Complain about a product or service

Sandals Resorts

Cable Beach, Nassau, Bahamas

Khalil of New York NY (06/23/08)
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 (05/12/08)
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 (12/01/07)
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 (10/07/07)
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.

Brad & Betty of Roberts Creek Canada (11/19/06)
We booked a trip to Sandals new resort Whitehouse in Jamaica for April of 2005.The resort should have been opened for more than six weeks so we felt it should be running fine by then, however a hurricain hit jamaica so we phoned Michel Smith the Sandals rep in Toronto. He assured us that the hurricain did not affect this area and everything was going as planned and he had been to the property recentley and it looked fantastic, not to worry. This trip was to celibrate our 30th wedding anniversery; we were going to what was advertised as the best all inclusive and to what was be their newest and best property.

The airport transfer van did not have working air conditioning and the couple that shared our ride were from South Carolina -- the heat in the van was too much for the husband and he just passed out . We finally arrived at the resort and were seated in the lobby and presented with a release form with our name on it to sign stating that as you have previously informed by your agent that the property is not finished, we will give you 2 free days to be used now or at a later date. We did not sign, we had not been informed,and when we asked what was not finished we were told you will see.

The list is long -- no lights on any outside buildings just bare electrical wires hanging down, not a cuishion on any seat in any restaurant on the property, no chairs in the piano bar for the first 2 days then cheap white plastic after that.Hot tub would not hold water passed 18 inches , the fountains were not running but full of green mould smelly water, no sinks in the public bathroom, the nightclub was still being mudded drywall stage, no xbox gamesroom just wires in a room , only one of the shops were open and that was sparse.

No fish in the restaurants -- they ran out of fish on an island.

WHAT SANDALS DID FOR US. They gave us 4 days for the 10 of our crappy holiday and Michel Smith suggested to go to the Bahamas their nicest property , he assured they would make it up to us. So we paid $2,700.00 for 6 days plus their 4 days and bought our own air fare and went to the Bahamas. The Bahamion people are fantastic the food was very good to excellent, however the room was full of mould growing on ceiling and the closet was the worst, the drywall was starting to fall apart, no one would even come to look at it . The door would not lock it was split like someone had kicked it in, the lock itself had more than a half inch play in it. They came and oiled it.

K  of North Port FL (05/09/06)
We wanted you to be aware of some things that put a damper on our getaway. We arrived at the resort around 2:30 and were not able to get into our room until 4; our luggage arrived probably 30-45 min. later. The first 2 days there, there were old televisions lining the walls of the hall in front of the elevator on our floor. They were removed by Sunday morning. The first night we made reservations for Café Goombay. Once there we were bitten severely by sand fleas. A waiter brought out some Off but my husband is allergic to deet therefore, he was in misery. It would have been nice to be forewarned by the resort before going out there.

The shrimp appetizer was supposed to be warm, it was a blackened dish, it was cold. The food did not appear to be cooked there, it was sitting under heat lamps. At that point we decided to choose our entrée on a meat that had to be cooked there to our liking.

Our room also seemed to have fleas in it, every morning we awoke with more bites. There was mold in the bathtub. Crown molding was not intact in the bathroom and bedroom. Just simple maintenance. The toilet overflowed for no reason, just flushed. After they fixed the toilet, I don't think housekeeping mopped the floor. We were in a deluxe suite and it was far from deluxe. None of the fruit was fresh. From pineapple in the drinks to breakfast strawberries, mangoes, tomatoes in the salad.

I sent back multiple glasses of water. Each time they were poured there were things floating in it. I requested bottled water but they said there was none available. The food in Spices (buffet) the hot food was cold and the cold food was warm--- honey mustard chicken was cold, the fruit when I tried was warm, the salads were warm, french toast was cold. So we again got things made to order -- pancakes for breakfast. We even left our lunch after preparing our plates and went to the poolside grill to have a made to order lunch.

