Courtyard By Marriott Aruba Resort

“Clean and comfortable relaxing”

Clean and comfortable. The room was perfect size for two people. Staff are friendly and helpful. Pools are kept clean and are great for cooling off or lounging around. Swim up bar got utilized frequently. 5-10 minute walk to the the beach. They working on beautifying the surrounding landscape/har... more

Clean and comfortable. The room was perfect size for two people. Staff are friendly and helpful. Pools are kept clean and are great for cooling off or lounging around. Swim up bar got utilized frequently. 5-10 minute walk to the the beach. They working on beautifying the surrounding landscape/hard scapes. Had a great time while here.

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“Mostly good”

So, we stayed here as a family for a week, booked through hotels.com. Overall, it was a positive experience we really enjoyed but there was one major issue that really let it down. I'll start with that. Our first night in the hotel (7th April) we were woken abruptly at 2am by 2 loud male voices... more

So, we stayed here as a family for a week, booked through hotels.com. Overall, it was a positive experience we really enjoyed but there was one major issue that really let it down. I'll start with that. Our first night in the hotel (7th April) we were woken abruptly at 2am by 2 loud male voices in the corridor outside our room ,followed by a ridiculously noisy power washer, or similar machine being used. At 2am! I don’t understand how this could be justified. There was hosing, scrubbing and things banging around. We couldn't believe this noise and assumed there must have been some emergency that required this extreme cleaning in the middle of the night...! It went on until about 4am when they'd moved further along the corridor but needless to say we didn't get back to sleep and could still hear the staff into the morning. I noticed the following day the entrance driveway was closed off and also appeared to have been cleaned. I still have no idea why anyone would be cleaning the paths and making this kind of disturbance when guests are asleep. Totally unacceptable. I don’t like to make a fuss but now wish I had complained to front desk because someone obviously authorized this and must have known people would be disturbed which doesn’t show a lot of respect for guest comfort. Thankfully it was a one-off. I do have to say though, the loud male staff voices at night did wake me up on more than one other occasion at 3.30am which was frustrating. I did leave feedback via hotels.com but I didn't get a response. Despite this, the rest of our stay was extremely positive and we really liked everything else about this hotel. The last time we came to Aruba we stayed in and airbnb in Eagle beach and hired a car. This time we didn’t have a car for the week and decided to stay closer to amenities. We weren't sure if a resort was really for us but we enjoyed everything the Mill had to offer. Check in was quick, staff were always friendly and helpful. The front desk printed our boarding passes for us on our last day and were always around to help. We got welcome drinks on arrival and were happy with the room. The A/C was very noisy and we needed someone to come over to show us how to switch it off but they came quickly and it was an easy fix. We stayed in a garden room at the back rather than a pool view but I think these rooms would’ve been noisier, so we were happy with our choice. My only comment about the room was that we had a kitchenette but there were only 2 forks and 4 of us. Also only 2 chairs at the outdoor table for the times we ate in the room. Breakfast was great, the same every day but a good selection of hot and cold items. We really enjoyed the breakfast and I thought the hotel was great value with the breakfast included. We cooked in the room on a few nights and getting a grocery delivery from Superfoods to the hotel was very easy and was available for the following day. I recommend Bugaloe beach bar at Depalm Pier for happy hour drinks and music 5-6pm then watch the sunset, just a 5-10 min walk from the hotel. It’s also an easy 10-15 walk up the road to all the restaurants and main touristy bit. We ate the hotel one night. There’s a bar and restaurant on site and the kids enjoyed the ice-creams. We didn’t want to stay in the thick of it at Palm Beach so the Mill was ideally located for us away from the busy resorts but close enough to walk out for dinner. I read some reviews about noise from music at other resorts etc which was a bit off-putting but we didn’t experience anything like this, maybe due to the location of our room. We loved the pool areas, as did our kids. There were always free sun beds and we had a cabana on a few days, it never felt too busy. The swim up bar was great and one of the pools was only 1m deep so safe for our children. We usually went to the beach in the morning, had lunch on the beach somewhere (Eduardos is our favourite!) and then the pool area in the afternoon. The golf buggy to and from the beach was a great asset, the kids loved it. Otherwise it’s a 10 minute walk. The small section of beach the Mill use is located in front of the police station and along to the right a bit near the trees. It was pleasant and we liked swimming out to the tower as there were quite a few fish living underneath. There were always beds and towels and we always managed to get some shade. We never waited long for the buggy. Just be aware there is some building work going on along that stretch of beach currently but it wasn’t a problem for us. Obviously you could easily get the buggy down and walk along the beach a bit further and find a palapa elsewhere. Or walk right down to Eagle beach as we did on one day, where its much quieter all round, and fewer people. One of the other things we loved about the resort were the birds and iguanas. Its nice waking up to the sounds of the tropical birds in the morning and the iguanas were firm favourites with all of us. They enjoy a bit of lettuce of you have some! Some guests could have done with being more respectful though, I did see several people splashing them with water by the pool and a couple kids hitting them with palm leaves which angered me. We hired a car for one day from the rental desk at the hotel as our kids wanted to visit the donkey sanctuary . It was $105 for the day. Otherwise we walked or got the bus up and down the coast which was fine for most of the travel we needed. Bus stops just outside more or less. There’s also loads of those electronic scooters and bikes around everywhere for rent. As for other amenities my partner used the gym (once!) and we also made use of the laundry the day before we left which was great. One thing to mention is this resort is also ‘Courtyard by Marriott’. I believe the rooms with kitchenettes are ‘The Mill’ and the others are ‘Courtyard’. I noticed a few negative reviews before we went about differences between what is included and not and extra fees/ charges etc so I would check all this before you travel to avoid confusion. I don’t think the social media and online platforms are checked very often so would recommend emailing guest services if you want to get in contact and clarify. If you want a beachfront resort with service to your sun lounger etc this isn’t the resort for you but if you want a clean, friendly, smaller resort with a great pool, breakfast, and laid back atmosphere then I would recommend the Mill.

