P
Paris
Guest
As a fan of that new hotel smell, I have stayed at all three on-site hotels within the first few weeks of their opening. So I go in braced with all the shortcomings of and calamity of a new opening -- and I relish the introductory rates as well.
Royal Pacific has a lot going for it, but I'll close with the good stuff at the end so I don't end this on a sour note.
We arrived just before noon on July 3rd. As you already know the hotel was open for two weeks by now but this was the more official opening date. We were pleasantly surprised to have our room ready that early. On the downside, we were there with another family, had requested adjoining rooms and we weren't even on the same floor. I'll let this slide because the rooms we each got were ready so early and while it was noted on the reservation neither party bothered to check it until we were shuffling on into our rooms.
The hotel has a major self-parking problem. The valet area is fine, but because we had loaded up our car and knew we'd be making a couple of trips to and fro over our two night stay we chanced it at the self-parking. Cars were parked on the curbs of the lot and even way back onto the road leading to the lot itself. They need to free up some of that valet space pronto. A lot of cars are going to get dinged left for dead all over the lot.
The ice machine on our floor was doing convulsions with nary an ice cube to spare. Went down to the third floor -- figuring the lobby level machine would be working, it was actually dismantled. Doh!
Loews has two great kid perks. One is Loews Loves Kids where children get beach pail kits, with the hotel logo. The other is Grade A Kids where kids with good grades get a wristband for free sodas at the hotel. While the pails were everywhere, it seems as if they had run out. None. We checked back two more times during out stay and nothing. And the Grade A kids wristbands? They didn't have any. They handed out Grade A Kid room keycards and the apology currency of choice for the Loews Loves Kids fiasco is free buffet breakfast vouchers.
So that creates another problem. We never ate at the hotel. And with good reason given the $24.95 dinner buffet prices. Walking through the restaurant one night I think there may have been just 4-5 tables occupied during peak dining period. However, as I figured, with those free breakfast buffet vouchers, there was a waiting list for breakfast. Bad show. Mix up the vouchers!
And what's with the buffet? The pool area was selling RPH pails, albeit different ones. Still, kids can't relate to a free meal. They expect that as long as parents are paying. But, jeez, raid a Uni store for some tiny trinkets or the pool shop pails -- anything material, tangible, keepsake-able.
Loews First welcome gift? Even though it was noted on our reservation it took the third call, the night before we left, to finally get it.
Then the real downer of our trip. We went to the pool the night of the 4th. We know that you can never really be safe anywhere you go. All we brought down was our room key. We are given four towels, take off our shoes and shirts, bury the key two towels deep into the stack and get in at 9pm -- planning to duck out for the fireworks in the "beach" area. Well, 9:50pm rolls around and, hey, someone took half our towels. Okay, they all look the same, they belong to the hotel. But, hey, where are our shirts? Where is our room key?
So instead of enjoyed the fireworks, I'm back at the pool check-in area as an amazingly helpful employee is cancelling my room key, calling for security, etc. That's one thing, the employees are very, very friendly. Even our housekeeper greeted us with the "Welcome to the Islands" mantra of the hotel, whereas housekeeping usually will duck out of interacting with guests.
Well, missed the fireworks -- had to wait 10 minutes for security to show up. Who would steal our shirts? My biggest concern was the room key, even though our room number wasn't on it. Yep, I put a stop on all charging priveleges. But my biggest fear was the newness of the staff and how that could be abused by whoever took our key.
The front desk was a friendly lot but very green. You'd have folks asking for rollaway codes. When we asked about the perks of "Grade A Kids" our check-in specialist drew a blank and had to whip out the manual and read it to us. So, thinking ahead, I was afraid that someone would take our key -- with our name on it -- and find a way to get our room number. The staff was not up to snuff and it seemed all too possible for the taboo case of giving out room numbers might be quickly tricked. With that, and our key, our belongings would be toast.
And, yes, it actually took that long for security to show up. Because the boats weren't running well before and after the fireworks, it was a sea of people going in and out the one gate by the zero-entry level of the pool -- where our belongings were. Why wasn't security staffed there? With all the traffic, who knows if we weren't the only ones victimized?
Other shortcomings is that the walk to the parks is needlessly long and winding. It could easilly be half as long if the path was done more direct. And the launches. We have never had to wait for a second launch at HRH and PBH. But, here we are at a hotel with 50% more rooms than those hotels and they are running the same number of boats (2 at peak, 1 the rest of the time).
On the upside, hey, it is cheaper. The staff is really great, and they will continue to grow into their own as they are weaned off the manual. And, while the room may be a bit smaller and those delicious goose down comforters are gone, the rooms are nice and there is some really nice intricate woodwork done to separate the sleeping area from the bathroom. And, yes, the lobby area is very nice. Unfortunately, the hotel is too big, and unless we missed the mark, we actually had to take two elevators (or one and a stairwell) to get to the pool area or to the park from the 2 Tower we were at. Note to self: Avoid the 2 Tower. And, despite the lack of a slide, the pool area is great. It has the best of the HRH zero-level entry with regular deeper entrances. The kid play area is nice though it was not fully functional yet (the canoe water tip area never worked, as well as the water canons). However, the water in the kids play area is way too cold and it is a bit slippery (my niece got dinged up pretty badly one night, though the lifeguard was very attentive).
