Our first visit to RM took place Dec. 17 to the 22nd, and was our third Desire trip so this will be a comparison report in some ways.
We were pleasantly surprised to find at check in that they had read and acted upon our room request from the online check in. We were unpleasantly surprised to find that our room had no balcony or patio as described in the web site room description. For some people this would not be a big deal as they view the room as nothing more than a place to sleep. For us, however, we always (till now) check to insure we have a place to sit outside to enjoy morning coffee and evening drinks or just to get away from the hustle of the crowd for a while. If you get room 2001, or any other end unit along the beach, your patio is the sidewalk. There are seating areas in the middle of the building, but this means you are sitting in front of someone else's room. Not only inconvenient, but kind of intrusive for the other guests. The room itself was fine except for the little 2" step just inside the bathroom door that blends into the tile floor until you stub your toes on it once or twice, and then you remember it's there. As most other people who have been to both properties have stated, Pearl wins in the room department.
The grounds are nice and well looked after and we must say the beach is a bit better than Pearl's as it isn't rocky in the water plus it has a safer, more open volleyball court. The new pool is nice, but as with Pearl, the chairs are jammed in to accommodate as many as possible. Here we give one of our fav. people at RM a salute. You must find Danny for all of your outdoor seating needs. The others are okay,but can't come close to matching Danny's enthusiasm and friendliness.
We found the food/restaurants about on par with Pearl. Both are good if not very good.
Now we get to the best and the worst of RM.
The disco, and especially the DJ, are by far and away better than Pearl. We don't usually stay till closing but we did a few times this time because we were kept entertained and occupied the whole evening. Between the good mix of music and the lively (sometimes naughty) crowd, it was a hoot.
Where RM stumbles, and badly, is in the activities department. Other reports have mentioned this problem but we could not believe how bad it was. Having been entertained by the staff of Pearl's activity team, it was difficult to believe the hotel management could be unaware of how things were with RM. They are invisible. They do less than half of what is published on the schedule, and they will cancel an activity if a drop of rain falls from the sky. On our forth day, some guests and I were waiting for someone to show up to get the beach volleyball going (11 am) One guest finally said that he had had enough after 1 week of similar no shows and went the management to complain. Shortly after, 2 staff emerged from somewhere and one announced over the PA that the game was going to start. By then I was the only one left waiting and he said to me "why did someone complain, there's no one who wants to play" I told him the others had left but might come back if they saw some activity on the beach, but he was pissed off about the complaint and said he had checked earlier and there was no one at the court (a lie) and that the guest that complained didn't pay for activities, only the sex and the pool, the rest was just a bonus. Oh really? Anyway, the next day you couldn't turn around without tripping over a playmaker doing something or other. Clearly the word was out to get going. BTW the best thing they could do for that dept. would be to get rid of the ego that is Jay. He is the rudest, crudest hotel employee we have ever seen in 35 years of vacationing. A young guy (Alex I think) with some great tats. was the exception on that staff. Outgoing, friendly and enthusiastic. I hope he sticks with it.
As far as the hot tub goes, there are those who like the tiny size and shallow water for encouraging "intimacy". We just thought it was too small. One day at about 430 pm we were elbow to elbow with about 50 others, when we saw a couple we knew come up the stairs and look over at the scene. They came over and said hi, but they couldn't see any space to stand if they did make it in at all. Pearl takes that one.
So, would we go back to RM? Hell yes! There is something undefinable about the place that stirs the blood (some call it the vibe) and makes you stay up till 4 am doing things you never thought you'd do, night after night. It's the same wonderful people that you will find at Pearl that make Desire what it is. We hope to do a block of time at each of the properties next time, but we aren't sure in which order. That might be important.