Marriott's Barony Beach Club

This is our third trip to Barony and we can’t wait to plan our fourth! If you are looking for a beachfront resort with endless amounts of activities; beautiful and spacious rooms; and a family-friendly atmosphere, look no further! The top 4 things we love about Barony are: 1. Location: This resort is broken into 3 sections of oceanfront, courtyard, and garden. Between the courtyard and garden is The Westin (you cross over the Westin driveway when going between sections). The furthest from the beach is the garden section, but it is still only an 8 minute leisurely walk to the beach. Barony is located in the area of HHI called Port Royal. It has a ton of biking/walking trails and is in a quiet section of hhi. Walmart is just a few miles down the street for groceries and there are plenty of restaurants and activities nearby. 2. Activities: The activities and the people who run them are the BEST! Most activities are complimentary and a few have a minimal cost. The activities that we enjoyed this time were: water aerobics; wine and cheese event; daily front porch social hour drink; bingo; trivia; coke and peanuts social; local beer tasting; s’mores; Oreos; popcorn tasting; and pop tarts and playdoh. Joey is always running around making sure everyone is included and happy and he always has a smile on his face. Joey is an asset to Barony! We can’t wait to see you next year! If you get the chance to do water aerobics with Martha (she is usually there a couple days a week), you must go! She is by far the best water aerobics instructor I have ever had. Hannah did a great job making sure everyone stayed active and ran the exercise programs during the week. She will definitely get you moving! There were several others who always had smiles on their faces and you always felt welcome. 3. Rooms/accommodations: Once you stay at a Marriott Vacation Club (MVC) property, you will never want to stay in a regular hotel room again. The rooms are over 1300 sq ft; have 2 bedrooms; 2 bathrooms; a full kitchen; a dining area; a laundry room/closet; 3 TVs; and a nice size balcony. The rooms sleep 8 people and there is plenty of room to spread out. The rooms are well-decorated and well-maintained. You truly couldn’t ask for more! 4. The resort itself: Barony has 3 outdoor pools and 1 indoor pool. It also has a splash pad and a water slide at the pool in the garden area. There are grills throughout the resort and plenty of swings; cornhole; shuffleboard; ping pong; and fire pits. The grounds are well-maintained and we absolutely love being right on the beach. Definitely give Barony a try- I promise you will love it!

The resort itself was great. It had beautifully maintained grounds, modern accommodations, and nice views that make for a truly relaxing atmosphere. We stayed in 9428 in the Morning Glory building and had no issues with parking, elevators, and it was in good proximity to the pool/beach. The rooms were spacious, clean, and well-designed, offering all of what you need to make meals, do laundry, etc. I was surprised there was no baking sheet, but we made it work. The resort was family friendly and had normal activities (bingo, movies, etc). We went to the caramel apple bar, which was really sliced apples and toppings and attempted to get ice cream sundaes (freezer malfunctioned ‍♀️). Unfortunately, the overall experience was dampened by the staff. From check-in to check out, the service felt cold and impersonal. There was a noticeable lack of warmth or hospitality. A resort of this caliber should come with friendly, attentive service, and that just wasn’t the case during our stay. Simply saying “Welcome” or “How did you enjoy your stay?” should be standard at the front desk. Twice my daughters and I passed a desk near the spa where 5 employees stood and not one spoke. We checked out on my birthday and I called to ask for a late checkout (at least an additional hour) and was told they couldn’t accommodate that. I could attribute the service to the lack of diversity (I’m African American), but I try not to jump to conclusions. My family had a nice stay overall. WiFi worked well and Netflix was on all of the TVs. The beach and pools were great and never felt overcrowded. We cooked some meals in the villa and tried some nearby restaurants. There were plenty of stores for groceries/shopping and an outlet is minutes away. If you’re simply looking to enjoy beautiful surroundings and don’t mind limited engagement from staff, Marriott Barony Beach could be a nice option.

First off, let’s start with the positives. This place has obviously been remodeled recently, and unlike some remodels, it was very well done and looks great! However, like many Marriott vacation club villas we’ve stayed in, there were some mechanical and maintenance issues. Both of the bedroom fans would buzz incessantly when turned on above the lowest level, making them almost unusable. The central air conditioning had something loose in either the the ductwork or the vent that caused a noticeable rattling sound that was very annoying. But to give credit where it is due, the maintenance guy Eduardo came into the villa and fixed everything - he was especially courteous and was very prompt - well done Eduardo! The outside pool was nasty - my wife and son found a woman’s sanitary pad floating in the deep end near the slide. That was very off-putting. There was a fair amount of debris at the bottom of the pool as well.