new york
2017-08-02
NOT WORTH THE MONEY
I was so surprised this hotel cost almost $500 (all inclusive plan, with tax) per night. I did not expect anything luxury for this price but I hoped it would meet our basic needs. It clearly turned me down with very minimal service and facility. I traveled a lot in the Caribbean and had stayed more than 50 different all inclusive resorts (more than 25 in Cancun and Playa del Carmen) but this hotel was the worst all inclusive hotel I ever stayed. It is supposed to be all inclusive but this hotel actually is "not much inclusive." I rarely write reviews (I wish I could write all positive experiences of good hotels, but I do not have time to do so. But I really feel I need to share my negative experiences with other people who wants to make a good choice about their vacation.) but I will spend time this time because I really want to say this out loud. I picked up this hotel because the location is convenient and the water is calmer in this area. I had stayed at the another Krystal hotel next door (it was not the all inclusive hotel back then) and had an OK experience, so I had no doubt. Plus this hotel was Hyatt before so I assumed the facility is good. I have a 2 year old son who is an extremely picky eater, so I had to choose all inclusive hotel that has a buffet with a lot of variations of foods. As soon as we arrived, we were told to go to the 14th floor to check in. That's a VIP lounge and I had an VIP check in service through expedia. However, the reception is just right there on the 1st floor and there were no people waiting. What's the purpose of going up to 14th floor with carrying so many bags and pushing a stroller? We went up there, stopping almost the each floor in the elevator, and one guy who had no smile at all assisted with us very slowly. He asked if we wanted a drink like an apple juice so we said we wanted an apple juice, and then he brought us orange juice. Not a big deal at all what juice he gave us, but it was a beginning that I noticed staff were not really paying attention to us. He was very slow and explained in very details (for example, spending 3 minutes to explain about towel cards) repeated the same thing at least 3 times (for example, repeating the wifi user name and password 3 times although he wrote it down). If people never stayed at any hotels, they may need these explanations, but it was just extremely slow to comparing to regular check in process. This is clearly not VIP and I felt so bad that two VIP people who came to that room to check out and were made to wait for a long time just to return keys. The room was not ready so we went to the beach to hang out. I went to get a drink at the bar and staff who had no smile at all (again) asked me for the room number. I did not have the room yet and they made me wait for more than 10 minutes to check my name in their system and to make me sigh on the bill that has a price of the drink. It was a very strange experience to me. I was wearing a bracelet and no other 50 all inclusive hotels I ever stayed never asked me for a room number just to get a drink or asked me to sign on the bill. I did not want to wait such a long time just to get one drink each time so we moved to the pool area. There are a bar next to the pool and chairs in the water, l and my husband asked for a drink to a bartender who had no smile at all (again). He said my husband had to order drinks to the waiter who are serving the people on the pool side. This bartender was giving drinks to the other people who were in the water, and I don't know why he told my husband to get out the water and order to get a drink. My husband said he wanted to get a drink here, this bartender passed the drink menu to him with angry face. We had no idea what was wrong with him. He decided not to get a drink in the water by this unwelcomed attitude and ordered a drink to a waiter on the poolside. It took him 20 minutes to get and took another 10 minutes to get a bill for him to sign. It was about time to check in the room so we went to the VIP lounge to get keys and heard the same instruction again about wifi etc. I asked why staff asked me for a room number and made me to sign on the bill with the price, he said this was only for internal purposes and we would not be charged. But we had to sign every time he said because there are people who are not on all inclusive plan. Please do not make the guest do this for internal purposes. You just need to distinguish people with or without all inclusive plan by the bracelet color. If they are quick to let me sign I may not mind, but throughout the stay we always had to wait for the bill to sign for a quite long time. As we checked in at 1:30pm, the room was small and faded, but I was ok with it. But I could not stand the room temperature that was 27C (81F) and I changed the setting on the AC panel in the room immediately. However, it would not go any cooler and we had to ask the reception to send over someone to check. The maintenance guy just touched the panel as I did and of course it did not solve the problem. But no matter how many times I reported the problem, they said someone already checked and "it is working." AC with the lowest temperature 27C is NOT WORKING. I as a pregnant woman who feels extremely hot and a little kid who has high energy level were sweating like a hell, and I asked the reception again to fix it while we went to eat lunch. After we came back, the room temperature was still the same. I reported the reception again and asked to change our room but they said all the rooms were the same plus they were fully booked and there were no other rooms available. Really? All the room in this building are so hot? No other rooms available at all? I went up to the VIP lounge to speak with someone directly, and one staff finally paid attention to what I said. He kindly came down to the room with me and he said lowest temperature 27C is not what it supposed to be. He went back to check something and returned to the room in a little while. He said he would send a maintenance to check the AC (not the panel like others did) again and if it did not work he would offer me a room with lower temperature. He also said we would give us an priority to change the room so we should no worry. It was already a dinner time so we went to eat, Then when we went back some maintenance people were still working so we had to kill time outside, We went back again but the room was still so hot. I went to the VIP lounge again to see the person who assisted me earlier because he said I could either come 14th floor or 1st floor because he informed both about my situation, but the person who were at VIP lounge told me all the rooms were the same and there were no rooms to switch because they were fully booked. I was so tired. I was 100% sure we could not sleep in that room. And once again I was hearing all rooms were the same, no other rooms were available. I explained the person who assisted me earlier said we could switch the room and he would inform everyone about this, but this guys said he could not help me and told me to go to the 1st floor. I spent 8 hours to get what I should get for the price, I had such an struggle. I really complained about this situation at the 1st floor reception and someone finally said she would check the available room. So there WERE rooms available. I went back to the hot room and waited for her to call. I told my husband to take my son to the VIP lounge that was nice and cool. At 10pm, I got a call from the reception