This was our second visit to Hermitage Bay, and we will never return. I feel sad to leave this review as the staff are so kind, friendly, and hardworking, but standards are well below what we expect for a hotel charging such high prices.
Service was usually very slow. One breakfast we arrived at 7.30, but our order for cooked eggs was not taken until well past 8.00 because of a shortage of waiting staff. Taking an hour and a quarter over breakfast is a waste of our time. In the evening we often sat with empty wine glasses as they have no wine waiter like other five-star resorts.
The dinner menu choice is limited. We got bored with the food very quickly. We asked to meet with the head chef, Desroy, to arrange some dinner alternatives, but it seemed that he had left the resort.
The usual Beach Club menu, with some healthy sharing starters, was not available, because a pop-up restaurant, La Petite Maison, has taken it over. The French menu was fine dining, but rather heavy, oily, and more suited to evening than lunch. The lunch restaurant is also now open to non-residents. At weekends, well over half of the diners were non-residents, who noticeably received much more attention from Tariq, the manager, than did hotel residents. Shockingly, some non-residents were allowed to smoke cigars and cigarettes in the restaurant, despite the hotel’s strict non-smoking policy. The live lunch-time band was also much too loud. The only other place to eat lunch was next to the bar, which had a snack menu, but on several days the hotel did not bother to lay tables there.
The quality of food served was very variable. Sometimes very good, other times inedible. At the Caribbean evening our prawn skewer was served half raw and had to be recooked. One lunch when we order a medium/well done burger, it arrived bright red inside, black outside. In the evening, tenderloin streak was often overdone and almost cremated. The chefs were clearly overstretched in the kitchen. One reason for that is that the owner had a large group of friends and employees from his Spanish hotels staying (for free) at the hotel. (Staff told us that this happens a lot.) Each evening, they had a special table set up for them and received much attention from the chefs, while paying guests were kept waiting and served badly cooked food. This large group of young people were also often noisy, talking on their mobile phones in restaurants and the bar despite a notice in all rooms requesting that guests do not use cell phones in restaurants, bar and beach.
There were some other problems compared to our previous visit. This year they had only one Hobie (Wave) cat. The other Hobie got damaged several months ago and still has not been replaced. That is not acceptable, especially when the owner has bought several expensive jet skis solely for his own and friends' use. Another disappointment was that last year the resort offered free boat and snorkel trips along the coast. This year you had to pay.
Thank you to the hardworking staff who tried to help us, despite all our problems, but I fear that under the new owner, Hermitage Bay is no longer the exclusive, peaceful, and sophisticated resort it once was.
