Sandals Resorts Reviews

General

- Our luggage took at least 30 min to get to our room after we checked in. When we asked the luggage person where the ice was, he pointed to where it was instead of offering to go get it.

- The beds were very hard (much harder than average hotel beds).

- The music was way too loud during the daytime at the main pool. We had difficulty having a conversation with anyone. The DJ should consider suggestions for the type of music the crowd would most likely enjoy (e.g., country or '70s rock). At the smaller pool (closest to us) the DJ did take suggestions but went back to the same music after perhaps an hour.

- The service attitude was sometimes not very enthusiastic (especially among some of the women – no smiling, for example).

- A gift of chocolate strawberries (that we intended for our new friends) was sent to us instead of our friends. Our concierge said they would pay for the corrected order. Unfortunately, we had to walk down to the concierge and have them correct it. They didn’t immediately correct it and we had to ask again on our last morning (as we were checking out).

- We received a courtesy call for feedback on Wed. I asked them to call back because we were in the middle of something and couldn't talk. They never called back that day.

- There was a system issue when we were checking out (we had to walk to the front desk, and they also had issues).

- We didn’t notice any AED devices on site (in case someone has cardiac issues).

Room and Related

- The cleaning service came at 5p (we shouldn't have to ask every day for cleaning before 4p). After we asked, it started coming during the days while we were out by the pool/ocean.

Restaurants

- The plates in the Bayside restaurant for the morning buffet were often missing. Food was sometimes not updated (e.g., cobbler missing for a considerable amount of time). We hardly got any service at our table the last full day we were there (and had to chase someone down for coffee). There was also no offer of mimosas.

- Candles should be placed outside for Eleanor’s Restaurant - it was too dark to see our food.

- Why are various restaurants closed on different days? All restaurants should be open daily for normal business hours.

Some food on the resort was great like the sushi and the French restaurant but some was just ok and definitely needs to be better to match the rest. I would stay away from the pizza. It took over an hour to get 2 pizzas and they were cold and had wrong toppings on them when we finally got them. Ochi is a beautiful resort but just needs some updates to rooms and a few common areas. We have booked 3 more vacations all to different Sandals resorts and very much look forward to all of them.

During the day there is a "quiet pool" (East Bay Pool) and what we called the "fun pool" (West Bay pool.) The fun pool has dance music playing most of the day, and games happening near the pool on and off all day. We spent all of our time at the fun pool. The bartenders at all the bars are friendly and make excellent drinks. For example one of their drinks is a fruity concoction with banana, and they use real bananas, not just a banana-flavored mix. My husband loves whiskey and he was served *plenty* of good whiskey. The food was also good - we really enjoyed everything we ordered all week long.

The steakhouse and Soy were, in our opinions, the highest-quality "fanciest" meals at the resort. The other restaurants were all very tasty and good but don't expect four-star Michelin restaurants the entire resort-stay, which is fine! We had tons of grouper and shrimp and steak and all kinds of goodness. Every meal was satisfying. The Italian restaurant has an excellent antipasto bar (so good!) We loved the two food trucks, the coffee truck has delectable sweets, and the fish tacos at the other truck are delish. Breakfast buffet is good, and the French restaurant breakfast is great too. We did not get to try the French restaurant for dinner because someone (me) drank a little too much and went to bed early.

Coconut Grove at night is great fun with Giovanni and James. Genie is an excellent entertainment manager, and such a lovely, fun and lively lady! Angel sang at the Coconut Grove and was amazing, Karaoke and dancing was a blast, the evening couples games were hilarious (we took part and had a blast) and I loved that one evening it was very cool and windy and while sitting out on the couches they passed out blankets.

Private beach was beautiful and SO relaxing. Beach at the resort is smallish but very pretty. Being January the weather was a bit cool and very windy so we didn't go in the ocean much. Please do NOT expect the pools to be so heated that on a cool and windy day you can comfortably hang in the pool. We had a few windy days, and a few calm days with a lot of sun. At about 70 degrees with lots of sun and little wind, in January, the pool was fine because the sun was hot enough to keep it enjoyable. At 70 degrees with 20 MPH winds and not full sun (passing clouds) there was no way to hang in the pool, too cold (the pool had waves!) but it was still fun to sit around the pool, eat drink and be merry! The hot tubs were nice and hot and fun to relax in. We highly recommend Sandals!

