Yes, the reason I said the stuff about the tips is that the information on the hotel says tips are included in the cost of the room. Some people may not realize that they need to pad that room cost with tips, just out of basic humanity!
Some good info here, thanks for taking the time to write it. A few comments: ATM's - make sure you use a "bank branded" ATM to avoid excessive charges. Closest one is out of the lobby turn left, pass the parking lot and you'll see a convenience store the ATM is on the other side of the store (out of view as you approach). I don't know about the States but certainly in the UK and Mexico, pretty much anyone can set up a private ATM as a franchise and set the transaction fees which they keep most of themselves. You'll typically find these in hotel lobby's convenience stores etc. I use ATM's regularly for International withdrawals from the UK and the bank branded ATM's charge 29 pesos for a 5000 peso withdrawal. Bank Branded ATM's to look for include Banamex, HSBC, Banorte, Santander. Taxis: Better to use the bus, but when you need a taxi don't get one from a taxi rank (sitio) these are the taxis parked outside clubs and restaurants and waiting in hotel car parks. Walk to the road and you'll find taxis pass by literally every few seconds. Flag one down offer a price, if he doesn't accept it, send him away and flag the next. $15 from Coco Bongo is far too much, price should be more like $7 or $8. You dont need to tip taxi drivers - they have already gouged you enough usually already. Weak Drinks: If your drink is too weak simply ask them to top it up with more alcohol. The staff will be happy to oblige. Tips: Asking for tips is an annoying epidemic in Cancun. I agree you should tip the guys at the hotel well, but they shouldn't be asking for tips they're not supposed to. Away from the hotel, my simple rule of thumb is if you ask for a tip you aint getting one.
To me it really depends on how much you paid. I've paid over $200 for a dinner for my wife and I at Ruth's Chris. Our upcoming 7-day trip to TTR will cost us less than $1000 each including airfare, hotel, transfers, and taxes. Would I expect the overall quality level of Ruth's Chris at TTR @ $1000? No. If I wanted 5-star+ quality at an AI resort I'd expect to pay double what I pay for TTR. Just my thoughts.
I totally hear you on that, and did not expect them to serve the same food as Ruth's Chris for the price we paid for AI. However, when they say "gourmet" to describe their restaurants, that is a bit of a stretch. I have been to hundreds of restaurants all through the spectrum from crap to the best and I was describing the level of "gourmet" that I felt would be the most accurate description to someone wondering about the quality. I tried to use a place that most people would recognize as a benchmark. From my perspective, the food was more of the Applebee's/TGI Fridays level. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is not what I would call "fine dining" or "gourmet" at all, so for a newbie reading the website, this needs to be clarified with reality. The buffet reminded me of Circus Circus in Las Vegas, and there, just like everywhere else, you get what you pay for. At Circus Circus, it is a 99 cent breakfast and worth every bit of that 99 cents. The food in the TTR buffet that was not cooked to order was every bit as good as the buffet at Circus Circus, and that is not a compliment! :wuerg011: I think they can and should do better there! The tex-mex place was the best, and I think they should do more of a nicer Mexican restaurant for dinners - even leaving that place open for dinner would be terrific. They certainly can make great salsa, and the steak burrito there was delicious. The pizza wasn't bad, and much better than anything in the buffet! They are in Mexico, go with the strength of that - Mexican food is not expensive and most people love it - I was actually hoping for more opportunities to eat a wide variety of Mexican food since there are no good Mexican restaurants in Seattle (I'm from So Calif. and miss the Mexican restaurants there SO much!!).
Not singling out this trip report which I think is an honest one ,especially about the ''Butler service'', but has anyone noticed that most negative trip reports begin with , '' The weather was bad''. Been there many times and have never felt I had to tip, hope this is not a new thing. I,ve noticed food quality changes every time I go , sometimes bad sometimes good, was even excellent once(Xmas 2009). Thanks for the report . Don't know were I.m going to stick my 2 pillows?
We would have been fine with the weather if we had a butler to fetch us drinks and room service for every meal. That is the only reason we booked the trip when there was a risk of tropical storms. I am a total weather geek and always wondered what a tropical storm would be like - it was actually kind of exciting for me to experience that. I don't blame the resort for the weather, and the results of the weather (like our room flooding, etc.) - not at all. If you look at what I said were the problems, it wasn't having to do with the weather, it was having to do with promising services that were impossible for them to deliver, and them being utterly difficult about our complaining about their broken promises. They did right by us to switch our room with the flood, but they gave us the run around on so many other things that it is hard to give them any credit for service. To get a refund for 2 days of drops of love required 2 hours of telling the same story to 3 levels of employees, and the frustration of massive language barriers until we got to the third management level. Later on Sunday night the real manager sent us the bottle of vodka and apologized for poor service, but that was after about 30 hours of compounding violated expectations. I just cannot believe they have room service for every meal on their website and promotional materials and have no way to accommodate that promise - and then are completely unapologetic about it - like shame on us for even asking - OMFG!:bash:
It was honest trip reports like this that helped me go to TTR with exactly the right expectations. I appreciate the time you took to detail everything! I would like to address the the tips, though--we never felt pressured to tip at all, and after we got home, my husband said, "Wait? We were supposed to tip housekeeping and the bartenders??? I feel bad now!" And even with that, when I went back the second time, staff remembered me, greeted me by name, and treated me warmly--not like that chick who stiffed 'em the first time!
I just cannot believe they have room service for every meal on their website and promotional materials and have no way to accommodate that promise - and then are completely unapologetic about it - like shame on us for even asking - OMFG!:bash:[/QUOTE] I was agreeing with you on that part
