Royalton Luxury Hotels review: hotel accommodations

We were a family of 8 traveling between christmas and new year's day every year for the past 6 years. I wish I read all of the posts before choosing royalton bavaro. If my review sounds like something you already read, note that I am not the only one who suffered the same inconveniences at this resort. I booked the trip based on my sister's recommendations since she was a patron of the resort in june 2018. Needless to say, the resort did not meet our expectations.
From the first day at check-in, I spent the first day walking back-and-forth to reception checking on our room multiple times. Since we were travelling with 3 rooms, I requested adjoining rooms or rooms to be at least on the same floor. Two rooms eventually ended up on the same floor and the third in a different building. Once I finally got in to the first room, the bracelet did not open the door causing me to go back to the reception area and wait online yet again. The bracelet still did not work, and a bellman had to escort us up to the room. He opened the door, and I was instantly hit with a pungent smell of mold and mildew. I went to the front desk to get another room. The bracelet did not work for the second room, and all occupants of the room had to walk back and forth, waiting on lines at the front desk, two more times before the bracelet worked. Once in the second room, room 16217, the bathroom floor was covered in pubic hair and sand. There was spilled chocolate milk in the refrigerator; long, black hair stuck to the glass around the jacuzzi tub; crumbs of food from the previous occupant in the decorative bowl; ink drawings on the bench; and the rooms smelled musty. I have pictures. The room was to be set up for 3 adults, and the pull out had no sheets or blanket, and there were not enough towels nor a bath mat. I contacted house keeping and was told this would be remedied and someone would be by to clean.

The hotel claims it only opened 10 months ago. This room was a construction nightmare. The door jam was splintered, the jacuzzi tub did not work and was separating, the bathroom sink had a foul smell, and the shower tiles were broken. Just based on construction, I would not buy the time share from travelsmart.

Communication between staff is horrible. When asking housekeeping for a particular service or product they do something completely different or nothing at all. I called the diamond hotel butler, front desk and housekeeping looking for a blanket for the pull-out bed for my adult daughter. The room had a stench, less of a stench then the first room, and to make it bearable, the air conditioner was set high all day and all night, making the room very cold. Since my daughter did not get a blanket until day 3, she slept in the bed with us, a tight fit for 3 adults. After several calls, I finally grabbed a maid on the floor and asked for a blanket.
Juan and benito, concierges in the bottom of our building, were no help except to con us to attend a "special" breakfast to be held at hunter's, only opened to those attending the timeshare presentation. The breakfast was not a "special" breakfast at hunter's but the same buffet available to all except that you sat in hunter's so that the presenters had your undivided attention. Also, you were not allowed to go back for seconds.
So now I am on this trip for not even 36 hours and have barely relaxed. Between the check-in, the filthy room, and the timeshare breakfast, I was ready to leave after the first day but was reminded that the trip was pre-paid. I tried to express my concerns to guest services but was told I had to make an appointment. During the breakfast timeshare presentation, I was reminded several times that if I bought the time share and became a diamond club member, I would not have these issues. But if you read other reviews, even diamond club members have issues with this resort. I do not think I should have to be a member to have a clean room or towels or a working tub.
I expressed the fact our rooms 16233 and 16217 were filthy and smelled to the diamond butler on the phone; front desk; elkin, rosa, edwin, crispin, and carlos at travelsmart; and juan and benito, the concierges at my building over the course of a few days. I finally made the appointment on 12/28 with the guest service manager, dario. Even though I had an appointment, I waited a half hour to speak to him. He then kindly listened to me for an hour and ½ and wrote down all of my complaints, filling half a page. He assured me all would be taken care of and remedied. The front desk called my husband to advise him a room with an ocean view was available to move to. Leaving in 2 days, it did not make sense to move us to a new room. Nothing else was done. The room was still filthy. The tub still did not work. There were no credits given to us. Dario was nowhere to be found.

The day of check out, I requested to speak to dario, the guest service manager whom I spent 2 hours listening to promises of remedy and credit. The woman at the front desk could not get dario and made excuses for him. She did not seek to find another manager or dario's supervisor. The front desk is the first impression and sets the tone for the hotel. After one move, one phone call, one meeting, you'd think that there would be some sort of management intervention to sort out the problem and ensure we were satisfied. Dealing with the front desk was a nightmare from start to finish, we felt lied to and cheated of a restful, relaxing fun family vacation. Never mind offering an apology or any compensation for our inconvenience due to their ineptitude, the front desk told the bell captain to highjack our cab until we paid our bills! I did not want to sign anything until I spoke to dario or manager, but after my cab was highjacked and I could not leave to make my flight, I signed the credit card slip under duress.

Diamond club or no club, same people run the hotel, and it is below average, to put it nicely. Few other things: unless you are a diamond club member wearing a black wrist band, you cannot make a reservation for dinner except at the hibachi grill (which we were given 9:45pm). Zen, hibachi grill, was not worth making a reservation. Protein was over cooked, and the sample sushi was days old and refrigerated. The protein at the buffets is always over cooked, well done to burnt, even the omelet at the "made to order" omelet station. Traveling with 8 people and having uncertainty around every meal took a lot away from making this a good vacation.
The beach area is small and crowded with grass umbrellas and lounge chairs. You do not go to the beach to get a tan.

We will not be returning to this resort or any other royalton. We travel often and this by far was the worst service experience we have ever had.

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