Royal Plaza = Royal Pain

[Disney DieHard]

Hey all, I don't know what happened exactly but we just had a really bad week at the Royal Plaza Hotel. Here's the situation ...

Our #1 hotel is the Polynesian but due to the lack of funds we are doing a split stay ... one week at Royal Plaza in a Premium Tower Room and the following week at the Poly. So we arrive in Florida and check into the Royal Plaza and we had stayed here in the past and had a very positive experience so we felt confident in our decision to stay here once again ... however, we were mistaken.

First thing, when we last stayed at Royal Plaza we had a bathroom that was cavernous and literally echoed when you were in it ... well, maybe it was just that one room that had it but our room this time didn't have it and that was somewhat disappointing. Second, why are there not ice machines on every floor? A PREMIUM TOWER room ... their most expensive room and I have to go from floor 16 to floor 11 to get ice ... why, seems silly not to have one on every floor or maybe comp your guests a free fridge? ANYWAY ... being slightly disappointed with room and hotel layout is hardly cause for a bad review so let me continue ...

Now, this is directed to anyone, particularly women, who have long hair ... my mother and sister have very long hair so after a shower they wrap their hair up in a towel to help it dry so they use one towel to dry their bodies and one to wrap their hair. There are 4 of us, who all shower daily, so it would just stand to reason that we would like and need more than 4 towels in the bathroom. So naturally we called housekeeping who 90% of the time never answered the phone so we had to call the front desk to have them relay the message. Hours pass since the call was made and still ... no towels ... so we call again and then about an hour later we finally get our towels.

For a family of four ... we are left 1 small bottle of shampoo, 1 small bottle of conditioner, and 1 small bar of soap which literally crumbled in your hands as you used it. When we call up and ask for more soaps the housekeeper literally came up to the top of the hotel with 1 more bottle of each. You're kidding right? You know darn well if it were Disney there would all ready be a couple bottles in the room, if you called up they would bring up a couple more AND they would be Johnny-on-the-spot ANYTIME their guests called.

And this wasn't just once ... we had to go through this 6 out of 7 days of our stay! Get this ... the one time we called up and actually got housekeeping the woman actually asked us why do we need all those towels and what are we doing with them ... I HAVE NEVER been questioned when I asked for extra towels ...EVER! AND THEN the guy who brought up the new towels asked for the old ones ... huh??? What is that!?! THAT broke it and we had a meeting with the general manager who seemed upset but even after that meeting we STILL had to call for more towels the next day!

Other problem ... we had no air conditioning in our room. Apparently the Royal Plaza Hotel has some kind of antiquated air handling system and in each room inside the vent there must be a switch that allows the cooling and heating system to turn over and that switch wasn't flipped so we AGAIN had to talk to the manager who sent maintenance up to fix the problem.

Now any ONE of these problems would have been easily forgotten but all these little pin sticks caused us to bleed out and this left us with a VERY SOUR taste towards this hotel and I don't think we will return. Were all the problems fixed? Ehh, sort of, but why does EVERY problem need to be brought up with the Manager? Why can't the problem be corrected internally ... is that incompetency or uncaring or a lack of pride ... or something else?

Listen, I am NOT telling people not to stay at Royal Plaza but I DO want people to know of the difficulties that we encountered. You tell me ... is what I described to you a legitimate gripe or am I just picking nits?

Take Care & Be Safe!

Frank
Disney DieHard

 

[Jedana]

I think you are picking over the shampoo/soap issue. If you need more than one, you need to ask for the number of bottles you need. Ask for the number of bottles you need for your stay, if you are having difficulty getting them. If you are having that much stress over the shampoo, may I suggest going and buying a bottle at the store or bring some from home?


As far as the towels, well, people steal stuff. Towels, Bibles and remote controls are the top things stolen from hotel rooms. Should they have demanded the old ones? Sure, doesn't bother me in the slightest. Should they have realized that every day you were going to ask for extra towels? Maybe, if you had the same HK every day--but that doesn't happen, even at Disney.

When we were in San Diego, this hotel (can't remember the name) didn't want people to use the room towels for the pool. But they charged for the pool towels! So, we just went to the basement (where the parking garage was--when we parked, every day we saw a cart of towels outside the laundry area) and grabbed a couple of towels for the pool. Our last day, we saw a guy drive up, load up his backseat with the towels, and drive off. (And yes, I did go to the front desk to report it)

At POFQ, they didn't ask why we needed extra towels, they just brought them. When the mousekeeper saw we had 4 people, she left an extra bottle of shampoo and 2 extra towels every day. Most hotels won't do that. That's one of those magical things we love about Disney.

We did stay at the RP back in 2008. We won't stay there again. They put 4 of us in a room with one bed, and then told us they couldn't bring us 2rollaways. I ended up back in the lobby, and although I didn't yell or stomp my feet, I was quite irritated and it showed in my tone. It took them an hour to get us into a room w/2 beds. The AC worked, but was very very noisy and HK came knocking at 8am, wanting to get in to clean. We told them to come back later, they showed up at 8pm.

 

[DaphneDisneyGirl]

Have to agree with DDH and say that you shouldnt have to beg for towels or soap. I havent stayed anywhere but a Disney resort when we go so I guess that would be a reason to stay with Disney because they are more attentive to guests needs. And the problem should have been corrected after like 2 or 3 times. The fact that it persisted further even after talking to a manager proves nobody is paying attnetion. BTW I dont think you are picking over the shampoo! One of those little midget shampoos for a family of 4 is a little silly and if it is really killing them to give you another bottle maybe they shouldnt offer it at all.

P.S. I hope your stay at the Polynesian resort goes much better than the other one because if it doesn't I will be utterly shocked!!!!!

 

[hammie59]

You shouldn't be questioned on why you need more towels. It's none of their business. You are the paying customer. Yes, people steal towels, but they can also log how many they give you if they so choose. It's not like the OP asked for a ridiculous amount.
We go thru a lot of towels as a family of four with small children. At hotels, we try to reuse as best we can, but once that towel hits the bathroom floor by accident or whatever, it's history. Yes, all the situations listed were petty, but I agree that when all rolled into one, it makes for one annoying stay.