We booked directly with the hotel the Grand Plus category for $308 a night. For the record, the price changed to $357 a night once we arrived. It didn't matter that we had written documentation supporting the original price of $308. We knew booking the GOS would not be a 5*, nor the party & vibe of TTR. We previously stayed at GOS some years ago & had an idea of what to expect. We arrived around noon & knew our room would not be ready until 3:00 PM, so we packed our swimming suits in our carry-on luggage. Upon arrival, we were escorted to the Concierge Room for check in. They arranged for us to change in the spa locker room which by the way is not air conditioned. We were now off to the pool and quickly met up with other TTR exiles and had a great afternoon! At 3:00 PM we went to see if our room was ready & were assigned room 966. We were advised by the Concierge Department that the 9th floor had been remodeled. Room 966 did not have a balcony or tub/shower combo. We went back down to the Concierge to discuss our options. We were told we could upgrade the following day to a Sian Ka'an room for an additional $90 a night. They were not willing to negotiate this price. 2 1/2 hours later, they offered us a "downgraded" room, #865 which we accepted. Room 865 had a balcony, tub/shower combo but beyond that it looked exactly like room 966. There are a variety of issues that the hotel needs to improve. We only had hot water on our 1st & last days. On several occasions the hotel's water was completely shut off. Needless to say, toilets wouldn't flush & the pool lost 2 feet of water. Guest elevators sporadically worked. Lines to obtain dinner reservations were a complete joke. People were in line early in the morning waiting for the possibility to make a reservation which they may or may not get. We heard people expressing their frustration and skipped the reservation line. That leads us to the buffet-lines to get in like we've never experienced. Empty tables were available but guests were required to wait. Once in the buffet, many food items were empty and not being replaced. Lunch at the Hippie Chick was atroshish. At least 15 orders were sitting in the window waiting to be served while 1-2 servers attempted delivering them. The 24 hour room service takes over an hour & is accompanied by an $11 delivery fee. The hotel is greatly understaffed and the staff they do have are blatantly not happy to be there. However, the exception was Nelson in the Concierge Department who was always very kind & did his best. The hotel does not have any pool or beach servers. The bars serve drinks in small plastic cups that they expect to be dropped off in "recycle" bins after you are finished. It was a shame to see the lone swim-up bartender running around collecting cups so he could "wash" them to serve new drinks. I was glad we had our bubba mugs. By the way, to get to the swim-up bar, you must exit the pool, go down stairs, re-enter the pool, and get past the waterfall. It was easier to go downstairs to the beach bar. Stairs, holy cow we forgot how many this resort has. Stairs are not conducive to people drinking or anyone with walking challenges. There were stairs in places that didn't even make sense. We saw several people with injuries. Topless: a handful of ladies were comfortable being topless. A few creepers, but that didn't stop us. The good: the foam party, the coffee bar, the beach & enjoying the company of other TTR exiles. Knowing we were headed to Breathless for another 5 nights helped us have a positive outlook for the remainder of the trip. Would we go back to GOS, absolutely not!
Sorry to hear your trip wasn't exactly stellar. At least now we are getting closer to TTR reopening and the only reason to go elsewhere will be choice rather than necessity!
You made a great point that I forgot to mention in our review...the fact that the majority of the staff was NOT happy to be there. No smiles, bad service, understaffed...just a general miserable aura around everyone, and that also seemed to be the mood of many of the guests there too. It's just not a happy or fun place to be. If you're the type of person that just wants to relax and be left alone by everyone and are on a tight budget, it's the place for you. Based on reviews, I think we would have enjoyed Breathless a lot more, but it was way too far above our price range for this year, and unfortunately couldn't afford it, so for us it was either Sens or GP and GP looked insanely boring, so we had to go with Sens. Since we booked our flights and resort as a package deal, I'm not sure exactly how much our Grand Plus cost per day, but a good estimate would be somewhere around $225 USD a night, so we saved a lot of money by booking as a package deal through CheapCaribbean. Nice meeting you both, hope to run into you at the new TTR sometime!
To add to the list of problems in Oasis Sense: do not book a room below 4th floor near an elevator - unless you plan to party all night long every day. The noise ( they call it music ) from Kinky bar will keep you awake until 2 in the morning...
Sounds like a very different experience than we've always had. You can get the food/drink service down on the beach by upgrading your bands, something we always do and is worth every penny. That way you also get beach beds, instead of chairs, which are behind a rope that keeps the vendors away as well. The 9th floor is actually an add on. They were building it when we were there our first time. The upgraded bands also get you room service 24/7 without the service fee. They do run out of hot water during peak times. Just try to time your showers while most aren't taking them. All in all, if you get the better bands, a lot of the negatives turn to positives. You also have access to a private concierge. For instance, last time they wouldn't let us do the Pirate Cruise because it was overbooked. They wouldn't even put us on the wait list. Then we upgraded our bands, went to the private concierge and were put on the list without a single question, which turned out to be a great night. Tip: Tip certain staff at the beginning of your stay. They'll be much happier and nicer to you the rest of the trip.
