For those who aren’t fully caught up with Adam Parkzer lore, I have been a digital nomad for a majority of the time since mid-2021. I leased a condo for one year between 2023 and 2024, but apart from that, I have basically been living almost full-time out of hotel rooms.

When I started my journey, I picked one hotel brand and stuck with it to accrue loyalty status and get perks. I ended up selecting Marriott due to their broad portfolio of different hotels under their brand and the frequency with which they have hotels in smaller, out-of-the-way cities and towns. Usually, earning the highest tier of status is challenging for most people, but if you’re basically treating Marriott like your landlord like I did, it actually comes quite easily. I reached Ambassador Elite within the first year and have maintained it since then, apart from the one year when I rented a condo in the middle of my multi-year journey.

When people found out that I was living in hotel rooms, they wanted me to mix in hotel reviews among the blog posts I would publish about the various tourist activities I was doing during my travels. I would post photos of hotel rooms once in a while in round-up/miscellaneous photo dump blog posts, but otherwise, I never really did full reviews because I didn’t think they would be interesting. Keep in mind that I was treating these hotel rooms as my home, so I wanted something simple, straightforward, and affordable; as a result, most of my hotel stays were in Fairfield Inns, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inns, and Courtyards—not exactly the most flashy and exciting hotels.

However, since then, I’ve been more open to being more adventurous and staying in more interesting hotels. I still don’t really do hotel reviews though, because I feel like a proper review should be very thorough; I often don’t spend enough time experiencing and analyzing all the amenities and restaurants the hotel has to offer to be able to write a great review.

With that being said, I recently had such a goofy experience that I decided to do my very first hotel review.

One of the perks of being Ambassador Elite is that you can book regular guest rooms and get complimentary upgrades, availability permitting. I almost always book the most basic room, and I almost always get upgraded to at least a slightly larger room or a room on the highest floor with the best view. Once in a while, I will get upgraded to a suite and have a separate living room and bedroom. My best upgrade so far was at MGM’s Aria Resort and Casino, where I booked the cheapest room but ended up getting a complimentary upgrade to the Aria Sky Suites (MGM has a partnership with Marriott, so many of my perks are transferrable).

Well, it was my best upgrade… until now. I am in Southern California for a short trip for a very “special” dinner, which I will blog about soon. The dinner is going to be in Anaheim, California, so I decided to stay at the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort while in town.

Like usual, I booked the cheapest room available. Upon arrival, I parked in a neighboring parking garage for the Anaheim GardenWalk because I didn’t want to use the hotel’s mandatory valet service. I checked in, and the customer service representative confirmed that I had a room with one king bed. After she explained all the amenities of the hotel, she sent me on my way to the elevator.

After getting off the elevator, I followed the signs to my room number, 1118. When I found it, I saw that the room had double doors. I was a bit confused at first, but I’d been in enough hotels already to know what had happened. I got upgraded to the Presidential Suite.

The customer service representative technically wasn’t lying when she said the room had one king bed. It’s just that she conveniently left out the fact that the room also had quite a lot more to it than just the bedroom.

The bathroom had two sinks, a standing shower, a bathtub, and a separate area with an additional door and privacy glass for the toilet.

Just the living room itself was about the size of a regular hotel room.

On the opposite side of the living room was an entire dining room.

Around the corner from the dining room was a dedicated den.

The den had a desk in addition to a small seating area.

This is the bar and kitchen area. You can’t tell because of the wall, but there is a full-sized refrigerator tucked in around the corner.

The room literally even had a foyer. From the foyer was a dedicated coat closet, as well as a powder room (i.e., a second bathroom).

I headed out to the wrap-around corner balcony to check out the view.

When I got to the west side of the balcony, I saw another balcony in the distance and thought “nice, those people also have a balcony.” Then I realized that that is also my balcony, accessible from the bedroom.

I was on this trip alone, by the way. I’m someone who is generally fine with having a small hotel room, as long as it’s clean and doesn’t smell weird. So, as you’d probably expect, my reaction when walking through the Presidential Suite and taking photographs was a combination of “this is excessive” and “what in the world am I going to do with all this space.”

