JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa

This is a late review of our stay at the JW Marriott Turnberry Resort from this past spring. We needed a break from downtown and chose to stay at this JW for the first time. It turned out to be a surprisingly wonderful stay — it's not far from Miami. Yet, the resort also felt like a secluded tropical oasis, offering peace, great views, and excellent amenities. We entered the resort knowing that some past guests had mixed experiences, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that the resort was great and the hotel staff who assisted us were all warm and courteous. Yes, the resort was overwhelmed with guests and quite hectic at times, but the valet associates and the Front Office team were always friendly and willing to offer their assistance when we needed it. Additionally, the property provided excellent elite status recognition despite having a high occupancy rate during our stay. We were acknowledged of our Ambassador status during check-in and promptly upgraded to a larger suite with a panoramic view of the golf course and skyline. The suite features warm decor and an entrance, a separate sitting and bedroom area, and outdoor furniture on a private balcony. The hotel has several buildings located across the resort. Some guests we spoke to at breakfast mentioned that certain buildings have better insulation, and thus, they experienced less noise, while guests staying in other buildings may have had noise issues. So, we were glad that when we checked in, we had asked to be assigned to a quieter area of the resort. One suggestion we would offer for future guests is to skip the Aventura Mall and drive 15 minutes to the Bal Harbour Shops, where you will find more variety of shops, as well as more elegant restaurants, for a more elevated experience. Overall, we had a short but relaxing stay that enabled all of us to relax and rejuvenate.

We stayed at the hotel with a group across three rooms. The rooms were absolutely beautiful, and we really enjoyed the food at the restaurant (very pricey) Unfortunately, there were quite a few issues that made the stay less enjoyable. On the 4th day, after finishing breakfast, we weren’t allowed to leave until we went to the front desk because we hadn’t left a credit card on the first day, though no one had asked for one. Throughout the stay, every time we ordered room service, they called us about the card again and again. It got pretty frustrating, especially since we were staying in multiple rooms. The pool situation also wasn’t ideal for families. The main pool is inside the hotel’s water park, but kids are only allowed in that area. The adult pool doesn’t allow children, which made things tricky for us since we were traveling with a 6-year-old who didn’t use the water slides. That left us with just one overcrowded, overheated pool option, which wasn’t relaxing at all. The mini bar was never refilled unless requested, and even when I asked, nothing happened. Also, there were lines for pretty much everything: elevators, the front desk, and breakfast. The lobby was really overcrowded on our last day. People sitting on the floor. Never seen anything like this in this kind of hotel.

The water slides were thrilling. Jeff was constantly checking on us to ensure we had a great time. Our Drinks were always full. My baby loved this place and especially the giant ice cream cone of water. Great pizza . Can’t wait to come back. 5 star service .

Couples weekend last week, end of May, my wife was at an event held for 3 days in the ballroom. Overall, the place is really nice, I woud not say it was luxurious but definitly on the upscale side of things. Before I talk about the golf course, I will say that the room was spacious and clean. There is a water park attached to the property that attracts a whole lot of families with kids so be warned. I did not use the spa, but the gym at the spa (which is a walk outside BTW) is big and well appointed if a bit cluttered. Hotel has an adult pool, tho no hot tub. My one glaring negative about the hotel, although overall service was good, we called for a bellhop to come get our bags twice at checkout and they never came. When I got down to the lobby I could see why ... the place is a zoo around checkout time. Mind you this was Memorial weekend, so a busy weekend, but there was no service to be had, the valets and the bellfolk were running around. In the end we hauled our own bags after waiting over an hour. The golf course consists of two courses, the Miller and the Soffer courses. The pro shop recommended the Soffer course saying that that Miller course was in rough shape and from what I could see it looked really bad ... dead and bare. The driving range looked bad too, but it was off of mats anyway. Chipping area minimal. Nice putting green. The Soffer course was overall nice, layout good, condition was OK, some fairway damage but overall not bad, nice water feature on first hole, we played in under 4 hours, greens ran well, average speed. Still, someone in the golf department should have to answer for the overall running of the operation: improve course conditions, up the practice area and improve service. Service in the golf area was OK, but not like a private club where someone sees you carrying your bag to the carts and offers to take it for you if you get my drift... my guess, they are a little short staffed or at least I will give the staff the benefit of the doubt. PS here, I needed to buy a hat ... price for the logo hat was $90, I kid you not. Anyway, there is a lot here at the resort. It definitely has a lot of potential and it is not bad. But ... like most things, expectations are high when you carry the "JW" brand. Maybe if they just called it a Marriott it would have met my expectations.

Great day at hotel and water park. We visited here for the day as we had a day to kill between a cruise and flying back. Second time we visited here, amazing hotel and facilities. We made use of the driving range along with the water park. Hotel and food was amazing, we booked a couple of rooms but didn’t actually stay the night.