Royalton Luxury Hotels review: multiple 1

To Whom it May Concern,

Let us first say that we have stayed at multiple resorts in the Carribean/Mexico region over the last decade of travelling. We have never reached out to a complaint board or felt inclined to contact the Resort Administrators. Our experience at Royalton Blue Waters unfortunately changed that for us. We chose this as a recommendation from our Apple Travel agent, being that she has had great experiences and reviews with other Royalton properties. The splash park and child friendly amenities were what sealed the deal on our decision to stay at Blue Waters with our 19-month-old daughter.

We would like to note the things we enjoyed about Blue Waters:

1. The resort is beautiful - the views are amazing, the grounds are maintained, and the beach is private and well kept.
2. The security was also comforting. They did a great job keeping the resort safe.
3. The wrist band is the room key. Although a little awkward, it is extremely convenient to never need to look for your room key.
4. It was always easy to find lounge chairs at the pool. We have been to enough resorts to know that this is prime ‘real estate' and it fills up before breakfast normally. We never had an issue with this.
5. Room maintenance service was amazing.

Now for our concerns:

1. The staff, especially female staff, were generally unfriendly. We experienced this in all areas of the resort. This was something that set a lot of the guests on edge and made for a cold tone to the vacation. The guests we did meet said the same thing about the staff. A resort is a service-based industry and the biggest shortfall of this resort was just that. We did luck out and meet a few pretty amazing staff members. These individuals include Brenda, a server at the Blue Waters pool, Celia-Dawn, a massage therapist at the spa, Andre, the omelet master at the buffet, Rowhan and Chevon, servers/staff at the buffet, Andrew, a server at Grazie restaurant, our room maintenance man - didn't remember his name, but he has an 8 month old daughter, the blue waters pool aerobics instructor, and finally the resort photographers.
2. Food - Every place continuously ran out of food. This is absolutely unacceptable, especially when we are paying for an all-inclusive experience. The most disappointing experience was when we coordinated childcare for our 19-month-old daughter so we could enjoy a dinner alone at the steak house. This cost us $25/hour to do. Aside from the fact that it took 30 minutes to be seated in a less than 50% occupied restaurant, the waiter told us that they were out of EVERY steak option except for the flank steak - the most unappealing option on the menu. This is a steak house! We even asked about paying for the upgraded meat cuts the menu offered. They proceeded to tell us they never have those available. ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE. They even said the chef was driving to town to go get more, which was also a bunch of malarkey. Our disappointment continued with the jerk hut running out of chicken on a daily basis, the burger stand running out of burgers and hot dogs daily, and room service running out of chicken tenders. Attempting to get lunch seemed like an act of congress and none of the pool waiters seemed to be able to get food delivered to the pool - the first resort we have ever experienced this at. We asked for a quesadilla or grilled cheese sandwich for our daughter, and even though tortillas, bread, and cheese were available, no one seemed to be able to accommodate our 19-month-old's needs. We were offered upgraded experienced at the culinary experience and beach dinners, but why would we pay for these experiences when we can't even get a mediocre one with what we paid for?
3. The resort does not efficiently manage their staff. There are too many underutilized personnel. So many times, we would ask someone for something and they would say it was someone else's responsibility or servers would say "this isn't my station"- well then why are you over here in the first place?! There were a lot of people standing around doing nothing while a few people were working their tails off. The resort, at this capacity, could easily run with 75% of the staff and give them a wider range or responsibilities/empowerment and be much more efficient. I would be happy to discuss this further.
4. While eating at restaurants, we noticed it would take forever to be served drinks. This is because servers would need to leave the restaurant to go get drinks from one of the bars. So many times, we would be served our entree before even receiving a drink.
5. Breaking change was impossible. We like to tip for great service, but it seems like management would prefer guests not tip their staff because there never seemed to be anyone who could break a $20 bill.
6. Room service was terrible. Half the time they wouldn't answer the phone and it took forever to get food delivered. We left the room before one delivery because it took so long. We tried ordering on the TV, but they seemed to always call us and ask questions anyways, so it was extremely inefficient.
7. The staff elevator was broken, so staff shared the guest elevators. Stinky food trays left for a very unpleasant experience as we were riding next to carts of waste, etc. This also caused the elevators to run all the time, making it a long process to catch a ride with our stroller and toddler in tow. Otherwise the stairs would have been faster. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the elevator has been out of service for months based on how unphased the staff seemed when it came to share it with guests.
8. Adjoining rooms share a lot of noise. We battled with this since we had a toddler that went to bed at 8 and our neighbors were wanting to stay out and party until 3-4 AM. This made for unrestful sleep.
9. Swim diapers were $50 in the gift shop. This is 5 times the normal cost. I understand shipping, etc. but this is outrageous!
10. Room temperatures should be able to be adjusted to below 20 degrees Celsius. It locked us out at that temperature and we fought to allow this to be overridden.
11. Spoons- for goodness sake can we get a spoon to stir our coffee in the morning?!
12. Waste bins. Although we are proponents for recycling, etc. There are no waste bins around the resort except for in the restrooms. We had to drag dirty diapers all around the resort to try to throw them away.
13. Paper straws. Terrible. There are better eco friendly options than the ones you provide. You can't finish a drink without eating paper along the way. Another eco friendly idea would be to provide guests with insulated cups for their drinks. This would help cut on water waste with cleaning and cups rolling around everywhere, as well as provide a little free advertising.

Overall, we are sending you this info to bring light to a property that has the potential to be great. There are so many issues that need to be fixed. I hope you can take this as an opportunity to change some practices otherwise this resort will fail. Other guests had mentioned great experiences at the Iberostar and Grand Palladium Montego Bay, so we would encourage your company to look at your competition to identify any additional opportunities to improve.

Sincerely,

Megan and Scott Easton
[protected]
megan.[protected]@gmail.com