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“Frustrating to book, great stay”

As other reviews have mentioned, "The Mill" resort doesn't actually exist - this is a Courtyard by Marriott. That didn't really matter all that much to us, but it did add an extra layer of confusion to the frustration cake that was the booking experience with this hotel. I usually always book w... more

As other reviews have mentioned, "The Mill" resort doesn't actually exist - this is a Courtyard by Marriott. That didn't really matter all that much to us, but it did add an extra layer of confusion to the frustration cake that was the booking experience with this hotel. I usually always book with the hotels themselves, but we had to book through Priceline because we tried to email the hotel to ask for their cancellation policy and it took them a month to respond. So, for peace of mind we took advantage of the Priceline cancellation policy. We then emailed The Mill to confirm that they received our booking at the correct price and a week or so later, they responded to that email. All good, but the slowness was annoying again. Then, a week before we were scheduled to fly in, we received an email from Priceline saying that The Mill was attempting to cancel our booking because we hadn't paid yet (they never charged us or attempted to charge us). Despite multiple emails to fix the issue, we were eventually forced to pay international calling fees to call their front desk to basically beg them not to cancel us. We had to call 3 times to get to a human who could help us. They confirmed we were fine and said they'd email us a link where we could pay (since this was supposedly the problem). Of course, never received any email. TL;DR is that on the day we flew into Aruba, I wasn't actually 100% sure we had somewhere to stay despite our consistent attempts to contact the hotel. I have never experienced that kind of lack of communication before and hopefully won't have to again. BUT, once we got there, we had a fantastic time. The room was clean and large-ish. We had a small outdoor balcony looking into the bird sanctuary which was really amazing. The pool is wonderful and the swim up bar was a lot of fun. In terms of location, the beach shuttle was convenient despite the beach sitting area being a bit packed (but that's the vibe of Palm Beach). Eagle beach and the butterfly farm are very walkable, as is the main hotel area strip with a ton of (very touristy, but convenient) restaurants and bars. We would probably come here again if we could confirm that their communication "style" changed a lot.

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“The Mill Resort -- AKA Courtyard by Marriott! -- Was a Pleasant Stay”

It wasn't until I actually arrived here that I realized this is now a Courtyard by Marriott, and has been for some time now. NOWHERE on Booking.com, Trip Advisor, in any of my confirmations, or even on the hotel website, did I see any name but The Mill Resort & Suites. When the driver of the taxi... more

It wasn't until I actually arrived here that I realized this is now a Courtyard by Marriott, and has been for some time now. NOWHERE on Booking.com, Trip Advisor, in any of my confirmations, or even on the hotel website, did I see any name but The Mill Resort & Suites. When the driver of the taxi from the airport told me that The Mill didn't exist anymore (imagine my panic) but that it was a Marriott Courtyard, I didn't believe her. So when we pulled up to the entrance, I asked her to stay for a moment while I went inside and confirmed at the front desk that I was in the right place. The room keys still say Mill Resort and Suites. Ditto the drink coasters. Marriott, your rebranding of this resort is abysmal. Once I got past the initial shock, I had a really pleasant stay. It's not high-end luxury, but it's quite comfortable. The staff are wonderful -- warm, friendly, helpful. The pools are lovely. There's a shuttle to the beach (also an easy walk); the attendant there will set up a chaise for you and provide towels and water. Public transportation to Oranjestad is easy and cheap; just $3 each way. Anyone at the hotel can show you where to get the bus, and anyone in town can point you toward the bus terminal. The shuttle driver can drop you off at the bus stop (and the Butterfly Farm, too, for that matter) since it's on the way to a beach run. The biggest problem for me was the substandard Wi-fi, which I'd counted on since I'd chosen not to purchase a local SIM card for my phone. (Hint: The MillAruba wi-fi account is more stable than either of the Marriott accounts, but it's not password-protected.) The hotel's restaurant was fine, though after really slow service the first night (and a pina colada that I'm pretty sure was "virgin"), I opted to dine at two of the restaurants in a strip mall adjacent to the windmill. Breakfast meals off the restaurant menu were fine. On the days I would've liked just a couple of scrambled eggs and toast, or a bowl of cereal with fruit, the only way to get a la carte choices was to pay $25 for the breakfast buffet. I actually would have used my kitchenette for breakfast, but the only information I could get about where to buy just a couple of items was to take a $10 cab each way to a big supermarket not easily reachable by bus. The hotel's grab-and-go area was helpful for snacks and beverages only. I didn't discover a mini-market just a short walk up the road (in a restaurant/shopping complex across from the Hilton) until my next to last day. It would be helpful for the Marriott to provide guests with a brief guide to local restaurants and shops in the rooms. Copies of an 150-page "MyAruba" guide are available in the lobby if you go look for them. They're not at the tour desk, which is only for booking tours from De Palm and another tour operator. If you want to explore tours from other tour companies, check the "MyAruba" guide -- or use TripAdvisor.

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