Either no response at all or constant redirects to other contacts via email/voicemail that go unanswered as well. In one of the few actual responses, they’ve gone as far as to say “Well, you didn’t purchase the insurance through us, so we can’t help you”. Sandals has caused us to lose the reimbursement because they will simply not provide the information requested by the insurance (confirmation of costs, verifying that we were not provided any refunds, etc.). It’s mind boggling that they refused to help with this, it doesn’t cost Sandals a dime other than a few minutes of someone’s time to provide a statement that would satisfy the requirements of the insurance.

The problems began as soon as we arrived. After checking in we were taken to a room on the third floor in the East Tower. On the walk to the room the front desk agent asked us about our travel day – we informed her that it was full of delays and problems and that we had been up since midnight to fly out and due to all of the delays we had not had time to eat anything. She asked if we had dinner reservations and we told her we did not, since we had just arrived and you’re not allowed to make any reservations until you are on property. She told us that it was “very difficult” to get in to any of the restaurants that require reservations or to get in to Gordon’s on the water. As soon as we got in the hallway we were overwhelmed by the smell of mildew and when the door to the room was opened that same smell was also extremely strong in the room.

We immediately realized that the room we were given was not the room that we chose and paid an additional fee to upgrade to when we did our online booking. It was very small and did not have the oversized 4-poster bed, table and chairs and oversized balcony as it was pictured on your website. We decided that after we received our luggage we would go back down to the desk and inform them that they had put us in a room that we did not book. After approximately 20 minutes and still no luggage we decided to head downstairs and talk to them about the room. We were directed to another agent who sat a separate desk in front of club level check-in. She informed us that the room “looked different” due to a recent “upgrade” and that the website had not been updated to reflect those changes.

We said that different furniture aside, the room was much smaller than what we anticipated based on the pictures on the website, had a terrible smell, a very small balcony that could barely accommodate 2 chairs and most certainly couldn’t accommodate 2 lounge chairs (which, again, is how it is pictured on the website) and even though there is a nice ocean view there was what appeared to be a house with broken windows, trash scattered all over and dumpsters right next to our room. She said that there was nothing she could do about it. We informed her that the room was not the room we paid extra for and we felt it was a “bait and switch” situation. She again said there was nothing she could do about it. My wife asked if there was any way she could upgrade us to a different room since we did not get the room we were promised from the website. She said, “It doesn’t matter what room we put you in, they are all exactly the same.”

We asked then why you advertise multiple room types, sizes and prices if they are all exactly the same? We asked, “So you’re telling us that the honeymoon suite is the exact same room as any other in the hotel?” And she again said that, yes, they are all the same. Really? Then why are you charging people for room upgrades? She said that the only thing she could do was move us to a room that was similar to the one we booked online but that it was in the “older” West tower. We asked to look at it first. We were told on the way to the room that if we decided to take it they would need to clean it. Again, the hallway on the way to the room smelled very strongly of mildew and so did the room. The room was definitely larger and had similar furniture to the room we originally booked – but still much different.

It still had the same tiny balcony and the bathroom did not have the “his and hers vanities” with the tub/shower combo as pictured on your website. We decided to take it, even though it was VERY dirty, because we were promised that it was going to be cleaned while we went to try to get dinner. We went to the Italian restaurant since we couldn’t get in to the French restaurant, Butch’s, or Gordon’s, which is what we would have preferred. After dinner we went to the small bar near the beach. There were approximately 15-20 people at the bar and 2 bartenders and we had to wait at least 15 minutes to get a drink. There was a couple sitting next to us and we started chatting with them. They had been given room #216 on the floor directly below the first room they had put us in – they also requested to be moved because of the garbage dumpster view that they had.

They moved to another room in the same tower but further away from the dumpsters but they weren’t happy about having to move either. We finished our drinks and were going to have another one but after sitting there for at least another 20 minutes no one came back to wait on us again so we headed back to our room. As soon as we opened the door we saw that it had not been cleaned - there were still no towels and no toilet paper. We contacted the desk and told them that room had not been cleaned. After awhile someone came to the door with a basket of towels and toilet paper but no offer to clean the room. We were so exhausted that we decided just to get some sleep and deal with it the next day.

