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Kathleen of Mount Laurel, NJ March 25, 2009
My husband and I arrived at resort on March 4, 2009. We were getting married on Saturday March 7th and were extremely excited about our trip. We were greeted graciously by staff and escorted to lunch. At that time we were instructed to return to the concierge desk at 3pm to receive our room key. That is were the disappointment began. When we booked our trip we selected the Royal Garden area of the resort with a room that would have a patio or balcony (as described on website). We were escorted to a room in the main building (room 326 I believe) and were told that we were being upgraded. The room was beautiful but it overlooked the roof of another building, not a garden, and did not have a patio or balcony.
We requested a room change for the next day. Our request was honored and we were placed in room 117, still in the main building, not the garden area but it did have a balcony. The room was a dungeon. It was on the service side of the building, there was limited sunlight, there were pump motors directly outside that ran 24 hours a day, service carts were wheeled past the room at all hours and the room was cold and very depressing. After 1 night of not being able to sleep due to the high pitched hum of the motors, I expressed my concerns to the concierge who again put in for a room change for us. It was at that point that we finally ended up in the Royal Garden, Oleander building, room 724.
With each move we were told that it was an upgrade from our reservation. We originally booked the Royal Garden because of its location on the property so I dont know why our choice would have been changed without getting our approval, upgrade or not. It was an extremely stressful start to what was to be the perfect vacation. It was disheartening to speak with others who were experiencing the same difficulties. Through casual conversation we met 5 other couples who were in the same situation as ours. If you book a specific type of room, you should receive that room from the start. It seems that the resort just continues to accept reservations, as long as there is space on the property, regardless of whether the room choice is actually available. Obviously upon arrival our room type was fully booked so they placed us elsewhere hoping that we would be okay with their choice.
It wasnt until someone checked out of the Royal Garden that we were able to get our original room choice and that was after two nights of not being able to settle in and having to repack our bags to move a second time. The other complaint that we have is the access to the restaurants. Reservations were impossible to get. Luckily we had the advantage of picking Baccarat for our wedding dinner otherwise we would not have been able to enjoy that experience during our trip. Kimono was closed some nights and when open the wait was 1.5 to 2 hours, as were the other restaurants. Spices was not open every night as a fall back when youre unable to access any of the other restaurants. It became frustrating to say the least.
The resort and Weddingmoon staff were wonderful. The facility was beautiful and our wedding day was perfect. If only the start of the vacation was the same. I am unsure as to whether we would stay at another Sandals Resort because of the experience that we had in the beginning but I am hoping that my letter may improve the experience for others.
Nikki of Loma Linda, CA March 24, 2009
Hello, We recently stayed at Sandals Bohemian and have come across the following: The airport lost some of our luggage when we got there. They didn't locate it until the following afternoony, which was a hassle. When I called the front desk to see if they could help, they seemed bothered. Their emergency kit for lost luggage could not be sent up becasue the gift shop was already closed. They brought it up the next morning (after us calling 2 more times). It consisted of a toothbrush and comb.
The newer part of the resort was nice. Our room was in the old building (Manor), which needed some work. There were tons of tiny spiders and ants in our room. The shower pressure was bad. We ordered room servie for breakfast the first day and it was cold. We sent it back and the second round was also cold. We gave up on it a third time. The activities were very limited during the day and the evening time, which was a bummer. There was only one thing going on at night, which was the piano bar (every night), in which the crowd was well in their 50's and up. It seemed like there were no activities for younger couples. The only other thing to do was hang out at the bar at nght, which closed way to early. At an all-inclusive resort, they should have different things going on so that you can choose what you would like to do.
We both got food poisoning and were sick for a day and a half, which was bad. The staff was not very friendly either, with the exception of a few nice employees. They made us feel like we were inconveniencing them when we asked for something. We went to the pub to order a couple of hot dogs, whoch were on the menu beginning at midnight. We arrived about 10 minutes before and asked if we could put our order in for them anyway. THe girl siad the Hot dog guy didn;t start work until midnight and the current cook didn't know how to make a hot dog. Unbelievable!! She asked him and he shook his head. By then it was already midnight so we asked if we were going to get our order. She laughed and said that maybe she could make them for us.