The presentation however at every meal was just beautiful. The employees were very pleasant. The food and service at the poolside grill was really good and the meals we had at Kimono's and The Crystal Room were fabulous. The equipment for sailing was old and was not maintained. We had a flight scheduled out yesterday (3/20) at 9 am. We called to inquire about transfer on 3/19 about 4 pm, my husband was told we would have instructions under our door after 9 pm. We happened to go back by the room at 8 after dinner and the information was there--stating we had to be down in the lobby by 6 am for our transfer. We called to try and get a later time for transfer, but that was not an option. We then called the concierge regarding room service because our room service menu stated breakfast served only between 8 & 10.

Concierge stated we needed to go down to the pub and have them round us up some fruit and/or cereal. We did this and the server at the pub said no you need to do it through room service. So back to the room to place the order--my husband had to talk to numerous people on the phone to get room service at that time of the morning. The last thing stated to him was they would try to make it happen. To our surprise they showed up at 5:15 am. Then we were waiting at the airport and spoke with other guest of Sandals that were on the same flight. They did not have to leave the hotel until 7. Needless to say we are very unhappy with Sandals and our time there, this was our first all inclusive vacation.

Shari of Dallas GA (04/04/06)
My husband and I went to Jamaica in December for my stepdaughter's wedding. I contracted Salmonella from the food on the buffet - I have made three complaints to the Sandals website which is impossible to navigate and they promise me a reply from the Inn which I never get.

Loss of 5 days of work, doctor bills, thought I was going to die.

Deborah of Warrensburg MO (09/13/05)
We went for 8 days for our daughters wedding all the rooms were over booked the limo service was not available the kids rooms were downgraded our luggage was lost they sent it to the wrong room and we did not get some of it back until the third day -- the last bag showed up the day we left a wedding which is supposed to be a happy time. My daughter cried for days -- we had no clothes, what we had was ruined the had gotten wet and allowed to stay in an empty room with only heat to mold, this is in a place that downgraded us because they were overbooked.

Kathrin of Forest Hills NY (08/23/05)
My husband I am recently, and unfortunately, booked an All Inclusive Caribbean vacation through American Airlines vacations for Sandals/Antigua. Prior to my purchase, for weeks, I called AA vacation to find out more and more information regarding the Antigua Sandals Resort. Additionally I contacted Sandals and visited the web site for AA vacations, and Sandals to make sure that all the representations were accurate and true. The AA vacations and Sandals agents’ assured me that choosing Antigua Sandals Resort would NOT disappoint my husband and me.

As a matter of fact AA vacations and Sandals assured me, and I quote, that “Antigua Sandals Resort has been voted one of the most modern and romantic resorts in the Caribbean”. After having visited the web site of Sandals Antigua, I noticed pictures of their restaurants, bars, and buffet of fresh tropical and exotic fruits. After all the promises and representations made my husband and I decided to TRUST AA vacation / Sandals and booked the trip for which we paid over $3000.00 only for the hotel and used about 100,000 of our advantage miles that we had accumulated over the past 10 years with our hard earned money.

From the minute we arrived at Antigua airport one disappointment, and disgust, followed another. We have NEVER been this disappointed with a vacation. We had worked double jobs all year round to earn enough money to take a vacation that was promised to be absolute paradise with the best food and freshest fruits ever. Well our experience of Sandals was 100% opposite what we expected it to be:

1. As we arrived in the airport there were no representatives from AA or Sandals to greet us. We had to wait till we exited the airport, only to be approached, not greeted, by a rode obnoxious lady that was not even willing to say a simple thing as “Hello”. She told us to wait by the curb till she tells us what to do next. At that moment my disgust and hatred for American Airlines and Sandals began. How dare do they assign rode and obnoxious people to be around me while I am in the midst of beginning my supposed “paradise vacation”

2. We wait, wait, and wait for a cab to take us to the resort. Finally after 20 minutes in the heat a van comes to pick us up. This van was too dirty, disgusting that I can’t even find the words to describe it. First, the car didn’t contain AC system. The windows were broken, and the car was unmarked and unidentified. Second, the car was in such a bad condition that at every curb my husband and I feared for our lives of us being drooped from a cliff due to the fact that the car was in such bad conditions. It looked like someone had just picked it up from the dumpster and brought it to us for pick up.

