Our family of 4 (2 teenage daughters) stayed at the Marques over the Christmas/New Years week. I think only because it was that week, we were forced to take a meal plan. The hotel did a great job keeping things running over probably their busiest week of the year. Despite most of the pool chairs having books on them, the pool staff was always able to find us 4 chairs in the shade. Most of the meals were buffet, and most of the food was very good. We drank bottled water, but used ice and brushed our teeth with tap water and no one got sick. The sister hotel, the Princess was an easy walk down the beach, and we did use their pool one day. That hotel was larger, consequently the pool area was a little more crowded, but they had a water slide and swim up bar so it was fun for one day. We decided to forgo our meal plan one night and ate at Las Brisas. The view is breathtaking, food is very good, but as expensive as you'd pay in Boston. Again, could have had higher prices because of the holiday week.
Several things you might want to know - the hotels cannot keep the beaches private, so a lot of day-trippers show up on the beach in front of the hotels. The hotel is a long way out of town. We knew that and figured we'd just stay put, but we ended up hiring a taxi one day, and then just stayed with that driver for the rest of the trip. The taxi drivers will take you anywhere for $20/hr, and wait while you shop or watch the cliff divers. During Christmas week the traffic was REALLY bad. It took us about an hour and a half to get from the hotel to the cliff divers. Unlike someone else who left a review, I would recommend you pay the $18 and watch from La Perla. They have great tables terraced on the cliff, and you get 2 drinks included. You can feel like a movie star in the 1960s. Walmart is a 20 minute walk down the street from the Marques, only 10 minutes if you are staying at the Princess. It's open 24 hours, so if you like to go for a morning walk, you can walk there and get your water, etc. Most of the walk is on hotel property, by the golf course. Only a very short distance across the street after you leave the property. And don't forget to join the (free) President's club for free internet. Lastly, just as we were boarding the American Airlines flight to come home, there was another security check where our hand baggage was hand searched and everyone had all liquids taken away, even if you bought it inside security. We just lost a couple waters we had just bought, but one couple lost 2 bottles of champagne.
All in all, I think the hotel was very well run, staff did a great job during a stressful week. I've stayed in more luxurious rooms, but we all enjoyed our stay, even the teenagers, which is saying a lot.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.