Royalton CHIC Antigua, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort - Adults Only

I recently stayed at Royalton Chic in Antigua for what was supposed to be a memorable honeymoon, but unfortunately, it turned out to be a nightmare. I cannot recommend this resort to anyone looking for a pleasant getaway. To start, the service was abysmal. We ordered room service at 10:30 PM, only to receive our food after 1:30 AM, which is unacceptable... espically for an prder as ale as chicken fingers and french fries. We had paid for a cabana but had to fetch our own drinks until others complained. They were refunded we were not. The fridge in our cabana wasn't stocked until after 11:30 AM, leaving us with warm drinks the entire time. To make matters worse, the resort ran out of water for two consecutive days. Every afternoon, there were no towels available, and we felt ignored by the bar staff multiple times. It seemed like the staff was more interested in their phones than attending to guests. Service in the pool area was incredibly hard to come by, and on one occasion, we had no butler for an entire day due to our assigned butler being sick. Instead of providing us with a replacement, we were given someone who was already overwhelmed with 11 other rooms, resulting in us receiving no attention at all. Dining was another disaster. The food truck took over an hour daily to serve meals, often running out of items. Our dinner on the last night, which was supposed to be a "private and romantic" affair on the beach, was ruined by a party playing "WAP" nearby in the resort pool. To add insult to injury, we were served shrimp instead of the promised surf and turf, (lobster) and there was no prior notification about this change. Our reservation date was changed twice with less than 24 hours' notice, and we ended up stuck with a party next to us after spending $400 on the meal. In an attempt to reach out for a gift, my mother tried contacting the resort multiple times, but there was no response. The bars were severely understaffed, with only one bartender trying to serve over 200 guests, resulting in long wait times and running out of alcohol and drink ingredients daily. Additionally, the pool area had missing tiles, which posed a safety hazard. My husband even cut his hand on the sharp edges. Dining at the restaurants took over two hours, and while the butlers did a good job when present, our cleaning lady left a juice box on our counter for over four days. We booked the resort because of the advertised $600 credit, which we ultimately couldn't use since we had already booked cabanas. It felt pointless. Our shower knob was broken, making the rain shower overhead unusable. While we did encounter a few staff members who were exceptional—Kurt, Maxwell, Erza, Syana, RJ, and Joshua—they were the only highlights of our stay. We also requested to speak with the manager three days in a row about the numerous issues we faced, but we were repeatedly told someone would get back to us, and no one ever did. In summary, our experience at Royalton Chic was far from what we had hoped for. With poor service, inadequate amenities, and a lack of communication, I strongly advise against choosing this resort for your vacation. Save your money and look elsewhere for a truly enjoyable escape! Read less

TL;DR: Antigua is an amazing island with many hotel options. If you like to be mistreated and made to feel as if the hotel's issues are your fault, stay here. If you want to enjoy Antigua, and/or a 'resort hotel', avoid this place at all costs. I cannot believe this is a Marriott Property. Sandals is next door. Details: There were a few good parts of my stay at this hotel, but they were vastly overshadowed by the horrific treatment I received from management. When searching for hotels in Antigua, we narrowed to the Royalton Chic Antigua, and decided to splurge for the Diamond Club. My wife was staying seven nights, I was joining later, and staying four. Online, we were unable to book one room with different lengths of stay. The cost for her alone would be $464/nt, adding me would bring the total to $609/nt (an extra $145/nt). So she called the hotel, numerous times, being placed on hold, getting dropped...and repeating this cycle many times. When she found out she had incurred over $70 in T-Mobile charges to call this hotel, she switched to WhatsApp (Shout out to T-Mobile, who recognized the issue in dealing with this hotel, and refunded the $70+ in charges - "Ivan Tapia," it's called customer service). When she finally was able to speak to someone, they told her that they also could not create such a booking over the phone, and it would be easy to do when I checked in. However, when I arrived to check in three days later, they charged me an additional $1520 for four nights - that's $375/nt (plus $20 government fee)!!! My wife had already left for the (entire) day, and I was already running late for a work call, so had no choice but to pay in order to access our room where my computer was. Plus what else was I going to do...wait for her to get back in 8-10 hours or go to another hotel (w/o my luggage, and by myself)? When I went back to discuss the charges, I was told they could not make retroactive adjustments. They said that we should have done this correctly when we originally booked! They asked who we spoke to, and so on. How many people take note of who they speak to when making a reservation? How many people anticipate that they will have an issue, when they are following the instructions given to them by the hotel over the phone? Basically they were blaming me for their lack of business management, customer service, sympathy, etc. I've been a loyal member of the Starwood/Marriott family for 25 years, lifetime platinum, etc. I have never experienced this type of treatment. Thankfully, Antigua is an amazing experience and I hope to return. But I will never stay in a Royalton...anywhere. Marriott please dump this brand, or at least this hotel. Other comments: - Overall, most of the comments in the one-star reviews are recent and accurate. I wish I had read them before booking this place. - "Ivan Tapia" responds to many of the reviews, apologizing for not meeting the guests' expectations and says he will talk to the management/staff and improve. I call BS - many of the issues that people mentioned recently persist. I am not going to repeat them here, but I agreed with/experienced most of the issues people complained about. When I asked to speak to Ivan, the GM, I was told there is no such person by the Diamond Club front desk. My guess is "Ivan" will not respond to this review, but if he does, I would put very little faith in his words. - Diamond Club Pros: You get one extra included bottle of liquor per 7 nights. You don't have to pay at Pescari. You get some diff liquor bottles at self-serve Diamond Club lounge. You get 'Butler' service. There is a 'Diamond Club pool and bar. - Diamond Club Cons - anyone can access Diamond Club lounge, and Diamond club pool/bar. Food at Pescari is not terrible, but I would not pay for it. Butler service was nice a few times, but, like most things at this hotel, it could take days to get a response. - Room service - avoid if you can. It takes forever, the times we tried it they got most of the order wrong, food was cold, etc. - Diamond Club Rooms - very nice - clean, comfortable, seemingly new-ish. But they were standard hotel rooms, nothing special. - Atmosphere - if you like LOUD music and DJs for two hours twice per day, then you'll like this place. If you want to find a quiet place on the beach, forget it. Maybe the rooms farthest away are ok, but then you have the nighttime activity on that side. - Insomnia - great coffee and specialty drinks! - gym - small but pretty good Read less

I had a good time with my sister here! First time in Antigua and it was definitely a time to remember. Special shoutout to Snaya!! She was a breath of fresh air, funny and active - we had a ton of fun with her ♥️ Loved the beach and the clear blue waters. We went during a great stretch of weather so we spent all of our time by the main pool or in the ocean water. The room was fantastic and the AC was a blessing at the end of a hot day! A few things that could be improved like having more staff at the food truck around lunch or just having more stock of certain food items but other than that, good experience overall. Definitely interested in getting one of the over water villas when I come next time! Read less