I was staying for my honeymoon and paid for an upgraded to a Beachfront Suite (Room 116).
Pre-Arrival
Communication with the hotel in advance of arrive was terrible, I tried several times by phone and email, the only time I got an answer was when I complained via social media.
Arrival
Greeted at the airport and helped by a lovely team, and collected in a new BMW. All very smooth and lovely.
Rooms
The Beachfront Suite was very tired. The front door completely covered in dead flies. A decorator was painting over them on the neighbouring room door. There was also quite a gap around the door and so lots of insects / rain could easily enter as they are exposed, it also means a lot of noise travels.
The double glazed sliding doors to the beachfront terrace were filled with condensation so you often could not see out of them even with curtains open.
The bed was comfy and large, perhaps a superking. The TV system worked and the bathroom, whilst compact, was perfectly adequate. The kettle worked, but the ice bucket was not refilled by house keeping, you have to leave the building and walk across the yard to get ice. But as there are no cold drinks in the room it is odd to provide glasses and ice container.
The furniture was very tired. The dresser is a white faux leather, so it is not very forgiving and is covered in nicks, marks, make up, stains. The tiled floor is cold and damp to touch. The rug contained extensive brown stains. The minibar is just an empty glass fridge in the middle of the room. The base of the wardrobes are mouldy/damp crumbling. The ceilings/walls/covings were stained and damp, with signs of damp bubbling. The paintings on the wall were damp and dis-cloured from damp. The mirrors were always covered in condensation.
Water would pour from the air conditioning and so a towel needed to be kept on the floor to stop it getting slipery.
Butler Team
The head butler, Peter, is an absolute gentleman and professional. The other members very enthusiastic, but provided us with inaccurate information so we went out for dinner expecting a table reservation, waited in a queue for over two hours before returning to the hotel having not eaten. He had not checked the restaurant for us.
Dining/Food
The dining room was closed for refurbishment, even though no warning was given during the booking or even in the printed "welcome" letter on check in, so we went to the building site for breakfast to be told all meals were at the poolside restaurant - not exactually 5* luxury. Breakfast was a classic american buffet. Nothing wrong per say but nothing great. Evening meals also had to be in the same place, on the same wobbly and dated wicker garden furniture. Service was a little slow but the staff all very friendly. Unfortunately there were errors with our order on both nights. One night the "rare" steak came back well done, the second night the kebab was mistaken for a steak. Problems, but with a smile!
Beach Club
Essentially a car park shack. Not a nice / romantic / Caribbean shack, but literally a shack at the end of the dusty car park.
Pool
Very tired with missing tiles and very strong chlorine smell!
Laundry
Inaccurate in room information. Called for it to be collected late in the afternoon and was told to leave in bag at end of bed. It was not collected until 7am the following day (so woken up at 7am by house keeping) to then only be told they do not undertake it on site, and the offsite location is closed on a weekend and so it would not go off to be cleaned until the following day anyway!
Overall
Unfortunately the damp in the room, with its smell, was too much for us. After the second day of poor experience we liaised with the manager to request moving hotel. We established that the hotel was without a general manager as they are recruiting but the deputy manager was very understanding. We had a second night's troubled sleep in the damp and smelly room, and in the morning the manager agreed that she would arrange a full refund and we could check out and move to a different hotel. I continued to pay the two night's accommodation tax and for the (poor) meals consumed and was promised a refund in 3 - 5 working days.
We are over two weeks later and I am still without a refund. American Express have tried contacting the hotel but they have no record of the agreement for us to check out early and to be refunded - even though this was by the deputy manager, in front of the reception team, the concierge, and Peter the Head Butler. As such I am still around £8,000 down. I have also found out that a friend had arranged for a bottle of champagne to greet us and paid $300, but it never materialised!
I get the impression that it was a fantastic hotel, but it has been underinvested and is very tired, I also understand that they are seeking to be downgraded to 4* so as to lower expectations and are having staffing difficulties.
I would recommend avoiding the hotel and staying at one of the many alternative 4 or 5* hotels in the areas.
