My chats with some of the "powers that be"

I was at TTR from 9/10 to 9/17. Overall. I thought they did a fantastic job with the renovation. The vibe is absolutely the same – in fact, I think it is even better than ever. The staff too was more attentive and enthusiastic than before the renovation and that was a very high bar to start with. I had a great time and can’t wait to go back.

My summary thought about the renovation is (to use a baseball analogy) that they hit a long double to the wall in center field, stretched it to a triple but still have a way to go before it is a homerun. And when I say that, I don’t mean just finishing the remaining construction.

There are many things I noticed that I felt could use some attention. Most of them are not too big a deal and individually maybe they don’t matter too much if they never get changed. Others are (at least to me) more serious. As a total package, I think they will hold them back from being a 4.5 to 5-star hotel if they don’t get some attention.

I don’t like to complain just to complain – so my goal is to try to be as constructive as possible.

With that in mind, I took time to seek out and chat at some length with the sales manager for the “upgrade” side of the premier sales staff and the sales manager for the “new member” side of the premier sales staff.

I also ended up – totally by accident – chatting with the Hotel General Manager. I was standing at the bar in Bash on Friday night. The De La Pena family (they own Temptation) was present at Bash for the Mexican Independence Day celebration. The gentleman standing next to me at the bar looked very distinguished and was not dressed like most guests. So, I asked “Are you a De La Pena?” He replied he was not, but told me he was the hotel manager – something he may now regret - LOL. After some back and forth, we agreed to meet the next morning and chat.

I will tell you that all three of them were very, very gracious, heard me out, agreed with some things I said, disagreed with others but all seemed eager to hear what I had to say. They made notes when appropriate. They clearly want to accommodate us and I am certain we will see some changes.

Here is a summary of some of things we discussed and my take away of what they said. My apologies to all three if I have misspoken about anything we discussed.

1) The “cliff” at the end of the sexy pool – they will be extending the steps so that there is no longer a drop off. He said it was going to be done “next week” – I am not sure if that means the week of 9/18 or 9/25, but it will be soon. (Hotel GM)

2) Bathrooms at the sexy pool being so far away – Everyone knows it is a problem and there are plans to add bathrooms at the other (marina) end of the pool. I didn’t pick up on the exact location (I THINK he said by the ramp (but won’t swear to that) and he did not mention when. (Hotel GM)

3) Uncomfortable seating at Bash (I personally don’t think it was that bad – but I’ve seen complaints from others so I passed it on) – there are some plans to add and/or replace some of the furniture in Bash. (Hotel GM)

4) Fans in Bash –I think the current fans in Bash just don’t look very good and there needs to be more of them. No commitment, but I got the impression they would add permanent fans or something else to increase the flow of air in Bash (although if they left it as is, it is still unbelievably better than Paty-Os) (Hotel GM)

5) Not all the rooms have chairs or desks in them. For my money, every room should have at a minimum a comfortable chair. No commitment, but he wrote it down. As an aside, if you need a chair or a desk and chair, if you ask, I am pretty sure they will get you one from another room. (Hotel GM)

6) Hand rails at the sexy pool - Older folks like me need at least one set of handrails. I'm sure other folks do to. They are coming. (Hotel GM)

7) The “stage” at Bash – I didn’t bring this one up – but it came up in the conversation – there are plans to make the stage “fancier” and “safer”. Can’t remember the details. (Hotel GM)

8) Uncomfortable chairs around the pool – I’ve seen a bunch of comments about how hard it is to lie on your stomach on those fancy chairs around the pool and additional comments that they are just not that comfortable. I told him if it was up to me, I would sell the whole lot of them on eBay and start over – LOL. There are plans to replace (or add) some of the chairs with more traditional chairs. (Hotel GM).

9) I passed on a lot of people’s feelings that they need to resolve the open issue of what a member pays if they want to upgrade their room for a specific trip (not upgrade their contract) – this policy has been “under review” for weeks. They get the fact that this needs to be decided. They claim it is more complicated then we realize. They have stated on Facebook (post my meeting with them) that they were having a meeting on Monday (9/18) and we would see a document soon. (Sales)

10) Premier benefits for non-members during the soft opening. I told them while I think it was great (from their perspective) they did that, many of the premier members who were there were feeling somewhat slighted. First, this is going to end soon (maybe this week?). Second, they understood how members were feeling. We had some back and forth on what they might do – not sure where that is headed so I don’t want to say too much. I am hoping that they do something to say “thanks” in some way. (Sales)

