royaltonresorts.com

Royalton St Lucia feels like a bait-and-switch scam

What I paid for and what was advertised was not what we received. We had so many issues that I will keep it to our top 3: our room, children’s pool and bars. TLDR: I booked a diamond club presidential swim out to celebrate my anniversary. After traveling for 15 hours with a 1 and 3 year old, the room that I paid for was unavailable due to construction. Royalton never notified me of the construction or change in room prior to my arrival. My options at the hotel were: move to an “upgraded” room on the 5th floor that is 10-15 min further from the beach and not part of Diamond club, “voluntarily” downgrade my room to a non-swim out presidential closer to the beach, or decline to check in and leave. The children’s pool was unavailable for half our stay. Bars were consistently out of ingredients, including coconut, fresh fruit and rum. Yes, rum. Completely unacceptable for a “luxury all-inclusive” hotel. Full story: I booked a stay at the Royalton St Lucia to celebrate my 10 year anniversary. I chose the presidential swim out as it provided easy access to the children’s pool, beach and restaurants. This is the only reason I chose Royalton, since I am traveling with a 1 and 3 year old. Prior to arriving, I was never notified that the hotel was under construction. 1 month prior to my arrival, I called the hotel to make sure that my booking was all set and was assured that my room would be available. “Your room is guaranteed” were the exact words spoken to me. Travel took roughly 15 hours including flights and driving to the resort. When we arrived at the resort, we are told that our presidential swim out is unavailable and that no other presidential swim outs are available. Instead I am offered 3 options: 1. An “upgrade” to a penthouse suite. I used quotes for “upgrade” because this was not an upgrade. My original room would have been a first floor swim out, 1 minute walk to the beach, pools and restaurants. The “upgrade” is a 5th floor, 10-15 minute walk to the beach, pools and restaurants. As a parent: balconies, stairs, elevators and long walks are everything I wanted to avoid on vacation. 3 days into our stay we were moved to a suite closer to the beach. However, the better “upgrade” had no AC and a leaking hot tub. 2. A “voluntary” downgrade to a presidential suite without a swim out. This downgrade did not include any compensation to offset the price difference. This would have put us closer to the beach but elevators and stairs were still involved. Construction was ongoing in the room below so my kids would not have been able to sleep if I chose this room. 3. Decline to check in, leave and possibly receive a refund. This is completely unacceptable. I refuse to do that to my kids. If it was just my wife and I, I would have left and stayed elsewhere on the island. If I chose to leave, Royalton would not have compensated my airfare or airport transfer. Ultimately, we agreed to the “upgrade” to salvage our trip. My kids don’t need to suffer because Royalton decided to be deceitful. It is unacceptable to not inform your guests that construction is happening and that my booking will be unavailable. The lack of options available is unacceptable. I am even more upset at being lied to 1 month prior to my travel. I would have happily rescheduled my trip or stayed at a different Royalton property. Having to make this decision at a hotel lobby after 15 hours of travel is disgusting. I was forced to sign and accept the “upgrade” since I had nowhere else to go. The children’s pool being unavailable was very inconvenient. I’m sure Royalton does not care that they made a 1 and 3 year old cry for 2 days. The bars and restaurants were consistently out of ingredients. Half of the menu was unavailable. The last straw was being told that they were out of ingredients for piña coladas, out of Rum, and out of plantains. Baffling. Other nuisances: Jet skis drifting into swimming areas and hitting people, hot tub having a leak and draining all water, random guys selling weed on the beach, no consistency in drinks with different restaurants having different names for the same drinks, 4 clogged toilets in the main lobby and room. I have more complaints but I’m tired of writing.

Date of experience: Sep 17, 2025