The next morning we went down to the French restaurant for breakfast. The menu offered open face omelets with lobster as one of the choices. We both ordered the lobster omelet and croissants and were informed they did not have croissants (which are available at the breakfast buffet), so we both got toast. After approximately 20 minutes we were told that lobster is not available. We asked why it was on the menu if it’s not available and the waitress could not answer that. We substituted shrimp instead and waited approximately another 20 minutes to get our food. After breakfast we returned to find that our room still had not been cleaned so we changed and went down to the pool. After being at the pool for at least an hour we noticed that there were no servers taking drink orders or bringing out bottles of water.

A couple next to us overheard us talking and told us we would “die of thirst” if we waited for a server – they said that they had been at the resort several times and that it had really “gone downhill” and told us if you want a drink or water you have to get up and get it yourself. Is that really what you think people expect at “luxury resort”?? I got up to get us water and asked for a beer. Both the glass of beer and bottles of water were warm. I dumped out the beer and tried to drink the warm water. Also, the only bathrooms close to the pool (outside of the piano bar) were closed down and the only working bathrooms were inside the buffet restaurant. We had to walk through the restaurant in our swimsuits to be able to use a bathroom without having to go all the way back to our room. At this point my wife and I became very upset.

This trip was for our anniversary and my wife’s birthday and so far it had been a horrible experience. We are not novice travelers and know what to expect at a “Luxury Resort”. We stayed at a Secrets Adults Only, All Inclusive resort last year and booked a very similar (club level) room as we did at your resort and paid almost exactly the same amount - if anything it was a few hundred dollars less than Sandals. It was a 100% completely different experience – top notch service, immaculately clean room, incredible restaurants you could go to any day or night without any reservations required (if there was a wait it was always less than 30 minutes), ice cold water and amazing top shelf drinks (Skol vodka, which we had in our room and is served at the bars at Sandals, is definitely not a premium liquor) served to you promptly at the pool, bar or any of their restaurants. That’s what is expected at a luxury resort.

My wife said she wanted to cancel the remainder of the trip and go home and I was in complete agreement. I said that we should ask to speak to a manager. The person at the front desk in the West tower asked us why and we told him all of the problems we were experiencing. Another guest overhead us – she said she had a lot of the same problems and said that we needed to speak with someone named Kevin Clark because he took care of a lot of their concerns. I said that is who we wanted to speak to. The front desk attendant told us to go back to our room and that he would have Mr. Clark call the room. After approximately 30 minutes no one called us. We went back down to the desk and the attendant was gone and someone new was on duty. He had no idea what we were talking about and we had to re-explain everything to him.

He said someone would call us “sometime” and we asked when because we didn’t want to spend the day sitting in our room, which still hadn’t been cleaned. I went back to the room to get water and my wife stayed in the lobby. While she waited she said that the desk attendant and another worker were looking at her and whispering back and forth, presumably talking about her. She was growing more uncomfortable and upset the longer she sat there. She was noticed and approached by the laundry manager who happened to be walking through the lobby. She said that she could tell my wife was very upset and asked what was wrong. She is the ONLY one who took action and cared.

She got Quethera ** to come and speak with us. Ms. ** took us to a separate room and we told her about all of the problems we’d encountered in just the past 24 hours. My wife was crying and told her she had made up her mind that she wanted to go home and I felt the same. Ms. ** begged us to reconsider and said if we stayed she would make sure our room got “deep cleaned” and that she would get us a reservation at Butch’s that evening. My wife said no and that she still wanted to leave. Ms. ** again assured us that the rest of our experience would be amazing if we would just give her the chance to make things right. We never did get to talk with Kevin ** and should have insisted that we wanted to leave but we decided to give Ms. ** the chance to fix things. She did get us a reservation at Butch’s that evening at 6 p.m.

We had spent the entire afternoon waiting to speak to someone and had to hurry back to the room to shower and get ready. When we got back to the room the bed was made and we had new towels but STILL had not been cleaned and definitely not “deep cleaned”. When we got to Butch’s we were informed that we did not have a reservation. I had to show the host the email that Ms. Stuart sent us telling us we had the reservation and then they squeezed us in, sitting right next to the host stand. Dinner was very good but as we sat waiting for our food (which took approximately 45 minutes) we heard couple after couple come up to the desk – most of them were told that they could not locate their reservation or that they would not be seated until an hour or more past their reservation time.

