The airport is literally on the other side of the hill adjacent to the resort, so it's a 5 minute ride door-to-door. You can take a cab if you want -- I booked a round-trip private vehicle via Viator (they subbed out to Caribbean Horizons) for $40 for the two of us (I think it was $20 each person RT, which always seems odd to me for private transport). I have no idea how much it would be if you just hired a taxi at the airport (seems like they have a rate card, which I saw the hotel show someone at the front desk). FWIW, I pushed back my return time to the airport (they were picking us up way too early), and Caribbean Horizons were very responsive via email. The envelope with a welcome letter and a tour brochure looked pretty reasonably priced to me (example: $60 for the fort, city, chocolate and rum tour -or- $60-$90 for 4-6 hour sailing, etc.)

Despite the close proximity, I only heard/saw a plane one time when we were high up in the resort. At the beach/main pool, you would have NO IDEA there was an airport nearby.

As far as upgrades, I saw a post or two somewhere else that some with status at a different Royalton resort got Diamond Club bracelets (black strings instead of white), but not the the butler service. So they got to use the Diamond Club beach and pools, the better liquor, as well as the lounge. With this property, of course, YMMV.

We've been to the Hard Rock in Punta Cana and the Westin in Costa Rica, and the food and drinks were consistently good in both places -- which is why were so surprised that an Autograph Hotel was so inconsistent / poor.