TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Had to wait at the airport for almost an hour before our private shuttle arrived, very poor coordination. Once we arrived to our room the sofa had a disgusting stain! We were relocated to another room and in that room the sofa had no cushion. Better part of the day was wasted getting our room arranged which was prepared while we waited outside the room!

Firstly, let me say that there are some good things to say, before I get into the bad. There were several individuals here that were friendly, helpful, and attentive, and the included excursions were fantastic. (Especially Maroma Beach, where we travelled to another El Dorado resort and had an incredible time, where all of the staff were wonderful. It was what we expected here and didn’t get.) I’m not sure, based on other reviews, if the place has just gone downhill, or our experience was an anomaly, but it was problem after problem from before we arrived until check out. Here we go… Before we arrived. We had a booking for an ocean view suite at one of their sister resorts. We did not book the Royale, but that reservation was changed. We weren’t told why, but at first, we were downgraded to a standard room at the Palms with no price adjustment. We contacted the hotel and they did follow up, offering us a swim up suite at the Casitas and a bunch of credits. We accepted, and then they confirmed our new reservation as a suite at the Royale. Four resort changes and we hadn’t arrived yet. When we arrived, they didn’t have a King suite booked for us, as they promised - only a double. We waited an hour for them to find another room, which they eventually did. We were directed to our “personal concierge” who made our dinner reservations while we waited, under a temporary room number, which he said he’d change. When we got our room (which was fine, if unremarkable), he told us he would fix the room number and book our excursions. Over the rest of the day, we found service to be mostly poor, with untrained bartenders who seemed very reluctant to take anyone’s order and a dinner that was also “fine” with servers that brought our food and that’s about it. We found out our concierge didn’t actually book our excursions the next day, and he told us we had to go to a vacation club appointment and we would get the spa credits we were offered previously. We went, and the promised 60 minutes was 150, because the sales person refused to let us know pricing. We left, and the people at the vacation club wouldn’t give us the spa code we were supposed to receive. They said our concierge would handle it. We talked to him, and our excursions were now booked (though the spa still wasn’t), and he didn’t have any code. He told us he would ensure that the additional horse riding on the first excursion would be half price, but didn’t do that either. We were still dealing with that on the last day. Our room number was never changed, which meant that the room service we ordered went to the wrong place, and then ended up coming cold an hour and a half later, which made me sick. Thankfully, that was short lived. We talked to people about this. No one did anything. The massage at the spa was great, but it was also supposed to include hydrotherapy, and most of the facilities were out of order or in some disrepair. As the week went on, we talked to our concierge and the front desk manager about the issues we’d had, but they said they “couldn’t do anything”. The service continued to be mediocre, unless we went to the adjoining resorts, where it was significantly better. The Maroma Beach resort excursion was one of the highlights, in part because it was at a resort that made an effort. At Royale, staff were uncooperative, rude, or just didn’t make much effort to help. Again, this is a generalization, as some people were great, but most of those people weren’t at the Royale. We contacted the corporate office, because we weren’t getting anywhere with the concierge or front desk, and when we did that, the “assistant manager” called and asked to review the problems we’ve had. He said “we wish we knew earlier”, but we we’d been talking to people all week. He offered to make our final dinner special and take care of the charges on our account. He did neither. He referred us to the regional manager, who let us check out late, but that was it. She also said she “wished she knew earlier”, but again, we’d been telling the concierge and on site managers all week. In the end, we spend so much of our time telling people what was going on, asking our concierge to actually do what he said he would do, and sitting in the lobby waiting for people that we probably lost a day of our vacation. (And this is not to mention their deal to overcharge people for taxis and not allow rideshare anywhere near the resorts, which was another problem.) Someone will likely reply to this and say, “we’re sorry - we wish you had told us so we could help”, but we did, and no one did anything. It was, all around, a very disappointing and frustrating experience.

Can’t believe how bad the beach is absolutely disgraceful they Tui are advertising this lovely beach front hotel It is a dreadful beach The hotel itself is stunning but the beach and any beach views are awful And this should be noted when people are looking to book a beach front holiday ??

We really liked our Casita swim up room but that’s about it. Food was average and main pool was so warm it was not enjoyable to hang out in. Resort felt 1/2 staffed and every bar we went kept running out of beer we were trying to drink. Staff was friendly but things around the resort just felt off.

We stumbled upon El Dorado Royale a few years ago and we are happy we did! I should have written this review months ago. The place is amazing! We love the location. The food is good, the grounds are immaculate but most of all the people are what continues to lure us back! We would like to mention a few. Our butlers Paula and Hugo took great care of us! Araceli at the Martini Bar was great! Angel, who waited on us at a few locations was above fantastic! Daniel at Kick was awesome! Isabella, the pool waitress! WOW!!! She was the best! Last but definitely not least, Norma at Rincon was sooo friendly and accommodating! We will be back in February so have the Margaritas ready!!!!