3. Finally, after that nightmare ride we arrive at the resort. No one came to assist us with our bags. We had to remove the bag ourselves from the van. Finally after 5 minutes one person came to us and asked what we needed. What we needed? Are you blind? Didn’t you just see us arrive! They tell us to have a seat and that they would be with us soon. At that point it was 3 pm. We sit for about 30 minutes. No one comes to approach us, or ask us anything. I get up to approach someone and ask of when we can get to our room. Then they tell us that our room is not ready.

We have traveled for hours in this heat. Check out is at 11 why would it take them 4 hours to clean a room? They told us to relax and get a bite to eat. He points us to where we can get something to eat. You would think he would walk us there or let us know what time we can expect to check in or anything within that nature. But nothing was done. We go to this dive, disgusting looking bistro in which we had a choice of Hamburger, Chicken burger, fries and nachos, since they are out of everything else. This place was so disgusting to say the least. There were flies all over us, and our food. It was enough to make you want to vomit whatever was in your stomach. The drinks tasted horrible. They tasted like poison. They only had one local beer that one could have and their soda tasted like paint that you purchase in a store. My husband and I were so disgusted, to say the least, that we couldn’t even eat anything.

4. At around 4:30, and after me asking them about 10 times, they tell us that our room is ready. As they walk us to out room we can see that we have been placed in the worst area of the resort, besides the promises that were made by AA. My disgust grew bigger and bigger. As we are walking toward our room, the path way smelled like dead cats. To which it was not surprising after noticing that they had wild unclean cats running around the resort constantly. Frankly the last thing my husband and I wanted was to be bitten by a sick animal.

5. We were given room number 518, which was located in the back end of the resort. We were located on the second floor, walk up, that faced a back alley and the back of the fenced tennis court. It was disgusting. As we walked into our room we immediately realized that it was deadly hot and humid. Everything in that room was 20 years old. The floors were disgusting and the bathroom and the sinks were crawling with armies of red and black ants. We were scared to even use the toilet not knowing what would crawl up in us. The bathrooms and the room had no windows that one could close. They were shutters instead of windows. The room was VERY dark with no light coming in. The lucks on the door and the patio were not working. We felt extremely unsafe and scared without any sort of protections.

I immediately contacted front desk only to be told that there is nothing they could do for us that night. And that we would have to wait to the next morning to call the front desk at 8 am, even though no rooms would be available for check in till 11. I frankly didn’t understand why I would have to get up so early to switch to a room that would not even be ready till noon. That night was the worst night my husband and I ever experienced. The AC was not working. Even after placing a call regarding the problem with the AC nothing was solved. That night we could not even sleep for a minute. As we would lie on the bed suffering in heat the lights went out. No call was made to our room to let us know why this happened. We were left without any electricity for hours at a time.

The next day, only after asking them, they tell us this is something very common that occurs in Antigua. Frankly that is information that should have been provided with from AA vacations.

6. The next morning we wake up at 8 am only to be told that they couldn’t do anything for us till noon. We were furious. All this time I wanted to call AA vacation to put my husband and me back on a flight to NY, but AA vacation failed to let us know that we can’t use any phone cards in Antigua and all calls regardless of destination will cost us $14.50. This is absolutely absurd and unacceptable. I am disgusted by AA vacations.

7. At 10 am we approach the front desk to inquire about our room change. We go to the front desk only to find out that there were no managers on site till 1 pm and that no one could help up. Yet again another problem, another misrepresentation. Only by standing at the front desk for 20 minutes and raising my voice they finally decide to send us to a supervisor. Unfortunately, I don’t have the name of the gentleman. He took us to his office to give us some additional bad news. The better rooms were not available and he really couldn’t move us to another room any better than what we were in.

Meredith of Huntington Beach CA (08/09/05)
Sandals resort promises an all inclusive resort with everything included. We made reservations to stay for 10 nights with a wedding package, and when we arrived we not only did not get the room we paid for,we coulnd not even get reservations for resturants, tours and other events we wanted. Staff informed us about everything that was suposedly sold out and not available wich turned out to be everything. We soon began a disaster of a vacation. From no equipment provided as described,to alhoholic bev needed to be purchased in resturants to drug dealers on the private beaches.

