Hotel Royal Oak — Hotel in Royal Oak

In a nutshell, this is clearly a Super 8 Motel that was renovated and sold as a Ritz Carlton, but as we found in our stay the bones are still a Super 8 Motel.

We drove up and our first instinct was that we missed the hotel. The photos of the outside don't quite capture the energy, BUT once you walk into the lobby it's quiet funky and fresh. The lobby attendant, Amy, was LOVELY. She was welcoming in a way that made me feel like she worked at this hotel when it was a motel, talking about how busy it was and how she popped 4 fingernails that morning. We liked Amy as our welcoming committee. She gave us vouchers to the free breakfast at the next door cafe (which you have to pick up daily).

Onto the nitty gritty....where this hotel missed the mark:

1. Starting small -- No mini fridge. Not much to say here. I just appreciate a mini fridge and microwave for leftovers or in room food options. Especially with no room service. Bloop.

2. The Wi-Fi didn't work in my room or my neighbors. We spoke to the Front Desk (Amy) who told us it had to be our devices because of all the routers and hotspots they have rigged up. This couldn't be true because we got it in the lobby and in the ice room and in the parking lot but not in our rooms....she said she'd reset the router but there was nothing she could do....? What? Not acceptable, right? But I believe Amy when she said there is nothing she can do. Finally, a guy on the morning crew (Devon?) gave me the pass to the corporate wifi which was full strength in my room --- why Amy didn't know this?

3. The TV has no remote control. They've rigged everything with Google ChromeCast. First, I didn't know how to use ChromeCast, Amy said "look it up on the internet." But....."I can't get ON THE WIFI!" Next, I went to the parking lot and found out you had to download an app (that I did by the ice machine) but when you don't have Wi-Fi NEAR THE DEVICE, you can't connect. I decided to leeched a very weak xfinity-wifi signal from he nearby cafe, but I could only connected to the TV device in room 225 but I wasn't in room 225!!!

4. I decide "F-it! I'll take a hot shower and go to bed." -- NO hot water for a good 15 mins of wasting natures resources. Just ice water for 15 mins, then Luke warm and then it's was hot-ish but for only turning on the HOT, it never really got hot hot. The next day NO HOT water at all, we took showers at Anytime Fitness post workout. The next day, NO HOT WATER? I called the front desk and he explained that the boiler on our side of the hotel is sketchy. I requested a new room, but there was nothing he could do until the maids cleaned the hotel. Which was several hours later. Um.....here's a thought, don't rent out rooms that don't have hot water?

Like I said, I asked for a new room a couple times but there were none available....well, none available that were "finished" was the clarification. And there are NO REFUNDS. Convenient, right?

This made it all crystal clear that this hotel is still in the works. I feel the contractor was someone's friend who needed work because upon a second look everything seemed to lack the professional touch --- cracked tiles in the bathroom (photo), a manufacturer's sticker still on the sink (photo), and subtle sloppiness throughout when you look closely.

Outside of these ESSENTIALS failing, the room is VERY spiffy. They made some nice design choices with the speak black furniture, bedding/towels, update fixtures, decor and carpet. The bath products were funky and fresh (photo) and the bed was a comfy queen.

All and all, this motel, sorry Hotel, is lipstick on a pig. The lipstick is Sephora and fabulous shade but it's still lipstick on a pig being sold as Grade A Beef. They need to figure out the essentials that I listed before I would recommend anyone stay here.

NO WIFI, NO TV, NO HOT WATER - makes me...

My fiancée and I booked a room at the Hotel Royal Oak to stay the night of 6/3/16. When we got in from Toledo, we were skeptical of the outside appearance, but understood that they were in the midst of renovating their rooms. The woman and gentleman that helped me check in were pleasant and made the check-in process a breeze. I overheard a conversation had by Eddie, who claimed to be the general manager, about how he does not accept pets after being burned making exceptions a couple times in the past.

The room itself was very nice, much nicer than we expected. We unloaded our bags and headed out to get food and continue on with our plans for the night. We got back to the room around 11:30 p.m. and went to bed.

