Stay Report: Royalton CHIC Antigua, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort (Antigua - July 2024)

  Stay Report: Royalton CHIC Antigua
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We are looking for a summer place and during the booking I encountered the Royalton Chic Antigua.  I had never heard of the Royalton brand but I decided to book it for the following reasons: 1) this was now part of the Marriott Autograph Collection and we are a Silver Elite member in Marriott Bonvoy so I thought this would be better; and 2) I went online and the reviews both on TripAdvisor and YouTube generally seemed good so I booked the stay.  Booking my stay at this resort and choosing Antigua was the biggest mistake I made in my life.

The hotel is an all-inclusive which means that you pay one price and everything is included - food,drinks, and supposedly some activities.  The room that we booked was a "Luxury Pool View, All-Inclusive, Guest room, 2 Queen beds".  Most of the rooms allow upto 3-guests per room but all the reviews say that they allow 4 people for an extra charge; we were 4 people so decided to follow upon that and proceed to book through the Marriott website.

There are two Royalton resorts in Antigua - one is the Royalton Resort and the second is the Royalton Chic with the later supposedly the more upscale and better version of the resorts.  The entrance to the Royalton Chic does not look very chic at all and the service from the gate attendant was minimal, but once past there you proceed down the hill towards the main entrance.  There is a circular driveway at the main entrance with a small parking lot located next to the main entrance.  We had a car so we stopped by the main entrance before proceeding to park; when we got to the main entrance we were greeted by a bellman who was inquiring about our luggage.  I was a bit confused as there was no instructions nor details about what was happening or the direction in which we had to go but rather just wanted us to answer his questions; it was very confusing and not a great start.  

The main entrance is where you have the bellman and then you walk halfway down the building to the check-in desk on the right side.  At other all-inclusive I have been to there is someone at the main entrance/bell stop guiding you through the process or there to assist; no one was there here.  When we got to the check-in desk, there was no greeting, no welcoming us to the property, and generally no version of any type of customer service.  We were asked about the passports and whose name the reservation was under - and during that time no mention of the membership status, nothing - and when they said we have 4 people the response was 'our policy is 3 only so you have to book another room which I cannot do so you either have to call reservations or go online'.  The lack of customer service, the lack of engagement, the lack of caring was outstanding throughout my entire journey but especially at check-in.  After lots of back and forth, lots of miscommunication and lies from the staff, the hotel miraculously changed their policy and allowed a 4th person to be in the room for some extra money.  

After check-in, we all got wristbands tied to our hand and were told so sign multiple documents and when we asked about a resort map or details of what was included the response was 'everything is on the TV' and when we asked if there were paper maps or details, the response was 'no'.  That was the lack of customer service we experienced.  The bellman who took our luggage from check-in to the room did not interact with us, did not share anything about the resort, and was more interested in connecting with his coworker friends than the guest; at every other resort the bellman were always interested in talking and sharing details about the resort as this was their policy but it also increased their tip.

When we got to the room, it looked like a standard 2-queen bed room and did not look luxurious at all.  As you entered the room, there was a hallway which led into the main part of the room and in that hallway was the bathroom on the left and closets on the right.  The closet was divided into two parts with the first part to hang clothes and contained the luggage rack and robes, while the other side contained the safe as well as the shelves within the closet.  The bathroom was basic and tiny and contained a small sink, toilet as well as a rain shower.  Bathroom toiletries including body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion were included but no bar soap was included and there was no place to put these items in the shower.  

In the room itself, along left side were the two queen beds with a nightstand in the middle.  Along the right side of the wall was a stand that had the coffee maker and water on top, and below was the fridge plus drawers.   Continuing along the wall was the mounted TV and then there was a countertop with two chairs which could be used as a dining table.  The beds were decent and were spacious enough to accommodate two people and comfortable to provide a decent night sleep.  There were outlets along the wall and on the nightstand so you could charge your devices.  The best part of the room though was the balcony, which opened up to the view of the pool and the ocean in the background; contain two chairs and was big enough to comfortably sit outside and/or dry your clothes.  Overall, the room was a small-to-decent size and I have been in bigger rooms at resorts (see Aruba Hyatt review) but I have been in smaller rooms so the room was decent for 3-4 people but the bathroom was definitely smaller.    