We became very outraged and no longer experienced gratification as portrayed on the web page. Nothing was as shown except the nature.

Njumele of Schaumburg IL (06/10/05)
Here are the problems that we had leading to our total dissatisfaction with Sandals Whitehouse:

1. When we checked in, the room was not cleaned, we were initially checked into room 2222 in the Dutch village. We were then checked into room 3232 in the French side and our bed linens were never changed, there was a full hand print on the mirror in our room when we checked in that was still there when we checked out, the room was only swept, the towels were changed and the bed was made. Staff entered our room even when we would put the do not disturb sign on the door, including the wedding coordinator. We know this because they would leave stuff there, turn on the radio to a high volume and turn up the thermostat to 80.

2. Whenever we tried to eat dinner it would take us 3 to 4 hours to finish with 70% of the time just waiting for someone to serve us

3. My wedding started late, starting at about 3:30pm, we were just waiting around for the coordinator

4. We selected a song to walk down the aisle (Spend My Life With You by Tamia and Eric Benet) and it skipped several times throughout the beginning and end of the ceremony

5. The pictures that were taken were not very polished/professional quality and in fact are exactly the same as what my guests took with their digital cameras

6. My sister had an accident immediately following our wedding waiting for them to setup for our reception due to the rain and it was clear there was no emergency plans in place, thus the reception was cancelled

7. We had to depart at 6am and went to get breakfast from the grill that was listed on our brochures to close at 6am but they were closed at 5:30am thus we could not get a full breakfast before our trip to St Lucia which took us an entire day due to delays and cancellations from Air Jamaica to St Lucia

8. We have not received the video of our wedding and when I called to speak with the wedding coordinator she informed me that our tape got damaged and they are trying to fix it and she would get back to me and I still haven't heard anything and I can't get in touch with her.

Maryann of Blissfield MI (04/24/05)
In August 2004 we reserved a week stay at Sandals Resorts, Whitehouse, Jamaica. This trip was paid in full in January 2005 for a departure date of February 26, 2005. Whtiehouse was a new resort and approx. two weeks prior to our departure we were contacted through our agent that the Whtiehouse facility was not quite complete but that we could go anyway with a voucher for a free week stay at a Sandals resort in the future, or we could change travel dates or accept a refund (minus airfare!!). We opted to go to Whitehouse anyway.

15 hours prior to departure we were again contacted by our agent and asked if we would divert to Ocho Rios instead. We declined. When we arrived at the airport in Jamaica we were taken to the Sandals Ocho Rios resort (not as desireable a location) without choice, even though we protested and debated. Sandals reps here told us that no one was staying at the Whitehouse facility since it was not complete. (There were a total of 12 in our group)

This was booked through Apple vacations who were no help at all. Apple representatives told us they were dealing with all types of Sandals complaints in this time period. They could not make arrangements to move us. Sandals management at the hotel could not do anything for us either. We requested to be flown back home and given a refund; they could do nothing.

We were housed in villas far from the ocean and the main resort when in fact we had booked oceanfront rooms. We asked and called every day of the week to no avail. On arrival back at the Jamaica airport we met many couples who had indeed stayed at the Whitehouse resort, hence, we were told untruths. During our stay we wrote surveys and letters to Sandals; upon arrival back home we wrote to Sandals and Apple through our travel agent and have not had as much as a personal acknowledgement or apology. We consider this to be a bait and switch type of arrangement. Sandals has no right to send you wherever they want when you have paid, in advance for something else. Apple Vacations must be held responsible also as they represent and book Sandals Resorts.

James of Reading MA (04/13/05)
My wife and I were planning our vacation and we had decided to go to Sandals in Montego Bay Jamaica. We decided to book our trip on Sandals website; quick and easy right? WRONG. When it came time to check out an error occurred, so we called Sandals to figure it out. It turns out the airline that they had quoted us on had no available seats. So, with no way of getting to Jamaica we requested that the reservation be cancelled. We were assured that the reservation was cancelled and my card would not be charged.

