Hideaway at Royalton St Lucia

This is an awesome place to relax and enjoy the benefits of an all-inclusive resort in a beautiful country! We had awesome service and the grounds of the resort are AMAZING. It takes a little bit to get to the resort (~2hrs for us) because it is on the opposite side of the island but it seemed like most resorts were on that side as well. The food and the bar service was excellent. My wife and I definitely thought booking a room in the adults only Hideaway section of the resort was worth it but we went to pools/bars in the general section of the resort and was fine. Guys, be sure to bring long pants if you want to get dinner at the adults only restaurant (Dorado).

My cousin and I arrived in St. Lucia, hoping it would be a spectacular birthday trip for myself. We stayed at The Hideaway at The Royalton for 6 nights and 7 days. The ride from the airport to the resort is about 1.5 hours with traffic about 1 hour and 45-50 minutes. During the ride to the resort, I kept looking on Google Maps the estimated time of arrival and to make sure the cab driver was taking the right route. There is one main road that takes you to all the resorts because most of the resorts are on North side of St. Lucia and the airport is on the South side. We got a cab driver once we landed and it was $95. When we got to our resort one of the employees said we paid too much and it should be $85. Our friends said they got their taxi for $75. Kerwin, was our room advisor and he felt bad so he got us our taxi for the ride back to the airport for $80. Hideaway at Royalton ADULTS ONLY. Even when you are on the “adults only” side you still see the kids and eat with them. If you are looking to relax without kids.. DO NOT COME HERE. The only positive note about the Adults Only is that the Hideaway Pool is adults only but that’s basically it besides Dorado. There are numerous of kids running around and screaming at the beach. Once we got to the resort we were greeted by some of the employees and we were sat next to a couple on a table waiting to check in. We were not approached with drinks and they didn’t sit us individually to check in. In my opinion, the check in process was unorganized. They didn’t ask us for our credit cards or anything. When I asked where are our drinks and why we were not greeted with drinks the employee said “its self serving”.. Ok, from all the all inclusive resorts I have been to, they immediately greet you with a glass of champagne and a cold towel. NOTHING at least when I asked for a glass they could’ve said we can get that for you. Let me start off by saying this resort is unexceptional and service is awful! The resort is beautiful and quite large but not unbearable where you’re walking a mile to get to wherever you want to eat. I’ve never given a resort less than 3 stars but safe to say I will NEVER be returning to this resort ever again. The employees are rude, unapproachable, and unhappy to be here with a few that I will name later in the review. Management needs to set their standards when they are hiring employees. There is clearly something wrong with the hiring team because it was not just me and my cousin that were disappointed but it was numerous people. Cool tip: NO ROOM key! It’s on your bracelet and that concept was neat. The room: Luxury Junior Suite Building 3 2nd Floor. (3202) Kerwin walked us to our room and then he informed us with all the amenities. The room is power efficient. The AC shuts off if you have any of the doors open. So, make sure you have the patio door closed and LOCKED because your room will start to get HUMID. The WIFI is connected to your email so you have to activate when they send you an email. The connection is slow and not consistent. It cuts off here and there. The room was spacious. We had 2 queen beds and the bed comfort was 5/5. The room has a mini fridge, safe, and plenty of closet space. The mini fridge has no alcohol. 0/5 Room Service: (1/5) By golly, they take FOREVER. You order room service through your tv. They call you to confirm your order. They say it takes about an hour but really it always took our meals about 2-3 hours. They always sent the food cold and the fries soggy. The second time I called I made sure to tell the employee to make sure that my food was not cold and to make sure my fries were not soggy. We ordered the cheeseburger, spaghetti, chicken noodle soup, fruit salad, chicken wrap, and club sandwich. Everything was less than mediocre. The chicken noodle soup was the dish that was the most deceiving. All the pictures on the tv of the food made it look so amazing and tasteful but we were let down. Such a disappointment. Pool/Pool Service: (2/5) We only went to the Hideaway pool/bar. We did not want to be around kids at all. The service here needs upgrading. It’s sad when your bartenders are not lively and upbeat. Lovell was by far the worse bartender we had throughout the trip. I spoke to a female manager who did NOTHING but just walked over and asked me if I was going to go to another bar. NO? Why would I go to another bar when I paid for the adults only side. The smart thing to do would be to remove Lovell out of the equation and pair him at another bar if he is getting this many complaints. Everything we asked for Lovell gave us a dirty look and didn’t want to accommodate to our needs. We asked for shots of patron with limes. He said “we don’t have limes” and he didn’t even look.. another bartender goes yes there is and he rolled his eyes at her because he did not want to cut