She got the manager and after a short chat with the cook (that didn't know how to make the hot dogs) they were being cooked. Amazing, isn't it how someone wouldn't do their job? One of the staff members said that they had laid off a bunch of staff recently and did not have enought people to do the regular jobs and some were doing more than one job. That is not the fault of the consumer though, and we should still be treated with respect and courtesy. For the price that we had paid, I wish we had chosen somewhere else, but we made the best of it and had a good time anyway.
Linda of Perkiomenville, PA March 9, 2009
This is a copy of the letter I sent to Sandals. My husband and I stayed at your resort in the Bahamas from February 8-15, 2009. We had vacationed at one of your Jamaican resorts in 2002 and had a wonderful time. Our second visit did not meet our expectations. First my husband obtained an upgrade as a surprise. I received a call from a Sandals agent offering an upgrade to Concierge level which I did take. His upgrade was a couple of hundred and mine was 50. I was promised concierge level, with an ocean view. At best the room had a partial ocean view. We also discovered that concierge level in the Bahamas is not as worthwhile as it is in Jamaica. We are really not sure what we got for our upgrade except a mini bar.
I felt that the service is what you would expect at a low cost all-inclusive in Mexico. We had to wait 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to get a spot for dinner. Sandals boasts having all these restaurants however they dont ell you that they are not all open. On Valentines Day we got a reservation for a 9:40 pm seating and then we discovered that we were supposed to order the same meal. Luckily our server was able to arrange for us to have different entrees. We had heard that this Sandals location had recently laid off 100 people and this was the possible reason for the decline in service.
At this point we had intended to try a different Sandals location in the future. Unfortunately, on Saturday evening my menses unexpectedly started. Of course I did not have any feminine products with me and the gift shop was closed. I contacted the concierge who told me I would have to wait for the gift shop to open tomorrow. A second concierge said the same thing but mentioned that a pharmacy was across the street. The pharmacy was closed but one of your security guards gave us directions to a grocery store. I just cant believe that your resort does not have anything available for these circumstances- even a pay dispenser in the public restrooms.
I feel that the Sandals representatives misrepresent what you will receive for an upgrade and I would like others to be aware of this if they book with this company. I also believe that the quality of service at this resort was lacking. I also do not believe that complaints are taken seriously and I know from talking to others at the resort that these were not isolated problems. This is a copy of the response from Sandals.
March 5, 2009 Thank you for your feedback with regard to your recent vacation at Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island. I appreciate the time you have taken to express your concerns and am truly sorry to hear that we did not fully meet your expectations. Sandals Royal Bahamian is a service oriented organization and has been committed to guest satisfaction; therefore, we certainly regret the situation you encountered with the restaurant service and concierge. Naturally when one of our valued guests takes the time to outline grievances such as those noted, it is much cause for concern. However, let me assure you that the issues outlined in your letter are isolated and definitely an exception to the norm. In closing, we thank you for choosing Sandals Royal Bahamian and although we cannot change your experience. Please be assured that the comfort and satisfaction of all our clients is extremely important to us, and though it is not possible for us to change your experiences, we trust that in time you will realize that the shortcomings you experienced are not indicative of the Sandals Royal Bahamian high standard for quality service.
Brenda of West Bloomfield, MI February 23, 2009
The Sandals Resorts makes lots of promises but doesn't meet them. My husband and I traveled to the Sandals Bahamas resort in mid Feb. '09 from the moment our airport transport dropped us off --there were problems. We had purchased a concierge level room with ocean view. We expected 5 star treatment. We have stayed in resorts and fine hotels and truly know what a 5 star resort is like---this one is NOT!
On day 1 we arrived and there wasn't enough champagne for everyone on the van...we were also supposed to get warm towels and never did...
