Royalton Grenada, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort

First, off I will say that the people that I met, the hotel staff- they work hard and they are well deserving for the credit that they rarely get, my concern goes beyond them towards those people that are responsible for poorly putting together a vacation package that rips off the consumer while paying out the agency. From the moment that I landed, I knew something was off. First, the hotel was not even 5 minutes from the airport- I have no idea why I paid $86 for 2 people to receive round trip airport to hotel transportation- this is robbery and does not make any sense- this should have been $20 round trip easily, but, this is just the beginning. I booked this trip back in March, paying for a full weeks stay in a Luxury Ocean View Room upgrade- as I looked up on Royalton Grenada's site, these rooms were all shown with glorious pictures as part of Diamond Club, there were images clear view of the Ocean from the balcony/deck, I also signed up for the Free Perks that was part of the package which was supposed to include 2 bottles of wine and an upgraded mini bar an $80 value, which that $80 value I didn't get and reminded me of the quality of $86 round trip airport transport that I paid for and the $300 hotel credits- that coupon booklet was a joke. As I was checking in after another couple that received Diamond Club wrist bands and they seemed to be well treated. As I checked in and I mentioned how excited I was to be celebrating my 50th birthday, the front desk clerk said with a smirk- you're not in Diamond Club, here are your wrist bands. I was shocked- I booked this trip over others as I thoroughly read reviews, looked at Royalton website images, and researched all that I could find on what I was getting, none-the-less I took my things- hauled them up the hill and went to look at the room. I was put into 13101, as I walked in, I went straight over to the balcony, I almost broke down into tears- because the first thing that I saw was the top of another building with protruding air conditioners with wires with an high arch of the building that was blocking the view of the ocean, couldn't even see the beach. This is not how you treat people, you don't call a room a Luxury Ocean View room- that has a building that blocks the ocean. I lost it, not to mention that mini bar upgrade wasn't there and the room wasn't even ready, this was absolutely unacceptable. I then picked up the phone, spent the next 20 minutes on hold calling CheapCarribean Vacation only to be placed on an infinite hold, that kept sending reminders of how busy they are and that they will call me back, so I then I requested a call back- I never received one or heard from them at all. I went to the front desk and spoke to the manager, she was going to charge me for a completely different room giving me a 20% discount- yet she couldn't apply any of the costs that I had already paid for from my package, so I would have had to pay for an entirely new vacation, costing me 3 times what I already paid for, this is how The Royalton accommodates their guests. This is absolutely ridiculous and I feel like I was scammed, because I then find out that there is some 3rd party, some St. James Travel Agency, that was made as a point of contact- that not once did they ever during the 9 months of booking this trip, did I ever hear anything from them until I arrived. I am almost certain that this agency had something to do with this package arrangement, but they would not explain to me how they were involved, instead they simply tried overselling me excursion packages to me and hustling myself and my partner for anything that they could get from us in advance. This hotel was apparently only at 30% overall occupancy, the food was the worst- when items would run out in the buffet they did not replenish them, they were simply out. Several times we had to go to the meals at the beginning of the service, so that we could ensure that there would be enough food. I was only able to get 2 reservations my whole trip for the Italian restaurant, which was still buffet food, the French and Indian restaurant only gave out late 9:30 pm reservations- so I couldn't even try these places, meanwhile I had to eat at the cafeteria every meal. This hotel does not have a lot of activities or really anything that you can do here, in fact I was getting frustrated as they wouldn't give out a snorkel mask at 3:20pm because the attendant said the water sports were closing soon. They only had 1 paddle board, 2 kayaks, which isn't enough for a resort this size. Additionally, the 2nd to last day I was there the Pool side bar ran out of Beer and Prosecco, the last day I was there the resort ran out of bottled water. This vacation was a disaster, I will never book another trip through CheapCarribean.com again, I will never stay at another Royalton hotel again, I will be very cautious with choosing a Marriot hotel, this is unsatisfactory and I believe this experience feels like a bait and switch. Read less

Bed sheets were damp upon arrival. Replaced quickly but one set damp so replaced again. Must be difficult to dry in such humid conditions but not ideal at 11pm after a delayed 14 hour trip from London. Resort run out of beer on 15 & 16 October. Also slush puppy/fruit mixers - so no cocktails - on 21 October plus lime, onions, orange juice and Aperol. I did not see tomatoes or a strawberry in the 10 days of our visit. One visit to the Italian restaurant was enough to not revisit. Similar the French restaurant where the steak was inedible. The result was 6 nights at the Taj restaurant which was superior. The buffet was average but it is accepted they try to do everything for all people often 3 times a day. Despite the above, the resort is lovely, the weather perfect but what glues it all together is the staff. Too many to list here but special mention to; Brandon 'Ginger' (Customer Services) who doubles as a singer on Saturday. He would win any UK talent show ( if you are in the entertainment industry have a look), Tiffany, Adrian, Darrell, Tirrell, Joshim and the Fitness Team. If any hotel staff read this I require no reply. Please send this up the Management line in the hope they can correct some of the failings. I wish all the staff a successful future. Read less

The Royalton Fit group - Kelsun, Jeremy and Christal were awesome and very friendly! The Yoga on the beach, Boot camp and Aquafit classes were great ways to get some exercise while relaxing on the resort. The Morning Walks were off resort so you got to see the neighboring beaches. As for the resort it was unfortunate that they ran out of syrup and certain juices on the whole resort (sometimes certain bars also run out of things but others would have it) for a few of days so there were no slushy drinks till they restocked. Paper straws were only available on the first day as they ran out for the rest of the 7 days, which were only really needed for the slushy drinks. Plenty of beach towels that you could pick up from all over the resort and housekeeping came every day. All the a la cartes had plenty of choice even with some menu options not being available. No creme brulee at the French restaurant during their supply shortage but once they restocked it was available again. Lucked out that it only really rained on the last day. Beach had yellow or red flags the whole stay and was quite rough. The resort wasn't too busy so getting a chair by the pool instead was not an issue on most days. Read less

My wife and I were at this property for a scuba diver’s convention for 9 days. The location is beautiful and well maintained however in short the all-inclusive packages were worthless. The food quality was horrible. The Diamond Club we paid for was rendered meaningless because you would be starving for decent meals. They were out of ingredients to make your drinks; we were served old, stale or bland portions at their restaurants. The buffet had clearly “weathered” food, you could find coffee one morning but no creamer. The next morning you could find creamer, but no coffee. We went to their French restaurant and were served cold French onion soup that tasted like it was over sweetened and with no cheese topping. The Indian restaurant was a real treat-we were served hard bread crusted cheese I think that was supposed to be paneer. We essentially had to survive off their chicken wings although they were also hit-and-miss. I have stayed at Marriott branded hotels religiously however this one is not worth your hard earned money if for no other reason than the poor quality food. Oh, and to add insult to injury we were gassed by a worker dressed in white PPE and a gas mask at 5:00pm one afternoon that was fumigating the foliage with what smelled to me to be the pesticide malathion. Many guests were gagging and literally running away from the huge billowing white cloud of the fumigant being emitted by the workers blower. I have video of this also. You would’ve thought that this was something that should’ve been done at 2 or 3 AM when most guests were asleep and out of harms way. Don’t chance your health and vacation time here. Read less