It is supposed to be an all-inclusive resorts so all food and activities should be included.  There were two pools available, one near the main entrance which had the swim-up bar and where most of the staff were, and another smaller pool near our section which was quieter and almost never had any staff come by and check.  The beach was decent and there were chairs and lounges available, and the beach for this resort connected to the Sandals beach resort so it made for a nice walk along the beach; also on the beach we barely saw any staff attending to or inquiring about guests.  There was a bar that was near the beach but that was never staffed; there was also another bar near the restaurants but that was only staffed at night.  If you were at the beach and you wanted something to drink, you had to walk to the main bar near the main entrance to get anything; and the resort long width wise so it took a bit of time to walk from our section near the end towards the main entrance, especially if you were elderly or had mobility issues.

There were supposedly multiple restaurants serving meals throughout the day and night, but which was open and when was never clear even though we asked multiple staff members.  The information on the TV was not correct and no staff member knew of any of the openings; the advice we got was 'just walk around see what was open.'  There was a Caribbean restaurant, a steak restaurant, an Italian restaurant, a sports bar, a Mediterranean restaurant, a food truck serving burgers, a coffee shop and a buffet restaurant.  The Mediterranean restaurant was never open the entire time we were there; we went to the steak restaurant one night and waited over 2-hours and still never got our food; we went to the Italian restaurant and waited 1hr30min only to be told that a party that came in after us was going to get the food before us; we went to the food truck which did not have a menu so you had to ask what was available and they it took almost 30-45 minutes to get your food.  Overall, the food quality and quantity was poor as each restaurant we went to they served starters and then a main course but the portion and quantity were so small it seemed more like a tasting rather than a meal.  The quality and lack of seasoning was also something that stood out as the food was bland and lacked seasoning and/or taste.

If there were other amenities included in the resort, we had no idea since we were not given any

information and no staff was willing to provide any details.  As I mentioned at the top, the main issue was the lack of service.  From the time we entered the property to the time we left, we encountered staff who did not care, were not courteous, some were downright rude, dismissive and borderline racists.  We shared this feedback with Management who kept saying 'thank you for your feedback but that is not my department' and nothing seemed to happen after that.  There was complimentary wifi available and complimentary parking.  You could also order food from the TV and then it was brought to your room, we did this to order food and additional drinks so there was no service by the pool nor the beach.

Overall, it was a complete waste of time and money at this resort.  My recommendation is to not go here, do not waste your time nor money to experience such a bad resort that does not care about its guests.  I have reviews of other all-inclusive and/or resorts in the Caribbean, check those out and go there instead.  

P.s..this is just my experience and my review.  While at the resort, we did talk to individuals who either themselves or their friends had similar experiences in terms of negative staff experience, rude/dismissive staff and overall a negative experience at the resort.

Stay Report: Beaches Turks & Caicos (Providenciales - July 2021)

 Stay Report: Beaches Turks & Caicos
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It was a year in the pandemic and while COVID rates had decreased, it was still a pandemic so this was in my mind when searching for a destination and place.  In my search I found Beaches Turks & Caicos by Sandals and I liked it because 1) it was all-inclusive so that mean reducing exposure; 2) the resort took care of COVID testing + insurance and other health-related documents and information needed for exit and entry; and 3) Sandals is one of the biggest all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean so wanted to check out their process.  Since it was my first time booking with the resort and organization, I did most of my interaction through the phone after doing online research.  Their phone agents were really helpful but could not answer specific questions about the resort itself; they could answer general questions about the booking but not specific questions about the layout or details of the resort.

As it was all-inclusive, airport pick-up and drop-off is included in the fare.  During my conversation, I was told by the agent that 'there would be Beaches or Sandals kiosk outside of immigration and just let them know you have a reservation and they will coordinate the drop-off.'  Since those were the instructions I received, that is what I followed but after immigration there was no kiosk and no Sandals representative; instead there were many white passenger vans that were independently operated and these made rounds of the various resorts - this information would've been helpful to know because I did not know if this was the right transport or if this was an incorrect and I was going to get charged for it.  

That level of service, or lacking service in an aspect, is the type of overall experience I received atSandals.  When we arrived, we were given cold towels and a welcome drink and then told to sit in the lobby and someone would help us.  It took a while and when the person came to check us in, they were not as helpful or as customer service friendly as they could have been.  For all-inclusive, especially if it is your first time, there is a lot of information that you need to be aware of but that information was missing in our initial conversation and information was only given when prompted.  Even though we arrived at 1pm, our room was still not ready so we kept our luggage at the front desk and went to the restaurant to have some lunch and relax until our room was ready.  

