Review - The Plaza Hotel
Update (July 2021) - The Plaza is no more sadly! For other hotel recommendations, click here.
There are a number of excellent vacation resorts in Second Life, where you book in advance and get a group tag on check in.
Unfortunately there are far fewer hotels I've been able to recommend that look and feel like their RL equivalents, and where just like in RL you can meet people at the bar or restaurant even if you are not staying there.
As a result I was really pleased to discover the brand new Plaza Hotel. The Plaza has literally just opened, and Muti and myself were one of the first guests.
It's a huge structure, spanning two sims, with rooms and suites ranging from 200-4000L a night, and despite a few teething problems (natural given that the place is new), we really enjoyed our stay and I recommend it.
Overall look and feel
Seals by the Plaza beach
The Plaza sits in 'Coastal Heights', which is a modern city sim, with an active roleplaying community as well as long term rentals.
As mentioned, the hotel stretches across two sims along a beachfront. We weren't that impressed with the actual hotel building, which looks quite dated in SL terms.
The inside of the hotel is really well designed though, on par with it's two closest equivalents (which I also recommend), the Essencia and Rizzi.
Overall - 3.5 / 5
The rooms
The Plaza has four classes of rooms and villas.
Standard room bedroom
The standard rooms sit on the ground floor and are 200L a night. Then there are superior rooms at 500L, suites at 2500L and finally bungalows suited for groups at 4000L.
When staying at the Plaza, I recommend the standard rooms. At 200L these are the best value hotel rooms you can get at this price that I have seen. In fact, you could live in one of these for several weeks if you wanted to.
Standard room bathroom
A lot of care has been put into the interior, and the bathroom is huge. You also have a terrace you can sit on.
For a little more privacy and less lag, you could consider upgrading to a superior room as these sit in skyboxes.
Private suite pool
We stayed in a suite, which is also in a skybox and costs 2500L. Again, the furnishings and interior are great, and you have the bonus of having your own private indoor pool that you reach via elevator.
Despite that, it's quite expensive when measured against equivalent suites in other hotels. Yes, the closed group resorts charge this, but they also add in a lot of RP, and of course there you pay for the exclusivity of staying somewhere that is restricted to guests.
Finally, the prim allowance you get is generous. For example, for a superior room the allowance is 75prims, which is more than enough considering that the rooms are of course completely furnished.
Overall - 4 / 5
The facilities
Plaza Wine bar
The hotel has a wide range of facilities, and more are still being added.
Our two favourites were the wine bar, which has a small vineyard attached to it, and where they will apparently be introducing RP 'wine pressing' from next month.
Couple’s spa
Then there is couple's spa. This consists of two units with a bath that's sunk into the ground, massage tables and loungers. These spa units are highly recommended, definitely take your significant other when you come and stay.
Other facilities include two restaurants, two tennis courts, a pool area and a beach - we were less impressed with this, but it could still be under development and I wouldn't class the Plaza as a beach destination anyway.
One thing that didn't make much sense was some of the pricing. The small pool cabanas cost 300L to rent. I appreciate some hotels in RL do this, but in SL it doesn't work. You can easily sit on the loungers around the pool, and of course there is no privacy when renting a cabana.
I also didn't understand the thinking behind charging 150L per hour (which you can book on the website) to sit at a restaurant table.
My recommendation to the Plaza would be to scrap this, as it could put people off using the hotel as a meeting place, and of course to charge for RP dinner service.
Overall - 4 / 5
The anims
The couple's spa, has a Kyobo Eastern Concrete Outdoor Bath. Muti remarked that this was one of the rare occasions where she didn't have to adjust herself, the anims just worked. We liked this so much, we're buying it for our house!
Our suite bedroom included the Loft & Aria Gianna Bed (adult), and the bathrooms include Ruckus showers.
Overall - 4.5 / 5
Other things to consider
Is the hotel adult? There are adult anims in the rooms and in the spa
Privacy? The rooms all have orbs. As mentioned, I thought the superior rooms were great, but if being on the ground floor bothers you, pay a bit extra for a deluxe room in a skybox
Lag? There was a little, not enough to affect the experience
Prices? Range from 200L for a standard room to 4000L for the bungalow
Overall
The Plaza is still clearly work in progress, elements were being added while we were there. Nevertheless, it's a much needed addition to Second Life's hotel scene and is somewhere you should consider staying with the cheaper rooms being especially good value.
Even if you are not staying, it's worth going just to take a look and maybe to sit with friends in the wine bar or the cafe. As the hotel sits across two sims, there is plenty to see and explore.
