Chic by Royalton

A group of 16 adults were here late November 2019 for a week. Top notch service entertainment and resort. No complaints whatsoever. We travelled from Toronto and Edmonton My second time here We will be back

This was our 4th different Royalton affiliated resort. Overall a great, nice sized resort with adult couples and singles. Met many very nice, cool, people looking to get away, have fun and indulge in some relaxation, food and drink. We really didn't find too much of the disorderly party crowd that sometimes puts a damper on things at a nicer property. Room was smaller, but very clean and functioning. No mildew smell and no electrical issues, as others have noted. No wear and tear to the walls or furnishings in our room. Entertainment was quite enjoyable (violinist and the Queen Show were memorable!). Might consider dropping the Michael Jackson lip sync tribute. No watersports other than a couple of kayaks and boogie boards. Fitness classes appeared to be well orchestrated. Restaurants were above average, we really enjoyed Tangine followed by Hunters and Vespa. The Asian/Fish restaurant could be better if far less sodium and salt were used in the dishes. Don't discount the buffet either, as it was arguably even better than the restaurants, depending upon the dish. Solid selection of food throughout the property. Beach was beautiful and water very clear when calm. Very little seaweed when we visited. No problems with Timeshare Sales, or beach vendors. I stated right away we had no interest and our interactions with the same individuals remained very friendly and cordial, with no further pressure. Service throughout was stellar, stellar, stellar! There was a violent domestic incident in the room next to us in the middle of the night and we had genuine concern for the state of the woman. I hurried over to security in the lobby and they immediately responded, checked on the situation and seemd to diffuse, or at least remedy this distressed and disturbing event for the woman. Such a response and hopefully an effective action, says a lot to me about the culture of the team. Suggestions for Management: There are only 21 Palapas on the beach and insufficient umbrellas around the pool for 323 rooms! This leads to the time honoured tradition of people heading down early (very early) and "reserving" their chairs on the beach or pool. There are signs around the resort stating that reserving chairs is NOT ALLOWED and any towels or personal items left for more than 30 minutes will be removed and taken to security to reclaim. I can't count the number of chairs that sat empty for hours or even all day with only a towel on them, which obviously had never been touched since sunrise. Need to enforce your own policy, which is also a policy strongly endorsed by most guests and put a stop to the reservation game and/or actually remove items as stated (perhaps after 1 hour, instead of 30 minutes, as a walk on the beach, or particpation in a pool class takes more than 30 minutes). While I was initially impressed with the free flowing towels at Royalton resorts, I find introducing a towel card system might be more appropriate for 2 reasons: ONE - It helps limit the unlimited towels people use to freely reserve chairs and reduces the cleaning of unused towels, because people are too lazy to reclaim theirs from where they last sat, or was soaked after a passing rainstorm. TWO - Your housekeeping policies encourage cleaning management of towel and bedding, as it uses less phosphates in the environment and reduces water and electrical use. Contrary to this policy, the pool and beach areas looked like a towel explosion every day by early afternoon. Set up more towel return stations as well, to encourage more lazy guests to at least move their towel from a chair to a bin. You probably launder more than 5 times the number of beach towels required because of weak policy and bad habits. We found the quality of drinks here to be lower than any other of the 4 Royalton properties we've enjoyed. Low grade booze and very little quantity led to a drink rarely tasting the same way twice. I know it isn't Mexico, however your tequila does resemble lighter fluid. All in all, a great week and some little improvements will enhance the guest experience at CHIC.