There were many restaurants that were included in the all-inclusive and these ranged from pizza and salad and ice cream to fancier restaurants including seafood and pasta.  Some restaurants needed a reservation while others were a first-come, first-serve.  Some of the fancier restaurants got extremely crowded at dinner time and that made it difficult to choose restaurants because the restaurant you wanted to try that night was completely full.  The restaurants had set menus and set selections but it was the service that was slow and lacking at each restaurant - this caused many slowdowns and delays at restaurants and other facilities throughout the resort (we were told by others who were there often that other resorts had recently opened and were paying better thus the more experienced and higher quality staff had left to the newer resorts).  The food itself was decent quality and had decent flavor but was not spectacular; there was a lot of variety ranging from seafood to pasta to salad to dessert to burgers.  We were there for 4 nights and were able to try a different restaurant each night.  Each served the same quality of food in terms of portion size and flavor - nothing was too flavorful nor did anything stand out for being great but then nothing stood out for being exceptionally bad.  

We had booked a 2-double bed room on the 1st floor in the Caribbean village.  The hotel is divided up

into various Villages and each Village has its own pools and restaurants - each Village also has its own check-in dedicated to that area so that they are not overcrowded dealing with everyone.  The Caribbean Village was the oldest part of the resort but was also more centrally located and was near the main entrance (as well as exit point) as well as near the health service as well - it was very easy to walk to the various Villages and to other restaurants.  Each room was designed to be a little villa space so all the rooms had a mini-garden and a table with 2 chairs outside; so that you could sit outside your room on your dedicated chairs and enjoy the outside air.  Inside, as you entered on your left was a chair and a small table that faced the window.  Next to that, along the left wall, were the two beds plus a nightstand in the middle.  Across the beds, alongside the right wall, was an chest with drawers on the bottom and a TV on top.  The top also had a long top so that you could store items on top and next to the chest was an armoire to hang clothes up.  In the chest area was also a fridge, a microwave, as well as the coffee maker.   Further into the room, beyond the armoire, was a vanity area with a sink and a mirror.  This allowed people to get ready outside without occupying the bathroom.  The bathroom contained a sink, a toilet and a tub.  Overall, the room had a decent amount of amenities but the size of the furniture did not match the size of the room; the oversized furniture made the room feel small and cramped.  Also, the furniture looked and felt a bit dated and not fresh; the beds provided a decent nights sleep but have had better nights elsewhere.  Lastly. there was not a lot of outlets available and this made it difficult to charge all the electronics.

Amenities in the hotel were wide-ranging since it was an all-inclusive.  WiFi was available but it seemed to have been added after the hotel was built so not all areas had equally strong access; the signal was very weak in our rooms but very strong in the lobby or by the pool so went there to access wifi.  There were many restaurants to take advantage of as well as many pools.  There was beach access with a variety and plenty of beach chairs.  There were some shops on the property that had both resort and country items.  There was a health center as well and this was extremely important because this is where you accessed your COVID tests.  We were there during July 4th weekend so they had organized fireworks and a song & dance show; the fireworks were nice but very small and the song & dance show was decent but a bit amateurish.  In Punta Cana there were also song & dance shows but those seemed more professional.  

Overall, it was an average trip to Beaches Turks & Caicos.  Positives included COVID testing and supplying health-related documents, a variety of restaurants, and a large property so you can find nooks and crannies to hide-out.  Things that were not positive included the average quality of the food, the average customer service, lack of communication between staff, and poor wifi signal throughout the property.  This was my second all-inclusive total and my first with Sandals/Beaches and my experience did not turn me off to the properties but also did not make me a fan.

Stay Report: Melia Caribe Tropical (Punta Cana, DR - December 2016)

Stay Report: Melia Caribe Tropical (Punta Cana, DR)
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My family and I recently traveled to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.  We were staying there for the holidays and decided to try the all-inclusive Melia Caribe Tropical.  The hotel is operated by the Melia Hotels International, based out of Spain.  They operate a variety of hotels throughout the world, mostly resorts catering to large groups and holiday-makers.  This was my first time staying at a Melia property and my first time at an all-inclusive so I was not sure what to expect.  Here are my impressions.