A week later my card was charged for the trip, noticing this I called Sandals who, after repeatedly putting me on hold, informed me that I was in the penalty phase and if I cancelled now I wouldn't get ANY money back. I explained the circumstances around my reservation and how I shouldn't have been charged in the first place and I was told your credit card information got to us somehow in a rather sarcastic tone. I will never consider Sandals as a vacation spot again.

I am currently fighting with my credit card company and Sandals to get my $4,000 returned to me. They are checking the taped phone call to see if i'm telling the truth. Ridiculous!!

Nicole of Rocky Mount NC (03/28/05)
Our honeymoon was a disaster. When we arrived at Sandals Antigua, they lost my luggage. My husband had his luggage. We could not do anything about it the first night we arrived because we got to the resort at 11pm. We asked the representative for the general hygiene supplies and he stated that he would coordinate it and have it sent to our room. Someone brought us room service and stated that we would have to talk to the front desk in the morning in order to get the personal hygiene products that we requested.

The next morning, my hubby had to go to the gift shop to purchase some clothes, underwear and other products for me. We then contacted customer relations to get some resolution on my lost luggage. We were basically given the run around and couldn't get a definite answer all that day on where my luggage was. The manager found us late that afternoon to discuss the issue with us. His excuse was that the hotel could not be blamed for my lost luggage and that it happens all the time. He stated that it happens several times a week.

That same day, we went to eat breakfast at a restaurant on the resort property. I got sick from their food and threw up right at the table before we left the restaurant. It was not a good trip at all. What kind of excuse is it happens several times a week. I guess he felt that would justify their operations. As far as we are concerned, Sandals Antigua does not have it together and they always put the blame on other people. I made the reservations through their website for everything, therefore they are responsible. My husband and I decided to come back to the US and complete our honeymoon in Raleigh, NC. We had more fun in Raleigh than we did in Antigua. The hotel was a huge disappointment. We would not recommend Sandals Antigua to anyone.

The manager basically told us that we would not be reimbursed for the rest of the stay at their resort. My husband and I did not care anymore at that point. We were just ready to get home and make the best of the remainder of our honeymoon.

Linda of E. Northport NY (02/14/05)
Within 72 hours of our arrival at the Sandals Antigua Resort last week (Feb 5 - 12 2005), my husband and I both became ill with vomiting and diarrhea. An amazing amount of other guests also fell ill with the same gastro-intestinal ailment. When we approached management about the outbreak, they would only acknowledge a few cases. Through talking with other guests and some locals, we found out it had been making guests ill for 3 weeks already. We are truly disappointed Sandals gave no warning about the problem when we checked in and confused why they did not take simple precautions such as putting hand sanitizing lotions in the restrooms. It was a nice island, but an extremely poorly managed health situation.

We lost 3 days of our expensive vacation because of the illness, and I am 6 months pregnant, so it was especially of concern for me. It has been 6 days since we first became ill, and we are still feeling unwell. We are both out of work sick today because of how we continue to feel.

Richard  of Carmel IN (11/05/04)
We arrived home from our trip and wedding at Sandals in Antigua. We stayed from 10/7-10/14. We discovered that some items were stolen from our room on our last night at Sandals. One of the items stolen was diamond earrings valued over $20,000 US. This was hidden in a small bag inside a suitcase. I noticed some sunglasses were stolen before I left and reported that to the front desk upon departure. I reported this issue to the Sandals website, with the information they requested:

It was obvious that the Sandals staff knew when we were on our last night at the resort and rummaged through all our belongings. They are well aware that most people leave the following morning and won't notice things missing until they arrive back home.

"G" of Lindenhurst NY writes (2/18/03):
Getting married on a tropical island ... what could be nicer, right? Well it might not be so nice if Sandals has anything to do with it.

