic. Can’t wait to come back!

As far as the service it is top-of-the-line. I will specifically mention. Liza B an employee at the Marriott was very helpful in booking my Hut . She walked me through the process and did a follow up with me and my family. She made sure that we were able to obtain our room in a timely manner and that our request were fulfilled. I would consider her to be a star employee. Most of the other staff was beyond excellent. The only issue with the resort is it is congested on the beach.

I am a Marriott Gold member and would NEVER return to this property. Don’t try to get pool chairs unless you get up at 5am to stalk them like psychos to put your “chair tags” on them. No restaurants or bars to relax in - crazy time share people. The front desk managers DO NoT care about you especially “BORIS” who talks down to you like you are ignorant idiot. Skip this property- thank me later.

Terrible Experience – Extremely Disappointing Stay

From the moment we checked in to the day we checked out, our experience at the Marriott Aruba was unacceptable.

Customer service was consistently poor. Staff were unhelpful, dismissive, and showed little concern for guests. In the middle of our vacation, we were forced to move rooms, which caused unnecessary stress and disruption to what was supposed to be a relaxing trip.

The situation became even worse after we checked out. We accidentally left behind our AirPods when we moved rooms. Using the tracking feature, we could clearly see that they remained at the hotel initially. However, shortly after we returned to the United States, the AirPods location changed to a residential area in Oranjestad—far from the resort.

This strongly suggests that someone took them, yet the hotel showed no urgency or willingness to investigate or assist us. The lack of accountability and honesty is extremely concerning.

Overall, the staff was inconsiderate, unprofessional, and unwilling to help resolve serious issues. This was one of the worst hotel experiences we’ve ever had.

We will never return to this property and would not recommend it to anyone.

The hotel is in a good location- we had great weather - but the overwhelming issue is that they have too many guests and they cannot support the overwhelming numbers especially in a dated facility . For Example:
1) Check in- Nobody gets their room when they arrive, most people haave to wait - a substantial time period - very annoying with young families having to struggle etc. They actually have an area in the lobby to come back to once your are notified your room is ready - because this clearly happens every day
2) Lounge chairs : there is a whole system with chair tags, and people having to get up at 6am and stay by their reserved chair till 7 and then be back at 9 -- ?? tooo much- jsut for a poolside chair !! and a beachside palapa - costs extra- lots extra!
3) HOusekeeping happens once every 4 days - and they dont change the sheets!
4) you have to wear a wristband because you cannot use the facilities of the adjacent Marriot properties- as there is jsut an overwhelming overcrowding
5) the room walls are pretty thin- and there are lots of kids in adjacent rooms
6) the staff try - hard, but they are handicpped by the facilites aand the overcrowding

The location is good. On Palm beach. The largest hotel on the island with close to 900 rooms. Very busy and loud with families. Hard to get a spot on the beach so swimming in the pool was the only option. There is a lazy river that is always busy. Swim tubes always bumping into each other. Not relaxing.

We have been deed owners at the Marriott Surf Club for 18 years. WE own
Surf and Ocean club units. We are Presidential and Titanium level members through out Marriott, The new Palapa system is a disaster as you can't get a Palapa at 530 PMand waste half a day waiting to get into the system. and 700 AM has not been that great either. The visuals for the palapa numbers can't be seen and to request one you need to be on super speed or they are gone. So far this has decreased my love for Marriott and the new system. When I approached the front desk they gave me the politically correct answer but was of no help. Management. please listen to your loyal and long term guests, that this system is a failure and correct it. Technology is not always the best answer, waiting on the lines in the mornings were great social events and friendship makers. HELP

The customer service experience at this property was outstanding. I’d like to give a shout out to Dean, who professionally and efficiently got us checked in and into our room in no time.

As I sit here in Aruba on day four, Jan 2026 I decided to check the reviews again hoping to find the truth. Maybe I just missed it before I booked. Everything I've see and have ever heard are great things about Aruba. This is my truth and my experience in my Aruba vacation. I'm so sadly disappointed!! I'm staying at the Surf club and booked an ocean front room with a view of beach. Room is great. View is not what I expected since there's a boat dock and boats everywhere and no ocean waves, but the room does have a few of the ocean so it is what they said it would be If your expectation like mine is to sit on the beach and listen to the sound of the ocean, then U2 will be sadly disappointed. The beach is jampacked with fixed location umbrellas, and Palapas . It's nearly impossible to get a spot where you can see water even the second row of the beach is obstructed by so many chairs all booked and reserved for days and weeks, even a year in advance. If you're lucky enough to schedule do expect to pay for it at a minimum 60 bucks a day plus tips. you'll have no Ocean Sounds as there are no waves. But OMG are there boats, lots and lots of boats. There's a dock we're boats come in and out of right next to the swimming area. this is also where the wave riders and all kinds of water sports load passengers in and out. The smell of gas is the only ocean smell you're going to get. The other thing I wasn't prepared for the smell of cigars everywhere when you're eating when you're trying to rest, they sell cigars everywhere and people are smoking them. The Staff here have been pleasant for most part. But they are super strict about towels. The towels have trackers on them and you're limited in both bath and beach towels, this is frustrating for someone who likes a fresh towel with each shower. One of the other reasons I booked here was because they have a lazy river. Well, you have to bring your own floats and the river as they call it is one circle that takes less than two minutes to complete not impressive at all. They're simply have over sold this resort, there's not enough beach there's not enough pool chairs and there's not enough elevator space. I heard one vacation or say this morning he had to wait through eight elevators coming and going until he could fit in one to get out to the lobby. I'll be much more careful next time I book a beach vacation.

WE stayed for two weeks at the Surf Club and had a very relaxing and fun time. The first week we stayed in the one bedroom unit which is very comfortable and has a well stocked kitchen. The living room area was nice to hang out and relax. The bedroom is large with a decent size bathroom. The only problem we had is with the carpet in the bedroom which blocks opening the closet. It creates a tripping hazard when you open the closet door.
The second week we stayed in the studio which is small and has limited storage for clothes. The sink are is tiny and the dishes are stored in the cabinet below. We didn't like the small table and two backless hassocks to sit on to eat on.
The pool area can get crowded but the lush tropical landscaping makes it very relaxing. We will definitely come back to the Surf Club again.