This is what the first floor entryway looks like, near the valet area. Because I didn’t valet my truck, I just walked in through this area and then took the escalator up to the second floor to the hotel lobby on the second floor.

This is the common area on the second floor near the check-in desk.

This is the executive lounge, accessible by anyone Platinum and above in Marriott’s loyalty program. They serve snacks and small plates throughout the day, so I stopped by here a handful of times during my stay.

Here is a small sampling of some of the hors d’oeuvres they served during the evening—miniature beef wellingtons, shrimp egg rolls, artichoke dip, salad, edamame, deep-fried shrimp, and beef empanadas. As you can probably tell from the second photograph, I really like chili sauce.

This JW Marriott had a JW Gardens on the second floor, right outside the check-in area. It obviously wasn’t anywhere near as grand or majestic as the one in JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi, but it was still nice to have a serene walk through some flowers.

One section of the JW Gardens was set up for a private event.

Near one of the entrances to the JW Gardens, there was a sign that explained more about the flowers, plants, and animals found on their property.

On the far edge of the gardens, there was a small clearing between some trees through which I was able to see the Anaheim GardenWalk. At the time that I peeked over, there was a very long line of people, but I couldn’t quite figure out what they were waiting for.

For dinner on the first night of my stay, I decided to dine at one of the on-site restaurants, Tocca Ferro Italian Chophouse. My decision was vetoed and overridden by the fact that apparently Tocca Ferro was closed for renovations.

Instead, I decided to pivot to Citriculture, which is their hybrid lobby and pool bar. I headed over to the general area, but it seemed like there were no staff members on duty. I figured that they were understaffed and the only person had walked away to take a bathroom break or something, so I sat down and browsed through the menu. After deciding what I wanted to eat, I scrolled through the news on my phone for several minutes until I noticed someone who looked vaguely like a staff member re-emerge from the shadows.

I stood up and walked over in his general direction. He looked at me, and then handed me someone’s check. After I told him that I wanted to place an order, he rerouted the check to the proper person and then asked me to hold on for a bit. I stood there like an NPC for a few minutes while I watched this guy scramble all over the place and wrangle the overwhelming two other tasks he had to do.

He eventually got to me and asked what I wanted to order. I told him I wanted the Monarch Burger. He asked me how I would like it cooked, so I asked him what is the rarest I can get it. He replied that I can get it rare.

Now, for those who are not familiar with doneness levels in burgers, you usually want your burgers cooked well-done because there can be a lot of bacteria transfer during the grinding process. There are a few exceptions to this, such as if you’re having a steak burger served as a whole cut of beef, or if the outside is seared to high temperatures first and then diced using clean cutting tools, or if it is prepared sous vide and held to a rare doneness level for about two hours. However, most fast food restaurants or bars just put a ground beef patty on a grill and are not going to go through that extra hassle to properly prepare a rare burger.

When he said I could get my burger rare, I became curious so I asked a few questions. I asked him if it was a steak burger, to which he hesitatingly said yes. I realized he didn’t know what that meant, so I clarified whether the burger was made with a single chunk of meat or with ground beef, and he confirmed that it’s a regular ground beef patty. I asked him how they cook it, and he said that they “cook it regular.” After concluding that this man has no idea what words are coming out of his own mouth, I told him that I would like my burger medium-well.

He said “ok,” then just went silent and went about the rest of his day. I got his attention again and asked him if I was going to be seated somewhere in particular or if I can just grab a seat anywhere at the bar; he replied to my “this or that” question with a very insightful “no.” I also mentioned that I wanted to apply my food and beverage credits to the meal, upon which he stared at me as if I was the first person in the history of the hotel to ever try and use a food and beverage credit. I clarified that I would like to use both the food and beverage credit that comes with the resort fee, in addition to the extra one I get from my elite status welcome gift. He eventually figured it out and printed out a receipt for me to sign.

After almost 20 minutes, my burger finally came out. Fortunately, it was a different person this time, and it seems like this was actually the real waitress who was supposed to be managing Citriculture. She realized that I wasn’t even given a glass of water, so she made up for the previous guy’s shortcomings, got me some water, and made sure I had all the sauces and utensils I needed to enjoy my meal.

