Royal Palm Galapagos, Curio Collection by Hilton

Excellent service, nice and very friendly staff, great place , lots of trees and greenary, enjoyed our stay .

What an absolute treat! From arrival to departure we felt so welcomed and cared for. The staff there are superb, from the Front Desk to the Maintenance guys, not forgetting the Restaurant. On arrival we were given a room upgrade to the Presidential Suite, which was a lovely separate villa with all sort of amenities. What better way of celebrating my birthday! Once checked in, the hotel manager (Diego?) kindly showed us to out villa and explained the facilities of the hotel. The hotel has a pool, gym, restaurant, and even a lava cave (biggest in the islands I believe) where they do a special set menu dinner. The grounds of the hotel are immense and you can find several giant turtles around Breakfast was also superb with a good selection and an even better service! The staff there remember the day of my birthday and the chefs prepared a lovely Bday cake which I was so surprised by. Dinner at the main restaurant was algo very good, and again the service was the best part of it. Lisset was our waiter and she was just amazing :) On the last night we could definitely not pass on the lava cave dinner experience, and we are so glad we did go! It is definitely something to experience. The hotel is situated pretty much in the middle of the island. If you come to Santa Cruz by plane, you will most probably land in Seymour, from the terminal there is just a short bus ride to the port and then a super-quick taxi boat sail to Santa Cruz. Once in Santa Cruz there will be plenty of taxi waiting for passengers to get off the ferry. The ride to the Royal Palm is $25 and 30 min max. From the hotel to Puerto Ayora (south of the island and main hub) is $15 and a 20min ride. The hotel can arrange for a taxi pick up. Our driver shared his number and we just had to text him 10min before we needed him again to get back to the hotel. Definitely one of the best hotel experiences I have had in a while.

Prospective guests should know that the previous owner let the property get a little run down. When new ownership purchased a little over a year ago, they began investing in needed improvements, starting with the rooms. And Villa 3 was amazing. I was so thrilled to stay there, with the incredible privacy and magnificent view. But ownership is not finished renovating the rooms -- I saw that Villa 7 was undergoing renovation. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. I especially want to shout out Carlos for the tour of the onsite lava tube cave, and also Alejandro for his helpful advice. I very much enjoyed my two-night stay, and would especially recommend doing 2-3 nights before or especially after a cruise, for anyone looking to just relax. But my advice to the hotel would be to prioritize a couple of issues: #1 - The entrance road absolutely must be paved or sealed. You want to be a luxury resort in the highlands, but the first impression your guests get is a very bumpy, rutted road. Entering your property should feel magical, and it's very much the opposite. #2 - The staff's level of English profiency is simply unacceptable for a Hilton-branded property. I speak halfway-decent Spanish, so this wasn't an issue for me, but it absolutely will be a problem for many of your international guests. This is obviously an issue when wait staff can't describe a flavor of ice cream, because they don't know the words in English. It's a problem when front desk staff get confused about questions and give wrong answers. Part of creating a luxury experience is eliminating those kinds of hiccups. You should have the staff start doing an hour of English work every week, even with people like maintenance and landscaping.

We had originally been planning to stay for 6 nights, then move on to Guayaquil for 4 nights but were advised against travel to anywhere outside the airport by the UK government. We decided to extend our stay at Royal Palm instead and were so glad we did. From the moment we arrived until we left we were made to feel most welcome, and were looked after so well. Particular thanks go to Alejandro for helping us to arrange an amazing day trip to Santa Fe island during the extended part of our stay, and to Rita, Gustavo and Danny in the restaurant. Cristina, the Sales manager who I had been in touch with prior to our visit had arranged a 5 day tour package which was really great. There was one day when we were due to leave the hotel early in the morning for a tour, but the restaurant opened 15 minutes early for us so that we could get breakfast before we left which we really appreciated. The hotel was not too busy and in fact restoration work is going on, but it was not obtrusive in any way. There were a couple of largish tour groups which came in during our stay, and the only downside to this was that the tour director of one of them insisted on his group meeting in the bar at 1845 each evening of their 4 nights there for a briefing which was very loud and meant that nobody apart from them could use the bar so we had to sit inside the restaurant in order to have a drink and a quiet game of cards. The weather at the hotel is a little different to that experienced at the coast, but that is due to the fact that the hotel is up in the cloud forest, and actually meant that it was not too hot. We did have a problem one night when the AC developed a fault but that was fixed as soon as it could be - it took a day or two but the staff sorted us out with a fan in the interim - and normal service was resumed again. I cannot emphasise enough how good the staff were from our arrival to our departure. The food in the restaurant was excellent - no complaints at all. Breakfast was good- some days when there were more people staying at the hotel there was a buffet, otherwise order from the menu. We stopped on the way from the airport to the hotel at a site called Los Gemelos (see photo) and walked through the Scalesia forest where we saw twin volcanic craters which were just incredible. What a way to start the visit! We were very lucky to be given an upgrade to an incredible villa - it even had a sauna inside, although we didn't actually use it. We had a lovely surprise from the hotel on our 32nd wedding anniversary - we had been out all day on a tour to Bartoleme island and returned to the hotel absolutely buzzing at the sights we had seen and found that they had put a lovely tray of fruits, dessert and a drink out for us along with a very thoughtfully hand written card signed from the team. Just when you thought a day couldn't get any better - the team showed it can! We were genuinely sorry to leave. As a lifetime Diamond member, I have stayed in a

The Royal Palm Galapagos is an extraordinary property and a diamond still in the rough, but when you read this probably not anymore! Since becoming a Curio by Hilton hotel, one can see that the renovations and adjustments will bring this property to another level. It already features unique properties such as the location in the highlands with stunning views over the forests (and centered between North and South for fast access to tours on both sides), an extraordinary team with so much attention to detail and helpfulness as well as top notch facilities and rooms. The lava tunnel (afaik I know the longest on the island) and the dining experience in the restaurant created there are uniquely great experiences! Fully recommending to stay here, but keep in mind this is a hotel for nature-lovers and people seeking extraordinary quality and service, it is not a beach hotel and not an easy-access city hostel. That being said, if you read this and it fits your plans, don't hesitate to book here!