The Romano Palace was probably the worst hotel I have ever stayed at. There were 2 main things wrong with it - the state of the rooms and the service provided there.
I stayed at the Romano Palace while I was on spring break this year (I'm a college student), so I wasn't exactly expecting to be staying at the Four Seasons. But, nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced at the Romano Palace. The rooms appeared clean when you first walked into them, but that was just the surface. The beds were not only the most uncomfortable things I have ever been in, but the sheets were totally gross. There were literally cigarette burns in my sheets. I was scared to put my legs under them for fear of what might be there. At one point I accidently kicked a shoe under the bed and I was absolutely revolted at what I found when I went to retrieve it. There was also dirt in every corner of the hotel. There are only 2 old elevators to service the entire 22 floor building. And walking up and down the stairs also disgusted me because that required that you practically walk through the hotel's kitchen as well as garbage room! It was just a gross experience, I practically gagged from the smells. The pool was also nasty. It seemed like the never cleaned it. Emply cups and other bits of dirt floated around in it every day.
The service provided by hotel employees didn't help the hotel either. Basically, what I learned was that you don't get anything, even if you have already paid for it, unless you tip someone. We had to tip the concierge $6 just to get our room assignment! He demanded a tip and when we handed him $6 he commented on how it wasn't enough! Also, don't buy the all-inclusive package. It seems like a good idea at first, but its not worth it at all. The waiters at the restaurant are not good servers at all. They won't even serve you until you tip them prior to the service. You practically have to wave dollar bills at them just to get them to give you something that you have already paid for. I paid for an open bar, but probably only got served 2 drinks per day at the restaurant. The pool bar is alright, however, because it is walk up. Basically, the waiters are what made the service terrible. The food is also horrible. Just expect to get sick. They leave dairy products out in the warm sun for hours. Everyone I went with got sick at one point or another. If you had a problem with the room, the employees were no help at all. Pretty much all of them spoke English well. However, they would often pretend to not know what you were saying when you had a problem. At one point, our safe locked shut with all of our valuables in it and we had to call down to the desk literally 5 times before we realized no one was going to come to help us. 3 hours later, we finally got a security guard to do a 2 second procedure that opened our safe. Do not use their phone even if you have a phone card because they will charge you $1.50 for just picking up the phone. And when you try to complain about things, they literally listen to you for a second and just walk away. It was so rude, I've never felt so disrespected in a place in my life.
On the plus side, its in a great location for spring break purposes. It has a really fun pool with daily entertainment and a good pool bar. It's also really close to the beach as well as many bars. The problem with this is that the hotel doesn't stop vibrating from the club music across the street until 7 AM every morning. Just don't expect to sleep. But, thats something that spring breakers just have to deal with, right?
Overall, I would NEVER go back to the Romano Palace. After looking at the prices, I guess its true that you get what you pay for. The Romano Palace is dirty and has awful service. I would not recommend it to anyone, even spring breakers.
