My chats with some of the "powers that be"

Jen&Kyle · Sep 22, 2017

Len from the Floor said: ↑

@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.
Click to expand...

Now this is in the middle of partying and I didn't take any pictures but I know I wandered into something on that end. Pretty sure it was going to be a bathroom for the pool. But the fact that it isn't done and no one else is mentioning its existence has me questioning it. Asked the couple on site there now to wander over there and see what is there.

Personally I don't get the point of the restrooms being too far. I like to wander. And having to walk a little to get to the restroom and meet new people on the way and way back is a good thing. I mean we are talking like 30 yards right?

Len from the Floor · Sep 22, 2017

Jen&Kyle said: ↑

Now this is in the middle of partying and I didn't take any pictures but I know I wandered into something on that end. Pretty sure it was going to be a bathroom for the pool. But the fact that it isn't done and no one else is mentioning its existence has me questioning it. Asked the couple on site there now to wander over there and see what is there.

Personally I don't get the point of the restrooms being too far. I like to wander. And having to walk a little to get to the restroom and meet new people on the way and way back is a good thing. I mean we are talking like 30 yards right?
Click to expand...

@Jen&Kyle
The bathroom you saw - was it attached to the building the buffet is in or was it somewhat to the right of the buffet building (looking from the beach)?

As far as the bathroom being too far - I agree it isn't physically ALL that far. And I also get the "social factor." But for some folks, especially us more mature guys, our "early warning system" no longer works very well - when we have to go, we have to go." (Technically it is known as urgent need). And at that point, it seemed like the bathroom was a mile away. This is made worse by the fact that most people are drinking way more than usual, often times sugary drinks which tend to make the problem even worse. For whatever it is worth, I heard the complaint about the distance from a fair number of people (and not just the senior crowd).

FakeNewsTeam · Sep 22, 2017

Len from the Floor said: ↑

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.
Click to expand...

Len,

Thanks for taking the time to write up and share your findings. Hope to meet you some day. Take care...

FakeNewsTeam · Sep 22, 2017

ScubaSteve said: ↑

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...
Click to expand...

I believe mgts' plan was to bring in portable Spot a Pots!
No water or sewage lines required!

Restling · Sep 28, 2017

I wish there was some more reports as to work that is going on. It looked like in the drone picture that was on Facebook the other day, that they did add some cushions to the Bash chairs.

Len from the Floor · Sep 28, 2017

Restling said: ↑

I wish there was some more reports as to work that is going on. It looked like in the drone picture that was on Facebook the other day, that they did add some cushions to the Bash chairs.
Click to expand...

There were cushions on most (if not all) of the Bash chairs when I was there 9/10 - 9/17.

Stacia_and_John · Sep 30, 2017

I'm going to take the O/P as a Trip Report, albeit a very focused portion of the trip. That's some very good info and insight, so thanks!

glenn/monique · Oct 1, 2017

THANKS FOR THE INFO

Log in or Sign up

My chats with some of the "powers that be"

Jen&Kyle I can choose my own title Registered Member

Len from the Floor Addict Registered Member

FakeNewsTeam It's a matter of time, but time is all we have! Registered Member

FakeNewsTeam It's a matter of time, but time is all we have! Registered Member

Restling I can choose my own title Registered Member

Len from the Floor Addict Registered Member

Stacia_and_John T&A Tour Guide Registered Member

glenn/monique Titties n Beer Registered Member