Royal Palm Suite Hotel, Maraval

...I decided to try the Royal Palm Suite Hotel in Maraval. Having stayed in quite a few hotels and having heard positive reviews from family members, I decided to give it a shot and hopefully have an enjoyable stay. The hotel is mid sized with 70 or so rooms or suites, and is a family run local hotel. The staff were very helpful and friendly and always had a smile or a kind word.


*LOCATION*
The hotel is a 20 minute drive ...
...choices being the Ballroom, the Royal Room, the Conference Room and the Pirate's Hideout, which are all used to regularly host graduations, seminars weddings and parties. There is a pool facility located on site at the rear of the building which is fairly large and semi circled shaped. The hotel provides a business centre which does photocopying, faxing and printing for all business travellers. A laundromat is conveniently located at a cost of £1.50 ... more

One one of my many visits to beautiful Trinidad, I decided to try the Royal Palm Suite Hotel in Maraval. Having stayed in quite a few hotels and having heard positive reviews from family members, I decided to give it a shot and hopefully have an enjoyable stay. The hotel is mid sized with 70 or so rooms or suites, and is a family run local hotel. The staff were very helpful and friendly and always had a smile or a kind word.

*LOCATION*
The hotel is a 20 minute drive from the Piarco International airport and taxis are readily availabe at the airport at a cost of around £15 (guests can make prior arrangements to be met at the airport by the hotel's in-house taxi service as well). Maraval is a fairly affluent area in the city with some very beautifu, large and expensive houses nearby. Nestled between the Maraval hills, the hotel is just a few minutes from downtown Port of Spain, the Presidents House, the Emperor Valley Zoo, Botanical Gardens and the home of the internationally renowned annual 2 day Carnival, the Queens Park Savannah. There is a supermarket located next door and it is walking distance to the Maraval Shopping Centre which houses dozens of local cafes, restaurants and bars. It is also a few minutes away from the Long Circular Mall which has a large food court plus many various department stores in its 4 story building for all day shopping. For those favouring the beach (which is probably everyone) it is a 20 minute drive to the islands most famous beach, Maracas Bay. One of the islands more popular nightclubs, Club Coconuts is also a 15 minute drive although the crowd tends to be early to mid twenties. There is almost always a ready supply of taxis and minibuses that can be hired for small to medium groups (up to 15 persons) for island tours to beaches or places of interest.

*ROOMS*
What makes this hotel very interesting is the choices of rooms available when making a booking. There are 40 standard rooms (15ft x 15ft) with an option of one, two or three beds in the room, option of bathtub or shower, and an option of carpet or tiled floors, and a small kitchenette! This certainly caters for the needs of each individual taste! There are 8 business suites which all have fridges, stoves, bathtubs and satellite television and are much larger than the standard room as they hold a lounge area. In addition there are 3 superior standard rooms with queen sized beds and are approximately twice the size of the standard room. For families, the hotel also provides 20 executive suites, all with 2 queen sized beds, lounge area with sofas, satellite tv in some, fridges, stoves and coffee facilities. My observation of the rooms were that they were well kept, clean and very spacious. The room was neutrally decorated although the quilts were very decorative. Each room also contained a mid sized bathroom with fresh clean towels changed daily. The standard rooms are charged out from £70 to £120 (depending on single/double/triple/quad occupancy), and from £140 to £190 for the executive rooms based on the same criteria.

*FACILITIES & FOOD*
There are 4 meeting rooms to accommodate up to 400 persons, the choices being the Ballroom, the Royal Room, the Conference Room and the Pirate's Hideout, which are all used to regularly host graduations, seminars weddings and parties. There is a pool facility located on site at the rear of the building which is fairly large and semi circled shaped. The hotel provides a business centre which does photocopying, faxing and printing for all business travellers. A laundromat is conveniently located at a cost of £1.50 and is token operated. There is a tour desk that runs day tours to Maracas Bay, ASA Wright Nature Centre, The Pitch Lake (lake of natural asphalt) and also trips 'Down D Islands' (boat trips to some smaller islands). The hotel even provides a babysitting service (for all those mums who want some time shopping) which certainly helps when on a shopping trip to the nearby mall!

The Buccaneers Cove restaurant sits just off the Pirates pool. Here you can enjoy local and international cuisine whilst relaxing in the ambience of West Indian music. You can dine at the restaurant, have the food as takeaway or even ordered in as room service! The cost for food can range from £5 to £15 depending on your taste and budget but there is always something reasonably priced and very tasty. Breakfast menus range from continental such as hash browns, ham, eggs, bacon, sausages, teas, coffees and juices, to Trinidadian, such as Salted Fish Buljol (salted cod with onions and hot pepper), Coconut bakes (bread) and Hops (rolls). Dinner menus also range from internationally known dishes to the more local such as macaroni pie, breaded chicken, stewed chicken, oven browned potatoes, peas and rice, sauteed veggies and cassava pone. There is also a wide variety of Indian curried dishes as well as chines dishes which may take a little longer to prepare but are also available. Trinidadian food is always well seasoned and most are spicy in taste, as the locals enjoy their food with a hot taste on the tongue! The food though is extremely tasty and is quite more-ish, that is, you always feel like having more!

*RECOMMENDATION*
The hotel may have been a bit pricey but was definitely worth the money spent for the facilities and rooms. Apart from single night rates, the hotel also offers package rates for a minimum stay of 5 nights which ends up being a £100 or so less overall. Breakfast is included in the rates which depending on the time one goes and based on the variety available, can also substitute as lunch! All major credit cards are accepted and the use of the pool is included as well. For those wishing for longer stays, monthly rates are available and can actually be negotiated with the hotel manager! The area is generally safe and the property remains guarded and well looked after. As such, I would definitely recommend a stay here for a pleasant and relaxing trip to the island!

Hotel website: http://www.royalpalm.co.tt/

 

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