11) I told them that I thought they had a horrible social media presence and needed to do better. I mentioned that I thought closing the premier Facebook group was a serious mistake.(When it happened, they claimed FB closed the group due to "complaints".) People need an official place to make their voices heard and get official answers to questions. By leaving a void, misinformation and rumors prevail. Post my meeting with them, they posted on Facebook that they would TRY to get that group re-opened. I hope we see some action on that front. I don’t think sales is the ultimate decider on this one, so time will tell. (Sales)

12) I pointed out that the sales staff prior to the renovation (at least in June and September of 2016 when I was there), said that TTR was no longer going to sell rooms to outside providers for them to sell at a discount. So far this is not the case. What I was told is that as far as the tower rooms are concerned, the contracts with the outside travel providers do not allow them to discount the tower rooms. If they do and you see a better deal, they will price match it. As far as the renovated rooms go – there are still contracts out there that allow providers to sell at discounted rates. I will say that it was not clear to me what they will do on that front when those contracts expire. (Sales)

Whew – that was a mouthful. I will be happy to answer questions if you have any – especially if you have a concern I didn’t mention – we did discuss other things, my goal here was to hit the ones that I have seen others mention in their reports both here in this forum and on Facebook.

I will close with this – while some of these things are important (at least to some), the main reason we all love TTR so much is the Vibe and the first-rate service we get. On that front, they have hit a grand slam home run.

 

Len, First of all I want to thank you for not only taking the time to post this, but also taking the time when down there on vacation to seek out these 3 individual people and be able to have a sit down with them (that even involved them taking notes). This would have been something that I would have loved to do, but I selfishly just got blasted and really didn't say too much to anyone in positions of power expect my normal "I'm doing F-ing fantastic!!!" and "I love this place!".

Many of the things you included in this post would have been the same stuff that I would have discussed. But I know you mention talking about more that you just didn't include. If you happened to talk about these things please let me know whenever you have a moment:

1. What is the status of the sky bar, and who will the pool and bar up there be available to?

2. What is the area with the outside steps they are building above the sexy pool bathrooms?

3. Are there any plans to make any updates to the premier bar?

4. Why they F did they get rid of the shrimp tacos!!!???

Now with the rest of your topics I wanted to just break out individually to get a little deeper dive if you have more info, but many of this you might not even know. I just want to comment on how crazy some of these big ticket items sound, and hope you weren't just getting lip service (not in the good TTR way).

How? This seems pretty tough to me, and obviously without having a blueprint, it's hard to understand how they can just pop up some bathrooms now without having the infrastructure in place to support this. But maybe it is easier to run sewage lines then I am thinking.

I wasn't in all room types, but I don't even know where you would fit a desk and chair. Sadly with the built in shelving and entertainment center, space is already pretty limited. There isn't even a closet anymore you can store your suitcases so you don't have to look at them sitting out all week. Hopefully there are bigger rooms that can support a desk, because if you order room-service there literally is no where to put it.

Really hope both of these are true for safety's sake. I imagine they are going to have to close early or partially shut-down part of the sexy pool to make these happen.

Just looking for a bit more explanation on this. What do you think non-members were getting that they shouldn't be? I mean the sea-flirt was open to everyone, and I am hearing that might turn to be a member only restaurant in the future. Even as a member myself, I think it is stupid to make a restaurant off limits to anyone. Other then that, and maybe hooking some people up with better booze and letting a few people hang at the premier bar, I am not sure what I noticed other people getting they shouldn't.

 

@ScubaSteve Here are answers to your questions:

1. What is the status of the sky bar, and who will the pool and bar up there be available to?
I asked about the sky bar, but not the pool - the answer is undecided still
2. What is the area with the outside steps they are building above the sexy pool bathrooms?
I assume you mean the structure that starts with the deck above sea flirts and continues to the right (looking at it from the sexy pool) until you get to the walkway to the bathrooms/quiet pool - that is the premier office. I heard that is was going to done this week.
3. Are there any plans to make any updates to the premier bar?
I did not ask about that.
4. Why they F did they get rid of the shrimp tacos!!!???
They happened to be my favorite lunch item - I bet I had them 6 out 7 days when I was there pre-reno. You can ask them to make them for you even though they aren't on the menu. Not exactly the same - the shrimp they used to use where fried. They made me some with fresh shrimp - admittedly healthier but a bit less tasty.