In short, you can't beat the location, the rates are reasonable and the hotel will get better in time. As for me, I think I'll go back to HRH or PBH next time where I've had much better experiences in the past.
Rick
Royal Pacific has a lot going for it, but I'll close with the good stuff at the end so I don't end this on a sour note.
We arrived just before noon on July 3rd. As you already know the hotel was open for two weeks by now but this was the more official opening date. We were pleasantly surprised to have our room ready that early. On the downside, we were there with another family, had requested adjoining rooms and we weren't even on the same floor. I'll let this slide because the rooms we each got were ready so early and while it was noted on the reservation neither party bothered to check it until we were shuffling on into our rooms.
The hotel has a major self-parking problem. The valet area is fine, but because we had loaded up our car and knew we'd be making a couple of trips to and fro over our two night stay we chanced it at the self-parking. Cars were parked on the curbs of the lot and even way back onto the road leading to the lot itself. They need to free up some of that valet space pronto. A lot of cars are going to get dinged left for dead all over the lot.
The ice machine on our floor was doing convulsions with nary an ice cube to spare. Went down to the third floor -- figuring the lobby level machine would be working, it was actually dismantled. Doh!
Loews has two great kid perks. One is Loews Loves Kids where children get beach pail kits, with the hotel logo. The other is Grade A Kids where kids with good grades get a wristband for free sodas at the hotel. While the pails were everywhere, it seems as if they had run out. None. We checked back two more times during out stay and nothing. And the Grade A kids wristbands? They didn't have any. They handed out Grade A Kid room keycards and the apology currency of choice for the Loews Loves Kids fiasco is free buffet breakfast vouchers.
So that creates another problem. We never ate at the hotel. And with good reason given the $24.95 dinner buffet prices. Walking through the restaurant one night I think there may have been just 4-5 tables occupied during peak dining period. However, as I figured, with those free breakfast buffet vouchers, there was a waiting list for breakfast. Bad show. Mix up the vouchers!
And what's with the buffet? The pool area was selling RPH pails, albeit different ones. Still, kids can't relate to a free meal. They expect that as long as parents are paying. But, jeez, raid a Uni store for some tiny trinkets or the pool shop pails -- anything material, tangible, keepsake-able.
Loews First welcome gift? Even though it was noted on our reservation it took the third call, the night before we left, to finally get it.
Then the real downer of our trip. We went to the pool the night of the 4th. We know that you can never really be safe anywhere you go. All we brought down was our room key. We are given four towels, take off our shoes and shirts, bury the key two towels deep into the stack and get in at 9pm -- planning to duck out for the fireworks in the "beach" area. Well, 9:50pm rolls around and, hey, someone took half our towels. Okay, they all look the same, they belong to the hotel. But, hey, where are our shirts? Where is our room key?
So instead of enjoyed the fireworks, I'm back at the pool check-in area as an amazingly helpful employee is cancelling my room key, calling for security, etc. That's one thing, the employees are very, very friendly. Even our housekeeper greeted us with the "Welcome to the Islands" mantra of the hotel, whereas housekeeping usually will duck out of interacting with guests.
Well, missed the fireworks -- had to wait 10 minutes for security to show up. Who would steal our shirts? My biggest concern was the room key, even though our room number wasn't on it. Yep, I put a stop on all charging priveleges. But my biggest fear was the newness of the staff and how that could be abused by whoever took our key.
The front desk was a friendly lot but very green. You'd have folks asking for rollaway codes. When we asked about the perks of "Grade A Kids" our check-in specialist drew a blank and had to whip out the manual and read it to us. So, thinking ahead, I was afraid that someone would take our key -- with our name on it -- and find a way to get our room number. The staff was not up to snuff and it seemed all too possible for the taboo case of giving out room numbers might be quickly tricked. With that, and our key, our belongings would be toast.
And, yes, it actually took that long for security to show up. Because the boats weren't running well before and after the fireworks, it was a sea of people going in and out the one gate by the zero-entry level of the pool -- where our belongings were. Why wasn't security staffed there? With all the traffic, who knows if we weren't the only ones victimized?
Other shortcomings is that the walk to the parks is needlessly long and winding. It could easilly be half as long if the path was done more direct. And the launches. We have never had to wait for a second launch at HRH and PBH. But, here we are at a hotel with 50% more rooms than those hotels and they are running the same number of boats (2 at peak, 1 the rest of the time).
On the upside, hey, it is cheaper. The staff is really great, and they will continue to grow into their own as they are weaned off the manual. And, while the room may be a bit smaller and those delicious goose down comforters are gone, the rooms are nice and there is some really nice intricate woodwork done to separate the sleeping area from the bathroom. And, yes, the lobby area is very nice. Unfortunately, the hotel is too big, and unless we missed the mark, we actually had to take two elevators (or one and a stairwell) to get to the pool area or to the park from the 2 Tower we were at. Note to self: Avoid the 2 Tower. And, despite the lack of a slide, the pool area is great. It has the best of the HRH zero-level entry with regular deeper entrances. The kid play area is nice though it was not fully functional yet (the canoe water tip area never worked, as well as the water canons). However, the water in the kids play area is way too cold and it is a bit slippery (my niece got dinged up pretty badly one night, though the lifeguard was very attentive).
In short, you can't beat the location, the rates are reasonable and the hotel will get better in time. As for me, I think I'll go back to HRH or PBH next time where I've had much better experiences in the past.
Rick