We were led inside -- all 4 couples--where we were told to sit down and were checked in like we were part of a school group. They even collected our credit cards. What 5 star resort checks you in like this... some of us may have wanted our names private--no privacy here.
We were then escorted to our building and dropped off at the elevator--no one brings you to the room.
Our view basically stunk but I dealt with it until I realized that a concierge room pretty much did nothing for you.
I went to the concierge to ask about dinner resevations. The concierge was annoyed and because we didn't have a Butler level room--it was difficult to eat at a nicer restaurant on the property. I did get reservations for 2 of our nights but not for the other two.
I realized that most of the slots were for the butler suites.
On the next day, we inquired about moving up to a butler level room. We were willing to pay more money even...but they couldn't accomodate us--they put us down for the next day to change rooms. But, we decided that if we couldn't get a butler room--why move for a day or two.
Therefore, our level of service--decreased. We found out that we couldn't get room service except for the continental breakfast in the mornings. Beverages flow freely at Sandals and we had requested some water and diet coke and 26 hours later still didn't have it and our room hadn't been made up after we were gone for 6 hours.
When they did make it up they didn't leave towels.
Nothing came easily and everything and you basically had to bug them to get what you wanted.
The concierge even made my spa reservation wrong and sent me to the worng location.
It was just one thing after another.
The resort is just okay--the location is lovely but the property can use some updating. The beverages are poorly made and served in tiny plastic cups. Is this 5 star?
There are no pool boys unless you have a butler who saves all the beach chairs for their clients.
Dinner at the italian restaurant that did't require reservations was a buffet without italian food on it. There was almost a fight to get into the place because they don't offer enough dinner options for their clientele.
The evenings are dull and they don't offer entertainment of any quality.
For check out, they send you a letter stating when your bags will be picked up for departure and when your airport transfer will depart. We were ready but didn't want to leave the bags in the room--so we waited finally for 40minutes for them to get the bags...my husband knew they wouldn't come. So, we dragged our bags across the entire resort--by the pools, up the stairs, etc. ourselves--- you don't do this at a place like this...at least you shouldn't have to. When a concierge asked me a question, I lost it and let them know what I thought. I asked for the General Manager and got the asst. he tried to appease me and kept apologizing--they are really good at that!
Honestly, just go elsewhere if you want to get away from it all-- go somewhere where they relish their clients! (like a Ritz Carlton)
Sandals doesn't deliver what it promises.
Julie of Little Rock, AR February 10, 2009
My husband and I were looking at different places to go on our honeymoon. After much thought we decided on Sandals. TV ads promised luxury, stress free vacation. Made it sound so easy to just book it online. Just click, click, click and you were finished. WRONG! So we booked it online and made payments as the year went on. We were scheduled to leave in feb.
In Sept. I noticed that my passport expired in 3 months so I decided to check up on it just to be sure. So I called Sandals and the US embassy in jamaica since sandals says ( in small print) that you are responsible for your documents. Both places told me that I would be fine and that as long as it didn't expire while I was there I wouldn't have a problem. So I didn't worry too much about it. So in feb. we were ready to leave on a tues morning at 3:45 am. We took a cab to the airport which was 45 bucks. We arrived at the Delta check in counter. The lady scanned my passport and checked my bags. Everything was fine. We go through the x ray machines..everything is fine. We get to the gate and sit down and wait to board our plane when I lady at delta approaches us and tells us we can't board because of my passport. She said that it can't expire within the next 6 months. After much crying ( which even my husband did) we called his parents to come and pick us up. We got home and called sandals. We did book the insurance policy which isn't even through them it's through a company called tripmate..Since it was a passport issue nothing covers that and we either rebook or loose 5000. So we rebooked for nov. of this year. Ever since then sandals has been nothing but rude to us. They lie. They cheat. They are not to be trusted. After fighting with them about airfare we finally decided to use a travel agent. I called one that I know and she said that she could take it over for us but that since we had payed in full sandals would argue with us about it. She was exactly right. The lady at sandals told me that they can't do that. You can't do that? I just payed you 5000 and you are telling me that I can't use a travel agent if I want to? It's like the moment you hand over your money they act like they own you. I have travelled a lot. I have been overseas a few times and I have never dealt with a company this corrupt before. I don't know what the resort is like because we haven't made it that far. At this point I don't expecting much from this company. My husband and i both just want to get the trip over with so we won't feel like we've lost 5000. We are still waiting to see if we can use a travel agent. Which is sad since it's our money. When you pay for a service you should at least get some sort of service as to what you were promised. I realize that the passport issue was my responsibility but the rest of it is just ridiculous. There is no need to treat people like this. I will NEVER use sandals again and I will tell all of my family and friends about this story.