Now with the rest of your topics I wanted to just break out individually to get a little deeper dive if you have more info, but many of this you might not even know. I just want to comment on how crazy some of these big ticket items sound, and hope you weren't just getting lip service (not in the good TTR way).
Can't tell for sure if I got lip service or not. I did wonder if when I walked away, they threw their notes out and said to themselves "that asshole."
Time will tell.
How? This seems pretty tough to me, and obviously without having a blueprint, it's hard to understand how they can just pop up some bathrooms now without having the infrastructure in place to support this. But maybe it is easier to run sewage lines then I am thinking.
Actually, I almost said when I posted it, "I bet this one is gonna cost some real money." I'm not smart enough to know the answer on that one - I do think it won't be easy and I bet they have to do some serious ripping up of concrete somewhere.
I wasn't in all room types, but I don't even know where you would fit a desk and chair. Sadly with the built in shelving and entertainment center, space is already pretty limited. There isn't even a closet anymore you can store your suitcases so you don't have to look at them sitting out all week. Hopefully there are bigger rooms that can support a desk, because if you order room-service there literally is no where to put it.
I didn't spend too much time on this, but agree with your thoughts.
Really hope both of these are true for safety's sake. I imagine they are going to have to close early or partially shut-down part of the sexy pool to make these happen.
As far as adding the steps at the end of the deck - I don't think that should require any pool shut-down. I imagine adding the handrails shouldn't be time consuming itself - but I guess there might be an issue with water depth getting in the way. Glad it isn't my problem.

Just looking for a bit more explanation on this. What do you think non-members were getting that they shouldn't be? I mean the sea-flirt was open to everyone, and I am hearing that might turn to be a member only restaurant in the future. Even as a member myself, I think it is stupid to make a restaurant off limits to anyone. Other then that, and maybe hooking some people up with better booze and letting a few people hang at the premier bar, I am not sure what I noticed other people getting they shouldn't.[/QUOTE]
In my original post I said that I thought giving these benefits to non-members was smart on their part. I didn't say it, but the fact is it was virtually a no cost item - the "better" alcohol can't cost .10 a drink and the few added food choices can't cost more that $1 or $2 per meal, if that. The rest of the stuff is free. I guess besides the better alcohol and added food choices, the only other thing that might be worth something would be pool side service. My point here is that was a smart, virtually cost free gesture on their part to say "Opps, we know we had some issues so here are a few nice things we are doing for you." I just think it would be nice to do something retroactively for members who were (or are still going to be there) during this "everyone gets the benefits" period Frankly, I don' think the dollar value of what they do is important - it is making some sort of gesture to members to say thanks. While I would hope they might do something beyond a "thanks for coming during this shake down period" email, even that would be nice. If it were me, I would do something more (but then it isn't my money I'm spending). Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for the report, that's a lot of info.

 

Thanks for the info. Glad you were in the right place at the right time meeting the GM at Bash.

 

Glad to hear they are going to do something about the seating both at Bash and the sexy pool. The Bash seating is very uncomfortable and I spoke to many women at the pool that had bruises on their legs and butt from the pool seating.

 

Thanks for all the info. A couple things to clarify.

Sexy pool bathrooms..
The opening few days they only had the bathrooms in the buffet open. The ones heading towards the quiet pool were close to opening and I assume those have opened based on posts as soon as a week after opening. These are the ones everyone is saying are too far?
Also, they were building restrooms under the ramp on the side of the buffet building. I wandered in there and used the urinal. They were not close to done. Is that area closed off now? I am guessing those are the restrooms they are referring to opening soon.

Benefits for non Premier members at opening...
We are not Premier. We were maybe the 6th people at the pool and waiters immediately came and asked what we wanted to drink (before the resort started to fall apart ha...the water, ac, sewage issues opening week). And then continued to bring us drinks the rest of the trip. Is this a Premier benefit? It isn't continuing for all?
Note we were not able to get Premier liquor and were not able to get Premier food. So don't think they opened that up to non Premier members due to issues.

 

@Jen&Kyle . Yes, the bathrooms headed to the quiet pool seems pretty far away if you are in the middle section of the pool and of course even further if you are in the Marina side of the pool. I did not see anything that looked like a in progress bathroom by the buffet/ramp. Any chance you can find a picture of that area and mark it up to show where you saw the bathroom? Maybe that will help me tell you what I might have seen.

I believe the waiter service at the pool is member only. But, I will tell you that I don't think it was ever well enforced, even pre-reno. Frankly, even though I am premier I don't mind getting a drink at the in pool bar - in fact I prefer it. Great place to meet people and do some flirting. I do admit I occasionally order food from the waiters.

 

When we met with the premiere sales staff in Aug we where told the area above Seaflirt will be premiere member lounge if you would want to have a cigar or a meal overlooking the ocean. I guess it could be used for sales area as well. Time will tell.

 

Lots of girls had bruises. Even the bartenders were saying it. My wife was saying that the stools that are at the bars (the pink cone ones) are too large, and come to a sharp edge, so when you're not fully sitting your big drunk ass on them, or are like up and down in between them, the edge digs into the back of your thighs. Normally you see the leg bruising and figure it is for completely difference reasons (wink wink), but now there is actually a thing.