According to the menu, the Monarch Burger has a patty composed of a short rib and chuck blend. In the burger is Muenster cheese, lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, shaved red onions, crispy prosciutto, white truffle and citrus aioli, and spicy nectar glaze in between a sesame brioche bun. On the side were some thick-cut fries. The vegetables were very refreshing, and overall, I enjoyed the burger.

For dinner on the second day of my stay, I went to the Parkestry Rooftop Bar and Lounge. This requires taking a special elevator found through the JW Gardens, but the door to that elevator was locked. Considering that the Italian restaurant was still closed and I didn’t want to go back to Citriculture in fear of running into the incompetent male server again, I went to the front desk to inquire about the rooftop bar. After going back and forth a few times, they informed me that the door to the elevator was indeed not supposed to be locked. Someone eventually went around through the back and opened it for me, so I was able to make my way up to the top of the building.

I had already eaten some more hors d’oeuvres that day in the lounge, so I kept my Parkestry meal simple with some buffalo chicken wings, carrots, and celery—enough to use my food and beverage credit, but not overeat.

The chicken wings tasted like the highest-tier frozen chicken wings that you’d find at a grocery store, prepared properly in the oven. The buffalo sauce was delicious and added a nice depth to the chicken wings that made them taste more notable and less generic. The vegetables were, once again, very refreshing.

With all the free food I was getting, I of course had to stop by the gym for some exercise. There were fewer weight machines than I had hoped, but it still had enough to cover all the fundamentals.

There was a plate of zen sand in the corner of the gym, along with a rake so you could draw your own zenful designs.

This is what the elevator lobby looked like on the mezzanine floor, which is the floor with the gym.

Remember the area in the JW Gardens from earlier that was set up for a private event? I was fortunate enough that I was able to participate in it too… but from my balcony. They had some fun music playing from down there, so I brought my laptop out onto the balcony and got some work done while enjoying the music.

Here is a view from one of my balconies during the night. The rows of palm trees were all individually illuminated, which made for a nice sight.

Disneyland was also visible in the distance from the balcony attached to the bedroom. Unfortunately, apparently it is still considered “off-season,” so they limit the fireworks shows to only certain days of the week—days that did not overlap with my stay at the hotel.

So, my thoughts on the hotel? You might be surprised to hear my final thoughts, considering that they literally gave me a free upgrade to a suite that usually goes for over a thousand dollars a night (though I guess this might also be a clear indication that I am excruciatingly difficult to sway with free gifts and perks).

I thought the hotel was… fine.

Just because a room is bigger doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. To be clear, the room itself was absolutely fantastic, and I’m sure someone traveling with a large group of people would’ve loved it, but for me personally, I probably would’ve enjoyed a smaller room of equal design and cleanliness just as much as the Presidential Suite. Of course, I appreciated the upgrade so I could have this very funny experience, but it wasn’t a deciding factor in my opinion of the hotel.

Overall, the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort was absolutely dwarfed in every possible metric when compared to JW Marriott hotels in Asia. The Asian JW Marriotts I’ve stayed at sat at the absolute top tier of service and luxury that I’ve experienced (and, to some extent, too top-tier, because I had pinnacle levels of service swarming around me at the JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong at all times, even during periods when I preferred to just be left alone). However, the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort just felt like a more upscale version of a regular Marriott of the non-JW variant.

With that being said, to put things into perspective, I’ve also been to worse JW Marriotts. For example, the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE just felt like a regular Marriott without the upscaledness, and I found it to be undeserving of the JW branding. Thus, I think my assessment of the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort being “fine” is actually quite reasonable.

So, would I go back to the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort? It depends. I see myself returning under two circumstances: either during very off-season periods where room rates are as low as they can get and I’m in the mood to stick around the property to take full advantage of all the amenities, or if there is a convention going on and the hotels closer to the Anaheim Convention Center are comparatively more expensive so I end up booking at the JW and making the extra walk to whatever event I’m attending.