Royal Palm Villas

Staff seemed to be excellent , rooms functional , & okay , would recommend

I book a lot of accommodation for our construction workers all over the country. Unfortunately, our worker checked out a few hours after arrival. Whilst property wear and tear is to be expected for the price and age of the property, cleanliness is a deal breaker especially in these Covid-19 times. There were hairs in the shower, grease and remnants of food left on the stovetop, sticky benchtops and floors with boot tread marks and unwiped microwave and fridge shelving. The room was not in an acceptable condition. The manager was using gaslighting techniques with me to avoid acceptance of the cleanliness and refused to arrange a proper clean, however he thankfully did agree to a full refund.

Don't stay here unless you are happy to feel that you are a major inconvenience as a guest. Their website says : "On-site management is here 24/7 for your convenience. Reception operates from 9am until 5pm, Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm Saturday and 9am to noon Sunday, but we are pleased to provide before and after-hours check-in and meet and greet, as needed". This is a joke. We got caught in traffic and realised we could not get there by 5. At 4.30pm we called and the manager grudgingly said he would make a plan, when we got there at 5.30 the keys were in our room door but we had to ring to get a code to get in. No drop box which they need because reception is basically untended for most of the day. My husband is easy going but was not impressed with the manager's attitude from the get go. Lots of similar stories from other guests and he is incredibly defensive about any criticism on reviews, ie don't worry about rust on the pan it's still okay. We had to phone again after check in to get an internet code, again begrudgingly given, the internet was also incredibly slow. The front rooms with a balcony might be okay but the back rooms are pretty basic. The bathroom walls and incredibly noisy fan definitely needed a clean as did some of the dishes, the self catering stuff is basic. Our bedspread was stained and we couldn't get one of the lights to work, maybe the bulb had gone. We didn't bother to ask because of the delay in trying to get a washrag to do the dishes which took hours. Overall the room seemed dated though the manager's response to reviews is that they are being upgraded. Marks on the wall seemed to indicate a change in furniture in our room. There were other small issues too like a completely outdated safety plan on the wall. It seems like the properties are privately owned but are managed by two people. Both are charmless. The only way to reach them is by phone and apparently they manage other properties too. We paid about $200 a night and for what we got it was well overpriced. Other guests were paying about $150 or less and even at that price it was expensive. We booked through Wotif and tried to post a review there but interestingly they would not post it which to me gives a warning about their reviews. Nobody we met at the place was even remotely happy with their stays either. There are way better options available.