Royalton CHIC Cancun

Arturo and Marisol are two of the best butlers Royalton can have. Everyday went above and beyond. I’ve been here 4 times and will always come back.

I had a great experience at this property! It was clean the room was nice the diamond lounge was great the food and drinks were good but most of all the butlers that were assigned to me were amazing! IRAN especially…he was very professional very polite kind he was warm and inviting he was precise and very attentive! Just a class act. The attention to detail that he provided for me was just unreal. Great service from him and SANDRA. I would definitely be coming back!

I’m leaving Royalton CHIC Cancun with a better understanding of why reviews of the same hotel can be so different.

I used to read negative reviews and wonder whether the people writing them were simply hard to please. I’m sure some guests sitting beside us this week had a wonderful experience and will leave glowing reviews. Unfortunately, I cannot.

If I had to describe the response to our concerns in one word, it would be indifference. Indifference is a lack of interest or concern. The problem wasn’t simply that things went wrong. It was that when we brought those problems to someone’s attention, the response generally felt like, “That’s unfortunate. I’m sorry.” Sympathy is appreciated, but it doesn’t fix anything.

Our biggest issue was the toilet in our room. It would not flush properly. I used to be a plumber, and this was not a matter of us clogging it with too much toilet paper. Even a small handful of paper would still be sitting there after ten flushes.

On the third service visit, the gentleman told us we should not flush toilet paper. That advice did not address the fact that the toilet simply wasn’t working properly.

For the entire week, we resorted to using the lobby bathrooms. A functioning toilet should be a basic expectation at any hotel. It shouldn’t need a special mention in the brochure.

On our final day, after six days of this, we were offered another room. By then, we would have had to repack all our belongings and move for the possibility of having a working toilet at the very end of our stay. That solution should have been offered much earlier.

Our attempts to speak with management were equally frustrating. Our butler, Iran, said he would bring his manager to meet me in the lobby. An hour later, he arrived without the manager, who was tied up.

We were then told the manager would speak with us before dinner. Then during dinner. During dinner, that changed to after dinner. At that point, I told Iran, “No more. I’m done.” I had already spent enough of my vacation trying to get someone to address a basic problem. Again, Indifference.

There were smaller frustrations, too. Our meal at the Sky restaurant was lovely, but we were told that sitting in the seating area immediately beside us, just outside the restaurant, would cost extra. Bars scheduled to open at 10 a.m. were opening around 10:15. Individually, these things might not have mattered much. After days of an unresolved problem, they added to the frustration.

I have often said that management is both the problem and the solution in any business. I never met the general manager, or any manager, so I cannot speak to them personally. What I can say is that the response we experienced did not suggest that staff had the support or authority to resolve our concerns promptly.

There were bright spots, and those deserve recognition. The resort was clean. The pools were amazing. Omar, our pool butler, was incredible. Sandra and Iran were our butlers and they tried very hard to please. To the other staff members who worked hard to make our stay enjoyable: thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. Your efforts mattered.

But lovely pools and some wonderful employees cannot make up for a week without a properly functioning toilet or repeated promises of a conversation with management that never happened.

What disappointed us most was not that something went wrong. It was how difficult it was to get it put right.