Overall:  Overall the property is very large and has a lot to offer with a variety of restaurants included.  The hotel has various levels - there is the main level for all guests; there is a separate level called 'The Level' which is adults-only and has its own pool, restaurant, and rooms; and then there is ClubMelia which has its own perks.  We stayed in the general area which also had its own pool, restaurants, and rooms.   

The pool was large enough that it never felt crowded and both chairs and towels were always available.  The chairs were on a first come basis, and many people got there in the morning and put their towel down to claim their chair for the entire day.  The property also included access to the beach - access to beach included beach chairs of which there were plenty.  The Level/Club guests had their own access to the beach with their own chairs.  The beach was nice, some parts had a bit too much seaweed but overall it was a nice beach with plenty of access.  The rooms are spacious and each come with a balcony, a nice perk.  The service definitely needs improvement though.  

Rooms: The rooms were spacious and comfortable enough.  We had two rooms and each room was laid out the same.  As you entered, there was a closet on your right - the closet contained shelves and hangers and it had a safe.  On the left was the full-size bathroom with a toilet, a bidet, a wide sink, a standing shower, and blow dryer.  As you came inside the room, on left were the two beds with a nightstand in the middle and on the opposite side was a stand with drawers underneath and a TV and coffee/tea maker on top.  The drawers underneath contained a fridge which was stocked with free water, soft drinks, and beer.  Further along in the room was a sitting area with two chairs on one side a lounge - this lounge was big enough for a kid or small person to sleep in.  Beyond that was the balcony with two chairs.  

The beds were comfortable but they were definitely not the double beds as advertised - I

would say they were a Twin XL and only one person could fit on them.  The only issues with the room was the service - the beds were made up but the amenities in the room nor in the bathroom were replenished.  Also, the service came at various hours, sometimes at 5p and sometimes at 8am.  It was on request that items would be restocked.

Food:  The hotel is an all-inclusive so all food and drink are included in the hotel price.  The hotel offers a range of restaurants from buffet to Mediterranean, Dominican, and Mexican.  Overall, the quality of food is average - its not gourmet but decent enough.  There is enough variety to please most palates. We ate at the Level restaurant one night and it was similar food but just presented in a better fashion.  Drinks were also complimentary including soft drinks, beer, and house wine.  Overall, the variety of food and drinks included was more than I was expecting

Entertainment:  There is a variety of entertainment available at the hotel.  They have a casino, a kids park, pools, gym, and the beach.  They also have a nightly dance show which is very interesting and got better each night.  

The hotel also offers a gym and spa.  The gym was smaller than I expected - it could fit 10-20 people max - but it had the basic equipment for a nice workout.  A lot of guests choose to run/walk around the large property as that also provided some good exercise.  The hotel did offer aerobic classes - both in the gym and the pool.    

The hotel also has free wifi throughout the property.  This is definitely a nice perk as you are connected throughout your trip.  The wifi was stronger near the longer (for picture posts) but was decent enough speed at the pool and beach area for basic email and connections.  

Service: This is an area where the hotel is definitely lacking.  There was chaos at check-in but we finally managed to check-in.  Even though I had already checked-in online, I still had to go through the process all over again so the online checkin was worthless.  We had asked for one king-size bed room and one with 2 beds, but that was not available so we asked for two rooms close to each other.  Our check-in attendant did not know the layout of the hotel and gave us rooms and opposite ends of the building so we had to go back and adjust our rooms and tell them which rooms we wanted.  The hotel operates trains to get from the main lobby to the beach/pool and room area.  There are 3 different lines and the trains are supposed to run every 10-15 minutes.  We one time waited for over 20 minutes for a train and nothing showed up.  The train system definitely needs to be worked on as it currently does not work.

As I said earlier, the service for the rooms also needed improvement. The attendants came a variety of hours and were good at replenishing the fridge, but only replenished the tea and bathroom amenities when requested. 

Checkout was equally as chaotic and there were some very rude attendants who were arguing with the guests.  They definitely need to fix their check-in and check-out procedures.  There was one positive aspect to the service - Alber Batista, from Guest Services, called to find out who our stay was and when I let him know of the issues, he apologized and provided extra assistance and compensation.  He also followed up the next day to ensure everything was ok, which was especially appreciated.

Conclusion:  Overall, it was an average stay.  Positives included the large-size of the property so there was plenty of room at the pool and beach; the all-inclusive covered a lot more food and drink than I expected; and there was enough to do at the property not to get bored for at least 5 days.  The negatives were the service at check-in, check-out, and room attendants