Royal Floridian Resort By Spinnaker Resorts — Hotel in Ormond Beach

The actual resort at the Royal Floridian Resort By Spinnaker Resorts is great—clean, well-maintained, and staffed by genuinely nice resort employees. However, my overwhelmingly negative experience comes from dealing with the sales team, and I feel compelled to share every detail.

Back in 2017, we were invited to a sales presentation and ended up buying a timeshare. While the timeshare itself adheres to the contract we signed, the salespeople grossly understated the amount we’d have to pay in recurring fees each year just to secure the sale. The yearly association/maintenance fee is around $800, but during the presentation, we were told it was “close to nothing.” The Interval fee, which is around $100 annually, was similarly downplayed. They also assured us that exchanging our one-week rental through Interval would be seamless, neglecting to mention the $220 fee we’d have to pay each time we did it. We were even promised heavily discounted hotel nights, which has never materialized. Essentially, they convinced us that with the upfront payment of $15,000, we would enjoy all the benefits of the timeshare with minimal additional costs. This has proven to be far from the truth.

My next biggest issue, and the reason I’m writing this review, is how poorly the sales team treats us now that we are owners. During my stay this year, I was invited to their preview center with the promise of a $100 gift if I attended. I was told I had to arrive within 15 minutes of my 2:00 PM appointment. According to my Google timeline, I arrived at 2:12 PM and was immediately seated. However, after waiting for about 15 minutes, I was informed that they didn’t have any available salespeople for the presentation. Instead, I was told that the Sales Manager would speak to me.

When the Sales Manager finally approached me, it was with a very confrontational attitude. He claimed that they probably finished signing me in after 2:15, which was why they wouldn’t take me. When I questioned why they had overbooked appointments, he dodged the question and kept insisting that my “lateness” was the issue, despite the fact that they had clearly overbooked hours before. I then asked why they were taking people who arrived well after us, and he said it was because they weren’t owners—clearly showing a preference towards new prospects who are more likely to buy.

He invited me back a few days later, and this time, I made sure to arrive on time. But I noticed that they turned someone else away who had arrived at 2:05 PM, just five minutes late. I spoke to those people, and they told me the same thing: they were owners who had come for the $100 gift but were turned away for being “late.” This situation clearly showed that the disrespectful Sales Manager uses lateness as an excuse for overbooking, and it happens regularly. It also proved that the supposed “15-minute policy” is a lie. They simply use lateness as an excuse to cover up their own overbooking practices.

The lying and disrespectfulness are things I’ve only experienced after becoming an owner. It’s clear that once they’ve made the sale, they don’t care about treating you with any respect. My entire negative experience with Spinnaker is solely due to their salespeople, who lie just to make sales and then treat you with utter disrespect once they know they can’t get more...

Unfortunately our unit in RFS had a AC unit go out and would not be fixed. This was the only time we were even slightly disappointed. We received a call from Concierge to come in earlier and pre-register and if our room is ready, we could go ahead and get in. At 1:00 we were told the unit was not ready. At 2:30 and 3:30 we were only told not really, it was not until 4:06 that we were told of the situation. If we had simply been informed, it would have helped. But I want you to hear my heart, we are not upset at all. We were able to get our grandchildren to the pool and life was grand. |Enter Kelly Hancock. Let me summarize my thoughts…she doesn’t get paid enough. She is absolutely amazing. Kelly met in person with me to explain the situation and to see what needs to be done to make it right. She offered us a 2 BR Unit in the main building on either 1st floor or 6th floor. I elected 1st floor and that was the best decision I made in a long time. With a 2 yr old and a 7 yr old, being able to walk the out to the pool directly was an incredible experience. Thank You Kelly. She also was able to give us a gift to make up for not being in our unit. When we got check in our unit we realized that it did not have a washer and dryer. We drove and had packed light knowing we had a washer and dryer in the unit. I asked if there were laundry in the building and I was told on 4, 5 or 6. But she went above and beyond and gave us change to be able to do laundry. I don’t know anyone else who would do that. Like I said, she is amazing. |I watched Kelly and her staff deal with a lot of cantankerous guests (who really didn’t have a big problem, just appeared to be unhappy people in general) and they were amazing in their kindness and patience. She has trained her team well. ||We had the best time at RF. With my daughter and her family with us we experienced a variety of the onsite fun. We did BINGO a couple of days, Grandpa did the tie die shirts with his 2 and 7 year old granddaughters (that’s me- grandpa), we did the Magic Milk, ate lunch on the patio cooked by Tai and others, did golf, loved and lived in the pool if we were not at the beach. |I have to say, my 7 year old granddaughter really wanted to win at Bingo to get a coin to go play Pirated Cove Golf. She got two coins and the golf course allowed both of us to play for free. She was so excited. |I guess I would say this…for some, the change of units would be a huge upsetting factor. I looked at it and said, we are in paradise, they made it right and we will love it and we certainly did. There was nothing more you could have done to treat us well. Thank You. We have already secured our week for next year and find it hard to wait. ||We love Spinnaker, having been owners since 2001, and we...

My husband & I just returned from Royal Floridian Resort yesterday, 3/26/22. We flew down from VA, on 3/19/22. One of our sons & daughters in law joined us from Pensacola, FL, part of the week. They loved it as well as we did. It was a delight looking right on the ocean & outside pool & cabana area from our 6th floor suite. We were in the original building & the # of our suite was a little confusing at first, but easily explained & enjoyed. I LOVED the ambiance: the paint selections, the art work, old kind of plank flooring, comfortable furnishings & lovely kitchen w/all amenities of home; (the "lockout" had a nice cabinet corner w/sm refrig, microwave, coffe maker). The beds were beautifully made & SO comfortable! Every area of the suite, including bathrooms, was IMMACULATE & pristine, w/ample drawer/closet space. TV's were plenty good & big for my viewing time! The ocean view from the balconies was worth 5 stars, in mho!. I enjoyed the outdoorpool, hottub, beach, & also, the LOVELY indoor pool & hottub in the evenings. Pools had handicap accessibility also. I enjoyed the cabana bar w/snacks beside the outdoor pool area; also there were several indoor/outdoor game areas for families to enjoy. For us, this was an earned points of Interval International by attending a previous seminar @ Marriott's Ocean View Timeshare on Marco Island. Doing a seminar during our stay here we declined, & our rep. accepted our choice w/gracious humor, to everyone's satisfaction! ALL the staff, at the reception desks, & people working on the different floors, were SO professional & helpful, never impolite or officious. They seemed like "really good neighbors of the community"; it was like a place one would want to join or even make home. Parking was plentiful in the under building garages of each building. The older building garage ceiling was a little lower, so for pick up trucks or SUV's, the overhead space was more challenging, but manageable; the newer South building presented no problems. It was easy to get onto A1A (S. Atlantic Ave) to right or left. Location was very convenient to restaurants, shopping, & other beach activities, AND all with good environments for families w/children or any ages. In short, this was a VERY enjoyable week, even one rainy day! I look forward to another visit to the Royal Floridian Resort by Spinnaker Resorts. If you, reader, spend time there, I hope that you find it as comfortable, scenic, & enjoyable a...