When we left our room the next morning there was a large amount of water soaking the carpet all around the elevators – not sure if there was a water leak or the ice machine was leaking but there was so much water that it splashed up on us when we walked on the carpet. We went over to the private island for a couple of hours, which was the only somewhat relaxing part of the entire trip. When we returned to our room the water coming out of the faucet and shower was sputtering and very slow. Showering was almost impossible due to the slow stream of water coming out. Since we, again, couldn’t get reservations for dinner and there was already a long line for Gordon’s, we went back to the Italian restaurant. Which, again, was okay but it was the second time we had it in 48 hours so we didn’t eat much. We decided to try to go back to the beach bar for a drink.

There were probably only about a dozen people at the bar and 3 bartenders this time. After waiting at least 15 minutes someone finally took our order. He didn’t start making any drinks and after about another 5 minutes it appeared he was arguing with another one of the bartenders. He then disappeared and never came back. We waited another 15 minutes but neither one of the other two bartenders would wait on us.

It was at this point we decided we were not staying any longer. My wife started to pack and I went down to the desk to find out what we needed to do to get our flight changed to go home and to get our money refunded. I was informed that we would have to wait until the sales office opened at 8 a.m. the next morning. We finished packing all of our things and basically sat in our room and waited for morning to get someone to help us. We left our room and found that the water was still soaking the carpet and no effort was being made to rectify it – nor were there any signs up warning you not to walk through it. We were at the sales office when they opened the door at 8 a.m. Although the woman we spoke to there was very nice she informed us that she couldn’t help us and that we needed to go back to the desk where we originally checked in when we arrived.

She informed us that we needed to speak to Kevin ** or Selena and they were the only ones who could help us and facilitate a refund. Again – completely misinformed and if we had known that we wouldn’t have spent another sleepless night in our filthy room and would have left the night before! We went to the club level desk and waited for Selena. She came to speak to us and listened to our long list of complaints. We air dropped her the pictures of the filthy room we stayed in and she said she was going to show them to the management team to see what could be done. She started making promises and asking us to please finish the rest of our stay. We said that we were absolutely not staying.

While she went to speak with management a very nice gentleman tried to call American Airlines to get our flight home re-booked. He was having a lot of difficulty due to the internet connection dropping repeatedly. We finally moved over to the piano bar where he could get a better signal. American Airlines refused to accommodate us so we had to book an entirely new flight on JetBlue, which required us to travel for the entire day and spend another $1,600.

Selena came back and informed us that she would give us a full refund but only in the form of a credit to go to Sandals in the future. Or she said that she would only refund our credit card for the 2 days that we did not stay because she stated “You ate and drank for 3 days.” Are you kidding?! First of all, aside from Butch’s, we barely ate anything! And drinks?! As I said, we couldn’t get served anywhere so our drinks consisted of a couple of glasses of house wine at dinner and in our room and one drink each at the beach bar our first night! I would certainly say we did not drink “unlimited premium drinks” or eat at “unlimited restaurants”!! We told her that this was unacceptable. We used up an entire week of vacation and all of our paid vacation time from work. We cannot get this time, money or our anniversary back.

We are not asking for any compensation above what is fair and what we deserve and are only asking for the amount that we were charged for the trip, which is $7,469. We could ask for our wasted vacation time and the additional cost of our flight back home but, again, we are will not pursue those lost expenses as long as this is handled by you promptly. This has caused me an extreme amount of distress and my wife is even more upset and depressed over this experience. We have not shared the photos we are attaching with this letter with anyone or any social media sites at this time or posted any reviews online but we definitely will if this matter is not resolved immediately. If you choose to deny our refund our next step is to dispute the charges with CitiCard.

Attached our multiple pictures of our room, which were taken on the final day that we stayed. Please note the filthy décor, torn up carpet, air vents filled with what appears to be black mold, stains and/or urine behind the toilet, mold in the shower, dirt all over the thermostat and around the handles of all of the doors and the string that was on the bathroom floor from the first day we checked in – if the string never moved then they never cleaned the floor or anything in the entire room. All they ever did was make the bed and replace towels – usually after 5 p.m.

We honestly do not want to post the pictures and reviews, as we are hopeful that you will resolve all of these issues and take care of your guests much better in the future, but will do so if necessary. We look forward to your prompt resolution to this matter. Thank you, Richard and Colleen. **ADDENDUM for CitiCard** Colleen has an autoimmune disorder and asthma and we were, and continue to be, concerned about the time spent in a room (and the entire hotel) that was obviously full of mold and mildew. Everywhere we went in either one of the towers smelled very strongly of mold and mildew and the pictures show obvious mold in the air vents and in the bathroom. She had to use her rescue inhaler multiple times during our stay at Sandals and after we returned home.