Royal Spa

[jlbear]

I have been looking at Royal Spa tubs.  They claim that their mechanical system is the most cost effecient to run.  Does anyone have any experiences with this product?

[salesdvl]

There was a Royal spa dealer down the street from my store.  He only lasted about 2 years then closed up and stranded a bunch of customers.  My opinion is that they use very old technology and sell the customer on the idea to fix it themselves when it is out of warranty.  They are middle of the road at best, in my opinion and are priced as if they are high end.  I would suggest you keep looking at other brands.

[HotTubMan]

I would echo salesdvl's comments.

[wetone]

Same thing here, dealer 3 lights down the street, been there one and a half years closed in Dec. left all there customers stranded. Entry level over priced with very old technology in my opinion.

The spas the locel dealer was selling were insulated with bags of house insulation stuffed under the skirt, not exactly effecient.

Lots of other brands that are better.

[Mendocino101]

I am not familiar with Royal...but I often wonder why some try and look for a good buy.....nothing wrong in doing that.....but the savings really are not there..... you can go to one of the major reputable brands who have lines that are still well made and are affordable to more people....still well made and well backed....

[Spatech_tuo]

I am not familiar with Royal...but I often wonder why some try and look for a good buy.....nothing wrong in doing that.....but the savings really are not there..... you can go to one of the major reputable brands who have lines that are still well made and are affordable to more people....still well made and well backed....

The problem is people don't REALLY know what they're getting just from visiting the dealers as they all have a story. So what can they do; go into see a dealer like you, Chas, Stuart... and get the TRUE scoop? The problem is they see every dealer as having an agenda of trying to sell theirs instead so any warnings they egt about certain brands, technology, etc. are looked upon skeptically and you can't blame them. These sites help because you're not selling against their local dealer and they don't see much of an agenda behind your opinion the way they do when your a direct competitior to the guy selling another brand. Plus they can get info from actuall other owners.

[Constance]

I was interested in a Royal Spa.  Our local dealer sells them.  BUT I ended up going 60 miles away to get a Sweetwater Bahia.  I got a lot more features and a more popular name brand for less money.

[nicker]

I agree.  I was in one of the Royal Spa stores when I was looking and I had seen quite a few tubs by then and WOW.  To me they look like somthing a bunch of Kids built.  Listen to everyone and stay away.  You will be much happier with a quality built spa.   As Wetone says they are insulated with what looks to be house insulation and stuffed in bags in the under side of the tub.  I almost laughed my arse off when I saw that.  And ya the dealer gos on about hes spew of how good they are and energy efficient.    I think the dealer should have been in stand up he got me laughing a few times.

[stuart]

The problem is people don't REALLY know what they're getting just from visiting the dealers as they all have a story. So what can they do; go into see a dealer like you, Chas, Stuart... and get the TRUE scoop? The problem is they see every dealer as having an agenda of trying to sell theirs instead so any warnings they get about certain brands, technology, etc. are looked upon skeptically and you can't blame them. These sites help because you're not selling against their local dealer and they don't see much of an agenda behind your opinion the way they do when your a direct competitor to the guy selling another brand. Plus they can get info from actual other owners.

Thanks for including me as one of those good dealers! What you said here is kind of the philosophy of our store... We carry Marquis, D1, Elite, Free Flow and Great lakes spas. We do this to offer the customer a full shopping experience and not allow ourselves to fall into the trap of "It must be the best because we sell it" like so many companies do.

Funny, many spa salesmen have never looked at the brands that they bash and really don't know that much about them yet speak with "authority". This drives me crazy! Would you believe that on average in our area, less than 5% of the people selling spas own one? That’s nuts! I don't think you can give a customer a 100% recommendation on something that you don't even use consistently yourself!!

Any of my employees that don't own a spa are encouraged to bring their families into the store often and soak after hours...!

Now that I've said all this I will say that from what I have seen of Royal they look fairly archaic and cheap but I don't have any real experience with them...

On the other side of this, just about everyone that buys a spa will defend their decision passionately! What this means is that someone shopping for, buying and even owning a spa that they are happy with does not make them a great reference point on spas! Even a substandard spa can be loved so although the info on these boards from owners is valuable for a new shopper, they should really look hard at the debates that spring up among the pros and they can learn a lot!

[Max78]

We only have one spa dealer locally and it is Royal Spa which is 10 miles from here.  All others are 30+ miles away.  After looking at Royal and other brands, I chose to purchase a Sundance (partially because of dealer, which has now turned into another story on another thread).  I was not impressed with the Royal technology.  Did look very cheap.  I did not care for any of the dealers within 30 miles so had to go further.  When you speak of dealers bashing other brands, one dealer who was a half hours drive sold Emerald and Great Lakes.  Not bad looking spas for the price.  But he bashed brands made in California (saying they were manufactured in a warmer climate and not made for our colder midwest climate).  He still sells Emerald and Great Lakes but has picked up Hot Springs.  I thought that was kind of ironic.