Casa Real Hotel — Hotel in Sé

Particularly impressed by the male night shift (before 6am) manager's warm and welcoming attitude towards guest. First of all a natural smile when I approached the desk. Accommodated my late checkout request which I appreciated from deep within my heart as I only checked in at 5.50am in the morning and every hour of sleep counts. Upgraded me to a suite, which also is the last non-smoking room available at that time when he knew I am a non-smoking individual. Was shocked when I entered the room as it was huge! A king size double bed with long sofa beside as well as a dining table. A more private area with a proper writing desk can also be found near the corner of the room which is perfect for business trip or if you need to have a private discussion with someone. Bed mattress and pillows are slightly better than average, not the best which is expected as its a 4-star hotel which has been operating for close to 20 years and only re-renovated in 2011. But then to my surprise, the hotel actually got the finest shaving blade and shaving cream as compared to 10 other hotels that I have stayed in Macao. Was in a hurry in leaving the room and I managed to finish my shave within 5 minutes. The shave was exceptionally clean and smooth and left not even a single cut or scratch anywhere on my face. Trust me, for other hotels, I normally have to shave for 15 - 20 minutes and have to use tissue to dry of any blood resulting from a shaving blade which is either too sharp or too blunt... My shave at Casa Real was just perfect!Finally, checkout was also efficient and both the staff and morning shift manager were more than happy to allow me to keep a hotel room key card as remembrance for my stay. I was also given a new blank one when I requested for it! I really enjoyed my stay with Casa Real and was very happy with all the front desk staff as well as managers' efficiency and friendly attitude. Will definitely stay in this hotel should I have any future opportunities. However, the downside of this hotel is its location. Most taxis do not normally come to this area to look for customers. For those that do come, are the ones that drop off passengers at the hotel, which means it can take longer than usual to get a taxi. It took me 17 minutes last time and there were 3 more passengers at my back waiting... Hotel guests should be aware of this or should walk to nearby areas to get a taxi...

Booked the hotel and sent advance notice to on-duty manager, Ms. Du, requesting for reservations on their 2 restaurants for the duration of my stay. Unfortunately, she replied that she was not able to do it for unknown reasons and ask me to directly book on their website. SURPRISE! There is no online booking on all of their restaurants. I sent a follow up email pointing out the predicament of how to do the reservations without any reservation system in place on their website. I reminded her of her duties and responsibilities as GRM (Guest Relations Manager) as she might have forgotten the basic rules of service, or the lack thereof. So, may I ask why did the hotel gave me a business card with direct access to emails and mobiles of GRMs when they can’t even do the simplest service? I know, I know, Casa Real Hotel boast a 4 star hotel, but the service? Really? Even the cheapest fly by night hotels can do a better job compared to yours. You can be a no star hotel but with a 5 star service. Not because you are less or more starred than other hotels, doesn’t mean you will compromise your service. As I had mentioned to your other GRM (Ms. Qui) your MOP/HKD dollar or credit card has the same value as everyone else, so why discriminate a paying guest? Come on. Do some re-training on customer service and guest relations include guest recovery since you are fond of turning down your guests. Also, I had booked a room with a guaranteed upgrade to the next room category (as stated on the booking page) and guess what, right, no upgrade was given. Kudos to your whole team for not...

Absolute garbage.The poor location was on me, I should have researched the area a bit more and I can't really place blame on the hotel for that. The hotel is essentially a "station" for "gentleman" who would like to peruse the sauna nearby. That's fine too, I'm not judgemental. What I can't suffer, however, is booking a room that is clearly labelled "non-smoking", getting put into a smoking room that smelt terrible and being told that there "are no non-smoking rooms available". No conciliatory offers made; none: Just the proverbial shrug of the shoulders. I wouldn't have booked it if I knew they "couldn't" offer a non-smoking room.I'm sure I'll get the standard "thank you for reviewing, we're sorry that...blah blah blah" spiel after posting this review, but please, don't insult me with your platitudes. Upon scouring through the, frankly suspect, reviews about what a truly soul-enriching amazing adventure some "people" had in this hotel, it's apparent that the problem with smelly rooms has been going on for years. So let's not insult anyone's intelligence by pretending that you'll "take my suggestions into account". Whilst I'm sure plenty of the clientele who stayed here may have had a "happy ending", my stay was...