Peggy S Cantrell of Indianapolis, IN November 8, 2008
We were on our all inclusive vacation 10/29 - 11/5 on Saturday 11/1 we were @ dinner @ the Marketplace restaurant @ the resort. We had ordered Tomatoe soup as our appetizer, when the waiter came to the table to serve he served my very hot soup and the other bowl slid off the tray spilling all down my shoulder arm and side. The bowl crashed and broke beneath my feet. The dining room silenced as I was in shock and hurting. My companion Kent was grabbing for napkins etc to clean the soup from my burning skin. The waiter was apologetic and not really doing much to help the situation. He finally left and came back with a cloth napkin filled with ice.
I was finally taken to a nurse which was a little less than helpful as she had me wipe the residue of spiced soup from my shoulder. She had me fill out a form describing what happened. When I asked for a copy she states she had no copier and everything was fine, no problem. She applied Acriflex antiseptic burns cream to the area and said she would check back with me the following morning, she said it may blister within 24 hours and if I had amy problems they would follow up with a DR. She asked me for my insurance info and I and Kent (my companion both refused as it was not my issue that this incident had happened. I asked for some cream to take with me and was told she had no cream to send with me. We returned to the dining room as I was trying to be a good companion to Kent and we were very hungry and had so much looked forward to having dinner, While in the dining room a lady came in with a new tube of the Acriflex burn cream and gave their apologies. We left the dining room and I went back to the room with cream and ice trying to relieve the pain. My night was restless and painful. The next day I received a call from Karen Cain (adminsitrative person asking how I was feeling.I advised her that I was in pain as I had two spots on my shoulder that was extremely red and tender. She listened and gave her apoligies. Said she would check back with me. At this point I had lost vacation time as we had cancelled a planned trip to Dunns river that day on Sunday. I spent Sunday in the room feeling less than ok. I didn't blister but did experience much pain and suffering at that point I felt I really wanted to go home and the vacation was far from what I had expected. I felt terrible as this unfortunate incident had also changed my companion Kent's vacation plans. I realize things happen but not sure this was handled in a professional way. My outfit ended up in the trash a skirt and blouse saturated with red tomato soup. No one suggested cleaning. I tried to rinse the soup and clean the stain which was a done deal. The oufit loss was approx 89.00. approx 6:45 pm 11/1 I received another call from Karen Cain I believe it was Monday 11/3 she said on behalf of Sandals she was offering @ no cost to me an additional two day stay @ any Sandals resort added on too my next scheduled vacation. She asked for my email address and states she would send an evite. I told herI would also like to receive a hard copy in the mail. I haven't received anything,
I realize the mail may take some time but I havn't received an email. I really feel our loss of vacation time both mine and Kent Greenes, my pain and suffering and outfit should be valued at more than two free days @ a Sandals resort when I schedule my next Sandals vacation. At this point I'm not sure my next vacation will be @ a Sandals resort.
Peggy Cantrell
Pain & suffering, Loss of vacation fun time. loss of vacation time. Outfit saturated in spicy hot tomatoe soup approx 89.00 The price of this trip was a 3,600 sacrifice to our budget, our vacation time from work and a disappointment. Khalil of New York, NY June 23, 2008
We went on our honeymoon with Sandals resort 6/1/2008 - 6/7/2008, on one of the sandals tours a horse took a bite out of my wifes leg. Sandals nurse was a joke she had nothing to wrap the bite she put sea water on it and gave us a pad and four bandaids. It was on my wife's upper thigh she could not walk
i asked sandals can we get free room service all i keep hearing is We can't do that. I ask can you offer us something because now the rest of our honeymoon( 3 days) is destroyed we have a 9k room with a pool we can no longer use. On top of that we had to keep calling to get our in room bar refilled and we only had 2 rolls of toliet paper i ask many time to get toliet paper but the bathroom had none we used nose tissue.