My husband and I decided soon after our engagement that we wanted to do just that, and made reservations to be married on the beach in the Bahamas at Sandals Royal Bahamian. The deal seemed like a pretty good one - stay five days and get your wedding and a small reception free. It was such a great deal that my brother and sister-in-law decided to double up with us.

With both couples getting married there, and all of our families going, there were a total of about 16 people who wound up making week-long reservations at Sandals in order to come to our weddings (about 30 people came total, but the rest had to stay elsewhere for reasons described later).

The problems began almost immediately. Sandals is strictly a couples resort - no kids, no same-sex couples. That meant that part of our entorage who were unfortunately stuck with the kids couldn't stay at Sandals. That also meant that my unatatched siblings and friends had to find other accommodations. No problem, really ... unitil we found out Sandals was going to charge each of them $140.00 to come onto the Sandals property to see our wedding (if they had been able to stay at Sandals they wouldn't be charged - how convenient). They justify the $140.00 charge by saying it's an all-inclusive resort, and it is assumed that everyone who enters the property will have access to whatever they want free of charge - food, liquor, water sports, etc.

That's fine, except I don't think any of my younger guests were looking forward to consuming $140.00 worth of food and alcohol, nor was my widowed 86 year old grandmother planning on doing much jet-skiing.

Sandals wouldn't budge. They finally said the children under 12 could attend free, but they would only be allowed on the resort for a half hour to see the ceremony, and then they'd have to leave. That means their parents have to leave with them to take them back to their hotel, which means their parents can't go to the wedding reception that was to follow the ceremony. So, we had to suck it up and figured we'd be spending almost an extra $2,000.00 (the whole trip before that was to cost $4200.00) to get all of our guests admitted to our wedding.

I only wish that was the end of our problems.

About 2 months before the wedding date my fiancee finally got a job with the New York City Fire Department. The training program was going to conflict with our wedding/honeymoon. This is a very sought-after job, and they don't generally take kindly to days off during training, but after much begging he was allowed 2 days off. That meant we could still go and get married, but we could only stay four days instead of the previously planned 7. Sandals informed us that the five day stay rule would apply, and since we were now only staying 4 the wedding would no longer be free.

The wedding would now cost us an additional $1,500.00. The four day stay was going to cost us $3,700.00. THAT MEANS ... get this ... our week-long stay at Sandals with our wedding was originally going to cost us $4,200.00, plus about $2,000.00 to get all of our guests in. Now that we were staying only four days, we would be paying $5,200.00 plus the $2,000.00 - about $1,000.00 more than before even though we were staying half as long!

I pointed this out to Sandals, and they basically told me that was their policy and they wouldn't alter it. Of course not - they're making out on the deal! But wait, if you can believe it, it actually gets worse. If we were staying one more day, the wedding would still be free. But my new husband had to be home for training, so an extra day for him was out of the question. However, I could stay one more day. So I foolishly asked Sandals if they would allow me to stay one more night alone. No go - couples only. When your mate leaves, so must you.

BUT they generously said if we wanted to pay for the fifth day and leave on the fourth, they would let us do that the wedding could be free. That meant that although they would no longer be collecting $1,500.00 extra dollars for the wedding, they would be collecting $450.00 from us for the extra day they wouldn't allow me to stay, AND they could get another couple into the room that night at another $450.00. That brought the grand total that Sandals was raking in to $4200.00 for a five night hotel stay, of which we would only be staying four nights, $2,000.00 to pay for unlimited cocktails and jet-skiing for people who for the most part weren't going to use any of it, another $450.00 from whoever would be staying in our already-paid-for room on the fifth night, not to mention the amounts from all 16 of our guests who were also staying at Sandals - some for as long as a week!

All that probably added up to around $40,000.00 Sandals was making on our wedding, and yet I felt we were being treated as though we were nobody - and I'm supposed to be happy about my wedding! Basically, Sandals ripped us off and laughed all the way to the bank.

If I had known there would be all of these problems earlier, I probably would have moved the wedding to another resort. Since our guests had made their plans and paid for their trips according to our plans, to change the location would have been unfair to them. Sandals had us by the balls, and they knew it - and they used it to squeeze as much money out of us as they possibly could.

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