At 3:15 a.m., we were woken up by a group of 20-30 teens outside in the parking lot right outside of our hotel room yelling and carrying on and stating that they "needed to get someone that was 21" now that they got their room. This continued for quite a few minutes, and we attempted to use the hotel phone to call the front desk. We tried to make several phone calls to the front desk, but the phone did not work, it repeatedly gave us a non-connecting signal after we dialed the number.

We could not get back to sleep with the excessive noise that was outside, which was violating their "quiet enjoyment policy" that they boast about on their website's FAQs. "Any behavior that impacts the quiet enjoyment of other guests will be subject to removal from the property with no refund", says the website.

We went to the front desk, with every intent to check out of our room and drive 1.5 hours back to Toledo because we knew that the crowd was not going to quiet down. The woman working the front desk, who we did not get the name of, but can describe as a 26-year-old woman who claimed to be from Toledo, and also claimed to be new, listened to our complaint. She accepted our room key, took down both of our names, phone numbers, and the complaint and said that the general manager would call one of us in the morning on 6/4/16.

We received a phone call on 6/4/16 in the afternoon. I answered, fully expecting it to be Eddie, the general manager. Instead I was greeted by Christopher, who noted that we vacated the room and he could not seem to find the key. I explained to him the situation, that we checked out at 3:30 a.m. due to the excessive noise conditions, and told him that Eddie should be calling us back today. He claimed that he knew nothing about this, and offered to file a claim for us so that Eddie could "make it right" when he gets in on Monday morning. Christopher also made sure to say that he wouldn't charge us for the lost room key - which was laughable, since we checked out and handed the key directly to the front desk woman. We wonder where all of our information, our original complaint, and our key went to, as it did not get relayed to Christopher this morning.

Our experience at Hotel Royal Oak changed from surprisingly pleased when we checked in to outraged. I sincerely hope that I receive a call from Eddie soon, as we were very displeased with our stay and our subsequent treatment...

Edit: In response to the owner’s reply:

Our concert did not get cancelled. We did not even attend a concert, so I am not sure what the owner is referring to. Also, I never stated that I was going to give the hotel a terrible review… In fact, in my initial review, I stated the staff was great and tried their best to fix the issues. Additionally, I never even requested a refund…

FYI- I always submit reviews to the places I visit, whether it was a positive or negative experience. As an avid traveler, I appreciate reading reviews from other customers, so I try to return the favor. I would never “threaten” a business by claiming to write a negative review. I simply just write my personal experience with the establishment.

Original review: First, let me start off by stating that I really wanted to like Hotel Royal Oak. I researched it prior to staying here and thought that it looked like an incredibly cute and quaint renovated hotel. I knew it wasn’t going to be a 5-star premiere stay, but the website made it look significantly better than it was.

Upon arriving to the hotel, we went and checked in at the lobby. I thought the atmosphere was cool/retro looking…just like I expected it to be. The front desk attendant was very friendly and nice.

When my husband and I arrived at our room, there was an overpowering smell of smoke/weed in the air. The scent was incredibly strong and unbearable. I informed the front desk clerk about this and she was able to move us into another room, which I appreciated. Please note, she was very accommodating and understanding about the situation.

Thankfully, the new room did not smell like weed. However, there were several other issues that were just as undesirable. First off, the bathroom was filthy. There was dirt and hair in the shower/tub combo and also debris on the floor. I did inform the front desk (again) and the (same) attendant kindly offered to come and clean it for us. However, afterwards, it still looked dirty, so perhaps that’s just how it is? (see photos).

Next, the bathroom door was difficult to shut and did not slide/maneuver properly; it was very janky.

Additionally, the tv stand drawer was also broken and would not close all the way. Honestly, everything just appeared to be cheaply made and not the best quality.

Finally, the bed was very, very uncomfortable. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever stayed somewhere with such an uncomfortable bed. I almost drove back home (an hour and a half) because the bed was so unpleasant. Also, to top it all off, the hotel was very noisy (pipes making loud noises, building creaking, dripping noises, loud traffic).

Overall, Hotel Royal Oak did not accurately represent the vibrant photos and description shown online. The website states that it is a “modern, all-inclusive, resort-type boutique hotel” and that certainly was not at all the experience that my husband and I encountered. The only positive to this experience was the staff, who tried their best to accommodate a very...