Another thing we pre-paid for two spa treatments at sandals we did one on 6/2/2008 that was fine, we had one more on 6/6/2008 but my wife got bit by the horse 6/5/2008 so i called the spa around 7 - 8am 6/6/2008 telling them we have a pre-paid spa treatment we can no longer go to my wife got bit by a horse, they told us you can't get a refund only store credit. We told them we don't need store products we got some on 6/2/2008 they said you have to take the store credit or lose it. So we took the 5 items and they total came out to be 222.50 i asked were is the other 17.50 they said we don't carry anything under 20 you would have to pay 2.50 to get the rest of your credit.
The entire time i keep asking who has the power to do something to help us (refunds) they keep saying the samething we can't do that. I even told them how my wife was doing ( she keeps crying becuase our honeymoon was messed up and sandals was making it worst).
Now for the horseback tour guide the online sandals tours said the 4hour horseback with BBQ cost 80 per person when we got to sandals it cost 180 per person, ok we still booked the tour in the middle of the tour the horse bit my wifes leg i told the tour group can we get a discount or half off because after my wife got bit we took the car back to the ranch. She said came back tomorrow before you check out (check out is 11am, tours office open at 7am) and i'll see what i can do, check out day i waited at the tour desk from 7:15am - 10:45am no one showed up.
Final bill time the spa charged us 222.50 on our final bill even though we had paid 240 for a couples spa treatment but since my wife got hurt we told them we can't do it anymore they said you can't get a refund only spa store credit, and we had to fight with them to get the extra 222.50 removed from our bill (the resort will not let you check out till you pay your bill in full) and this charge was not getting removed from our bill.
Now we are back in NYC and our doctor and insureance will not cover the cost for the horse bite (no x-rays, treating the wound or any surgery she may need). I would like to know what sandals is going to do to help us, before we start talking to legal council and news stations. Because we did have fun from 6/1/2008 - 6/4/2008.
We are back in NYC and my wife still has major pain and can't walk. We have a picture of the horse biting my wifes leg if you would like a copy i can e-mail it to you. We got a e-mail 6/20/2008 from sandals telling us it was our fault and we were instructed not to bring a camera on the horse (we were not our digial camera was on my wrist) and that I was taking photos on the horse in the water that is why the horse bit my wife's leg, we were in the water alone and our horses just stop moving the horse guide was with two other guest in the water(Which is a lie we have a digital camera which makes no sound,only one photo was taken when my horse turned left to bite my wife's leg) and that they will do nothing about it.
We contacted Sandals to ask for some money back from our 9k honeymoon hell or at least some Sandals credit if we want to go back to sandals. Sandals turned us down and blamed us for my wife's injury. 6/23/2008 my wife still can barely move her leg, it's till black and blue with horse teeth marks. She still has leg pain. We would not be so mad if Sandals just e-mail or called us to say you can't get your money back from the horse bite because we can't control the horse, that would be fine but we had to keep calling and e-mailing them just to get someone to contact us.
And then they blame us for the horse bite and lie about the 240 we paid. This honeymoon cost over nine thousand dollars and Sandals would not even give us back 240 and forced us to get 242 (yes they made us pay a extra 2.00 in cash) for products we did not want. We would have been happy with 3 days of sandals credit or refund (that is when my wife got hurt) and the 240 refund.
My wife left leg is all black and blue, she has a limp and 24 hour pain. She still cries about the horse bite and the ruined honeymoon.