the limes. Another time we asked for Patron and he said we are out not “oh I can get that for you” it was mid day.. the bar had not even closed yet. He just never smiled and had an attitude every time we asked for something. His favorite saying is “we don’t have that”. That same day another male manager approached the bar and I set him aside and told him my concerns. He pulled Lovell aside multiple times and then he made me a reservation for the Steakhouse which was kind. The VERY next day was the SAME. We met a couple and they said Lovell was happy and then the moment he saw me his attitude changed because I assume I got him in trouble and then he was acting rude and unapproachable AGAIN! If his attitude wasn’t negative I would never even have to complain. It’s really concerning when multiple guests I’ve met on this trip say the same thing about his customer service. Amy was wonderful. She was sweet and smiled and approachable. The VIBE team was my absolute favorite. Their attitude was upbeat! The bartenders need to take a tip from the VIBE team especially Lovell. Beach: (4/5) The beach is very small like the reviews said. Small but beautiful. The views are to die for. I would recommend getting chairs next to Dorado and the bar if you want drinks because the beach service is slow. Also, if you want to avoid kids that side is preferable as well. Food: (2.5/5) Food is less than mediocre. I’m not that surprised because a lot of the all inclusive resorts majority of the time the food is just ok. The buffet had no variety. The only thing I had for breakfast was omelets. They have 2 omelet station and their employees again NEVER smile. It was so depressing when they were making my omelet. Prisca was one of the employees and her face was also unapproachable. She never smiled and when she was out of vegetables I asked her for more spinach and she said we don’t have any. Is that the most popular phrase at this resort? We don’t have any? Not we can get that for you. Hideaway again another tip: Your management is unprofessional and needs a serious upgrade. Sports Bar: Onion rings and wings were delicious but the service is really slow! Armadillo: Probably the best food we had here! We didn’t have a wait but once everyone started coming our entrée took longer than expected. The rice was dry but other than that everyone enjoyed their meal. Steakhouse: They said that you did not need reservations for any of the restaurants beside Zen but that was false. We walked in and thankfully the manager made us reservations because the hostess said there was a waitlist yet the place was half empty. My steak was not correctly cooked. My friend’s chicken was dry. The side of mashed potatoes was not considered a side. I considered it a dollop size. Tiny. Dorado: Isaiah was so adorable and cheerful! I’m so upset we did not eat here more than once. Breakfast was limited and it was not that much to choose from but lunch was decent. He made it spectacular. The other employees need to take a note from Isaiah. He was absolutely wonderful and CHEERFUL. Zen: This is the only restaurant that required “reservations”. My cousin called 2 days in advance and booked a reservation but she wanted to verify so we walked in and asked about our reservation and the hostess said we didn’t have a reservation? The front desk NEVER made us our reservation so we were upset and then the hostess tried to accommodate us and looked to see if there were any open reservations. She had said “if you’re starving I can’t help you” excuse me? None of us even said we were starving and she had a major attitude when we tried to book the reservation. Anyways, once we got there we were told that we couldn’t order sushi at the hibachi grill so we were excluded from the party which was annoying because everyone at the hibachi grill was ordering sushi. Again terrible service. Not surprising though. The chef was handing out everyone’s food and left our 2 plates at the corner of the table. I understood that he was waiting for all the meats to get cooked but our plates were just left alone and my cousin didn’t even order any other meats besides shrimp. I had to flag down the waiter and she had to grab her plate. The chef also DID NOT ask me but asked everyone else how they wanted their steak. Food also sucked. Sushi was disgusting, rice was dry, and food tasted bland. SERVICE THUMBS DOWN. Spa: (4/5) Probably the best thing about my stay were my therapists. My massage therapist’ name was Zenith. I got the Rejuvenation Massage and she massaged all my knots out. I did not catch my facial esthetician was amazing! I’m upset I couldn’t add her name in here but she did such a wonderful job on my After Sun Facial. I would never stay here again. I would never recommend this resort to any of my friends or family. We met guests here and they got their stuff stolen at the pool and also someone broke into their safe and stole $2500. I’m so disappointed that my birthday was a failure and that this 4 star resort was that disappointing. I’ve never had such an awful experience. This place needs serious help with their customer service. Also, I’m scared to leave my bag at the beach or pool because I guess they also have thieves. First time I’ve ever said this on vacation but I can’t wait to go home.

Concierge did not book a very important meal for us as we had assumed he did, our 45th Wedding Aniversary, it was totally ruined. It took 4 days to actually get to phone home after repeatedly being given the wrong numbers. It also took 4 days to get on to wifi.