El Dorado Royale -- Reservation System Trashed!!!

Just reading on Trip Advisor to stay up on things for our wedding in November. One of the only consistent compalints that I have seen about EDR is the reservation system. It seemed that a huge advantage to being in a casita was the ability to get any restaurant/time slot...

 

Well, apparantly, the reservation system has been scrapped, and now all restaurants will be first come, first served. While this may be better for the casual guest there, it seems this is taking away a huge perk to staying in the casitas.

 

Anyway, here's the letter from the resort explaining the decision...

 

Dear --------

We thank you very much for your interest in El Dorado Royale. In response of your e-mail, yes its true, you no longer need reservations for dinner at our restaurants, they are now, first come first serve, only at the candle light dinner which has an extra charge if you decide to have it, hoping to have you with us soon and maintaining contact for any future questions or doubts.

Best Regards

Richard Vega

Karisma on Line

VIP Help Desk

 

Just wondering, form those of you who have been there before, what kind of impact this will have on our group of about 50. Most of our guests are staying in "regular" suites, so maybe this will be better for all of them? I am wondering if it's going to mean a long wait for dinner at the most popular times and restaurants? I wrote to confirm with our WC and will see if we might still be able to make reservations. Will keep you posted, but wanted to hear some thoughts on this policy change...

well that may make things very interesting! i usually end up doing a lot of room service cause im working but i do eat at least once at the restaurant down by the beach. next door to the candlelite dinner. is it jojos? great seafood. but i also only have 1 day where i can eat there. cause i get in and its already full that day, then i make reservations for the next night (usually i cant get in until about 10 pm) the next night im at the wedding and the next day im gone.

 

maybe someone will be there soon? i have a wedding there again but not until next year. if your group of 50 is going to want to eat together a lot it may be a problem if they arent taking reservations. and i never knew that about the reservations and the casitas.

I'm pretty certain there are some brides on here going in the next few months... We'll be there in November.

Should work out well for you, if it's truly first come, first served... You can eat there 2 nights!

If anything, this will benefit our group of 50. Almost all of them are staying in "standard" suites, so it should be easier to eat where they want and when.

Also, I think the previous reservation limit was 4 or 6, but if it's FCFS, then we could technically get all 50 of us in line at once, granted we'd be seated in parties of 4-6 all over the restaurant. We'll see what happens. I'm interested to hear from someone who is down there after the policy changed (July 13th.)

yeah! knock myself out. eat there twice in one trip

Heard back from our WC and this is definitely true. I'm anxious to hear back from some guests who are down there now as to the ramifications of this change. I am also writing to inquire as to whether there will still be any casita based perks with regards to dining (ie seperate waiting lines, etc...) Anyone else with info, please keep us posted.

Let me just say, good riddance to the reservation system! When we stayed there it was a HUGE pain in the butt... even when we did have a reservation, it was screwed up one way or another. And honestly, my cousin's stayed in the casitas, and it just wasn't that big of a benefit to have the reservation system for them. If you're staying in one, there are a lot of other benefits than the stupid reservation system.

 

This can honestly only be a good thing, in my opinion. It's such a huge PITA. Count your blessings that they eliminated it.

Some reviews are coming back from the resort and I'm afraid they seem somewhat mixed.

 

- Appears wait times are definitely up at the more popular restaurants. One person reported being told that they were not seating anymore people for the night...

- Pager system has been implemented but not perfected.

- Seems the casita priveleges (most wedding couples I would assume) are diluted with this new system.

- this system has been reported as a trial by the resort, so let's hope they get it right before our wedding at the end of November!!!

 

All in all, I think that the jury is still out. I don't mind a little bit of a wait to eat (especially with the free drinks flowing) but it may be a bit ridiculous if you can't get into certain places, etc... I'll keep an eye on the situation and let everyone know if anything changes...

Ok, some recent reviews from TripAdvisor make it seem like this has been a change for the better...

- We did not need reservations for any of the restaurants (this seems to be a recent change), and found that of all four nights we only had to wait to be seated on one occasion.

- We sampled all of the restaurants except for Fondue and the Fuentas. We had to wait to eat at kampai and the Italian restuarant, but we had a few drinks while we waited and had table within 30 minutes.

- As other people have said, you don't need reservations for the restaurants. When we were there, we only had to wait one night for the Italian resturant (45 minutes). The earlier you go for dinner, the less you'll have to wait.

- you DO NOT need reservations for any restaurant anymore, but do adhere to the dress code or you will be sent home in most cases

- We ate at all the restaurants except Kampai; however, La Fondue and Rincon Mexicano were closed due to this being their slow period. We went with a few extremely picky eaters and everyone raved about how good the food was – even the picky eaters. It is true that the portions are smaller, but I ordered two main courses one night. We frequently ordered more and service was fast and friendly. You really could order as much as you wanted and customize your selections – this worked well for those picky eaters. There are NO reservations right now and we never waited with our group of 8 at any restaurant. A couple of the restaurants require you to wear pants. Jeans are acceptable.


OK, enough for now. Will keep an eye on the situation and be back with more commentary in a few weeks...

Thanks so much for the Info! I've been keeping an eye on it at Tripadvisor as well. Don't worry - I think the kinks will be worked out by the time you get there.
I read one review that said as long as you were there before 7 for a popular restaurant (can't remember which one) then it wasn't too bad.
I think it will be okay - just like you said - so long as the drinks are flowing!

There are going to be kinks when you go no matter what. I don't mean to be harsh, but chances are something will go wrong. It's up to you how big of a deal it is. Just don't let a 30 minute wait get to you, sit down, enjoy a drink with your family and it won't even matter.

 

Also, people staying in the casitas get A LOT of other benefits too; not just the first dibs on dinner in the old reservation system. IMO, it shouldn't be that way to begin with. Everyone is traveling there and paying lots of money to stay there, there shouldn't be a hierarchy or anything of the sort. Casita ppl still get first call on tours, everyone else has to wait until casita ppl have booked. Yes, you're paying more, but you're paying for the room and the private pools etc. Everyone should be treated with complete and total equality. This reservation system was B.S., count your blessings that your guests won't have to put up with it.