Michael of Deerfield, IL May 12, 2008
I booked a trip to Sandals Montego Bay through my travel agent to take my wife away for her 40th birthday. I read hundreds of reviews on this property and was prepared to accept the bad I had heard and enjoy all that sounded great about it. We arrived at the airport in Jamaica and after going through customs, we went to the Sandals reception area where a woman asked for our last name. After trying our name twice she asked if we had arrived on the wrong day. I gave her our confirmation # and she asked us to wait inside.
Thirty minutes went by with her doing nothing other than checking in other Sandals guests. I asked her to help and she told me to wait. I went to another Sandals employee who agreed to call Sandals. After 45 minutes she informed us that our travel agent had cancelled our reservation! I was already talking to the agent who insisted that of course they had not cancelled anything. We said no problem just get us to the resort and we will take a different room. We were told the hotel was completely booked along with the 2 other Sandals properties in Montego Bay.
At this point my wife began to cry. We wasted over 2 1/2 hours to find out that Sandals had screwed up and was willing to do absolutely nothing about it. I started going from hospitality desk to desk to find another resort who would accommodate us. A very nice lady at the Half Moon told us they were booked but she called and found us a room at the Rose Hall Resort & Country Club. This woman even walked us outside and put us in a taxi. Meanwhile the Sandals reps just continued to check arriving passengers in and never offered any assistance. I have been told by a few people in the travel business that Sandals has a reputation for this kind of thing. If they overbook, they simply drop people.
Since arriving back home I have been completely unable to get anyone at Sandals or Unique Vacations to give me a straight answer or to even apologize. I will never choose a Sandals trip. For what it's worth, The Rose Hall was really nice!!
Since returning home I have been told by each person at Unique Vacations that this type of thing is handled by another department. They claim that a computer error caused our reservation to be cancelled. We had to pay 1,600 more to stay at a different resort due mostly to the fact that we were booking same day. I expected Sandals to reimburse us or at the very least offer a new 4 night trip at their expense. They have done nothing other than hope I will go away.
Dorothy of Briarwood, NY December 1, 2007
On arrival from a delayed flight on Nov. 19, 2007,we sought assistance from the resort manager, for our lost luggage. On the third day, Wednesday, front desk employees assured us that we would get our luggage in the room by 9 pm. Go ahead and enjoy yourselves. You will have it in your room by 9 pm. Before that, it was a rolling delay, with them telling us we would get the luggage at 5, then at 7. We were also told a resort rep was at the airport with the luggage, waitng for the rest to pass customs (there were about 40 people who were in the same situation).
When we returned to our room at 9 pm and realized our luggage was not there, it felt like a cruel joke. The night staff said there was a mistake, that customs did not clear any luggage. The next day, we met with Mr. Dupal. He was unsympathetic, and when we expressed our frustrations, he kicked us out! He said to me and my husband, Get out of my office, leave the resort!! We felt stranded, helpless, mistreated, and still without our luggage. He insisted it was in the property, but it was nowhere to be found. It finally came at 2 pm, but who could continue with this vacation? We left the next day as there were no flights until then. Mr. Dupal treated us very badly, and ruined our vacation. This was our wedding anniversary!
We were unable to use 2 days of the vacation package. We had to find another place to stay, and transportation to get there. We lost vacation days that were wasted on this disaster. Wally of Cortezs, FL October 7, 2007
We booked a vacation to celebrate our 20th anniversary at Sandals Regency Resort, St Lucia. The resort failed to live up to their glowing promotional material. The food was terrible, the room was in need of some major maintenace, and the service was simply below the standards of any reputable resort operation.
When I complained to the Sandals headquarters, I received a reply from the General Manager of the Regency Resort saying maybe I enjoyed some of their ammenities and they would be happy to have us back at one of their properties. I don't think so. I would be stupid to return to any Sandals, based on our experience. We paid 1265.00 per day, not including air fare. We wanted the vacation to be exceptional, and to be truthful, it was not even close to below average. I would not recommend Sandals to anyone expecting a quality experience. They, Sandals, over state the qualiy of their operations and the promotional material they publish is simply not what you get at their resorts. |
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