We’ve just returned from our first time at this resort. We stayed for 14 nights, 15 days in a luxury junior suite with 2 double beds, in block 9 - right at the end. Which gave us peaceful mornings and evenings. We weren’t diamond club, didn’t have a butler or concierge and had no issues! It’s a bit of a long review but I’ll break it down to read what you wish. Is it a 5 star? Not quite, a few improvements are needed... Arrival, easy and straight forward. We arrived at 9.30pm and were taken with our bags to our room. My only issue here was at checkin they requested $200 deposit should anything be put on our room. This was news to us so we declined, gave our reasons and they just made a note on the system against our room. Reception did apologise that our room had 2 double beds and not a king size but it wasn’t an issue for us. We didn’t want to head for dinner on the first night so arranged room service (no extra charge) and it was great. Room; again no major issues. Yes if you look hard enough it could do with a lick of paint here and there and the odd shelf is starting to drop and warp but that’s just being picky. We had a jacuzzi bath and a separate shower - both were lovely. Although I think the bath door is missing as there was a rail but nothing there. Our AC was on 15 degrees at all times, which wasn’t icy but made a difference after a day in the sun. (We didn’t get why people moan they want it colder) Maids did a great job and always stocked our fridge up - thank you. No reports of mould, damp or sewage from us and no issues with blocked toilets! Food; breakfast buffet had plenty of choice and we never went hungry or without. It really set us up for the day. Lunch was usually at munchies bar for burgers and wraps - freshly made and delicious. The odd lunch we went to the buffet and again loads of choice. Dinner was at a restaurant every night. Our favourite being Hunter steak house followed by Vespa the Italian. Staff were great and food was delicious in both. Tagine (Middle Eastern) we tried once, food was ok but just not for us. Pescari we went to once and it was a disaster. Drinks were flat, service was slow, food was not as described. We did the buffet for dinner on Mexican night as we weren’t very hungry and just wanted to pick, again plenty of choice and the cooked to order meat station was great. My only feedback on food overall was somethings could be a little bland but I know they have to cater for everyone! Staff; I often wondered why so many reviews mention staff but they get the feedback and all are amazing. They go above and beyond their jobs, nothing is too much trouble and they were a delight to get to know. To name a few... Esther @ breakfast buffet. Every morning a smile on her face, a delight to see and I’m thankful for her teaching me something in Spanish each day. Daniel @ breakfast we nicknamed the coffee man. Very polite and friendly gentleman! Ricardo @ buffets you are a great man. A true gentleman who’d carry my plate, hold my chair and was a pleasure to speak too. Edwin @ munchies and the bar, our man! Always smiling, singing and very friendly. He even went to the trouble to find us to say goodbye as he was having a few days off and we’d have left when he returned. Marisol @ lobby bar & pool side an absolute treasure. So happy, friendly & smiley, it was great getting to know her. Esther @ pool side & coffee shop a wonderful young lady who I loved getting to know and again always so happy. Thank you both for never allowing us to go thirsty! The lobby bar team in the evenings work hard and don’t stop. Thank you for getting to know us and our drinks ‘mimosa queen’ :) Luis - our main man. Never stop laughing and dancing! Finally the Vibe team ‘OH MY CHICKEEEEN!’ To each and everyone one of the team from the bottom of our hearts THANK YOU! We loved watching them the first few days before we got involved and after that we were hooked. Always smiling, joking, singing, engaging with guests and working hard, they’re all fantastic. We loved it all. The games, inflatables, shows, music, parties, the lot. These guys really made our holiday something special, with activities and their hard work! We didn’t use the spa so cannot comment. The sales guys at the pool are friendly and once you’ve said no thank you, they leave you alone. The Dominican market is held at the hotel once a week and it’s not great. Sellers don’t take no for an answer and are very expensive - although you can haggle. I also didn’t like them standing by my sunbed all day, shouting for people’s attention. Final criticism is they have signs at the pool about towels and property being removed from beds after 30 mins - sadly this isn’t carried out and getting pool side beds can be hard :( Overall we had a great time, were sad to leave. We are people that don’t like to return to the same place but if we ever return to DR we’ll be back here :) Unlike comments on other reviews we weren’t forced to write this, but know reviews and staff mentions go along way. Don’t forget your $1 & $5 notes for tips, these go along way and mean a lot to the staff. Once again thank you everyone at Chic xx