Sandals Resorts
Reviews and Complaints

I believe I purposely hit in the head by Nev (water sports employee) with the hobby cat sail. My reason for believing that this was not an accident are the events that led to the incident.

1. We arrived at the water sports area around 10:00am. We asked if we could use the hobby, paddle, or canoe, and we were told "no" because there was a yellow flag out and there had to be a green flag. This is despite the fact that there were several people on already on the water in canoes.

2. Approximately 10-15 minutes later, we see hobby cats sailing. We go back to the water sports area and were told we can now use the hobby cat. So, we stood in line ready to go. In a line of which we were in front, a heavy set gentleman arrives from taking some people out on the hobby. He doesn't say a word. He just stands there. This continued for at least 1 min, just silence and staring. So finally we broke the awkward silence and asked who's turn it was. The gentleman rudely replied, "whoever is next." So we approached the hobby, my husband tried to get on and almost fell in the water. Suddenly a lady with a short, red hair cut, screams in our direction, "it is not their turn!" We get off and get back in line. Incident number 2.

3. We finally get on the boat with Nev. We all sit on the same side as we were told we must all sit on the same side. We sail our for approximately 3-4 minutes and come to a STANDSTILL. At this point Nev is meticulously watching and measuring the winds. Nev is studying the winds so closely that I commented that operating the hobby must require advanced skill because you seem very focused. So Nev moves from one side of the hobby to the other at least two times. The final seating arrangement lands my husband and Nev on one side of the hobby and myself on the other. Now I asked Nev should I move to the other side with them, he said NO, STAY RIGHT THERE. Mind you, we are still at a STANDSTILL. Out of nowhere, my husband states that he saw Nev let go of the rope, the wind hit the sail and the sail hit me directly in the middle of my forehead, HARD. It was not the plastic part of the sail, it was the wooden rod at the bottom of the sail that hit me with great accuracy and precision. It was like the timing was perfect. My husband heard the hit. My husband stated that my head was red when I looked up. The first thing I said after being hit is, "You did that @#$% on purpose!" My human intuition lead me to believe that. It was just too calculated. Nev's initial response wasn't an apology, it wasn't to see if I was okay, it was, "Why would I do that?" with not an ounce of remorse.

To shorten this horrific story, I spoke to the front desk supervisor about the assault and was offered jerk chicken and liquor.

I spoke to the nurse and waited 2-3 hours for the physician.

Maxine could not speak with me or help me because she was with another customer.

We have received rude service at Sky the first night we arrived.

I tried to order breakfast my first morning here and was rudely asked if I actually read the menu and to call back when I figure it out.

Housekeeping didn't change our bedding but used cleaning product to spot clean the comforter and left it soaking wet.

We found a huge roach in our room kitchen.

Our burgers from the grill were raw yesterday night.

I can no longer use the all-inclusive water sports that I paid to use because I am afraid I will be physically abused again.

I work hard for my money and gave 5300 of it to Sandals to be treated like a beaten dog.

When I was hit, I had a headache and was seeing stars. My husband also believes I was smacked on purpose. There is no way Nev who sails the hobby everyday, studies the winds and accidently sits me on the side of the wind to accidentally beat the living daylights out of me.

Ideally, to remedy the situation, I would like a FULL refund for my stay, I will pay for my flight change and I would like to GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!

I have booked a room that has a private round-trip car pick-up from and drop-off to the Montego Bay airport, a 15 minute ride, at the Sandals Royal Caribbean resort in Jamaica to celebrate wedding anniversary with my wife. Reservation [protected] arriving 07/16/2022.

I have purchased additional time at your resort, more business for Sandals, from the 07/08 to 07/16, in a different room. Reservation [protected].

I called Sandals to ask for the private pick-up date to be changed from 7/16 to 7/8 instead. The manager, Ricky, impolitely went onto a tirade of explanations that makes absolutely no sense and reflect negatively on the Sandals' customer service. Before I even start my trip to Sandals' resort the corporation is antagonizing my wife and I with very poor business judgement and a deplorable customer service. I have been robbed of a simple private pick-up that comes with my [protected] reservation and mistreated over the phone. If it would not be such an important occasion, I would be cancelling the entire trip. The mishandling of this situation and the very poor customer service treatment leaves a very sour taste and it is a clear indicator that the organization does not really value its customers.

My AirPods were stolen from my room by a Sandals employee. We arrived on the Friday (10th June) and I was using the AirPods only in the room on Friday, on Sunday evening when I came back to the room I noticed the AirPods were not where I had left them. I immediately tracked them and noted they were in sandals la toc resort (we had never been at this resort, clearly stolen by a sandals employee). The AirPods showed up regularly at la toc as the person used them each day. Security at halcyon tried to suggest I had left the AirPods on a shuttle (they never left the room) and were unhelpful. When we travelled to la toc I tracked the AirPods to a staff corridor, in use, we were not allowed access. Despite providing the location and home address of the employee who stole the AirPods, the security failed to take action. I believe this was a targeted attack and I did not receive any apology or compensation (sandals resort suggested claiming off OUR insurance.!) I believe this is regular occurrence and I am disappointed that we wasted time trying to locate items stolen by sandals staff, losing valuable holiday time. We did not feel safe in our room. It was clear Sandals do not care about guest’s welfare and security.

I have a group of 14 Couples coming in July/August 2022 staying at Sandals Royal Caribbean Montego Bay. I was sent a form to fill out and menus sent over to me to pick from. When I picked the Caribbean dinner packages for the Steak and Lobster, I was emailed saying that is $14 per person addition charge. We can all go to Spices and receive same dinner at no additional charge. My Group is spending from $50K+ just on rooms, not to mention other charges we will spend money on but you cant provide us with a dinner you provide in your restaurants for our group? Very disappointed and I don't think I will be creating another group vacation again with Sandals. We will have to look other resorts in the future I guess

Today, June 5th, 2022 the Sandals person running a couple game asked uu to go into the lobby do we didn’t hear the answers our spouses gave. When the called us back, the steps leading down to the ground level were very slippery. I slipped, grabbed the bannister and it snapped, I cut my arm, hit my head and hurt my back and neck. Bad headache and back and neck are hurting. I’ve contacted my lawyer and I am asking for compensation and punitive damages. Either work with me or my lawyer. I’m used to this procedure. I can be reached at [protected]. I’ll be calling my lawyer in June 6th, 2022. I have pictures of the busted bannister along with many witnesses.

I stayed at the Sandals Royal Caribbean resort in Montego Bay in April, 2022. On or around April 6, 2022, I purchased a package of 30 photos from the photo shop. I was never informed of a special for 40 photos at the cost of $320 which also included a photo album. When I went back to ask about the special I was informed that I had opted out of that special when I decided to purchase 30 for $360. On or around the same date I was also given the opportunity to place a $250 deposit to book a later stay. I was never informed that it was non refundable. And when I returned back home 2 days later and looked at the rates online and saw that they were significantly less than what I was going to be charged I sought to cancel my reservation.

Worst vacation, I have ever had. This property was a like a prison. It was dangerous to leave the property, without an escort for safety. Food was, just okay and service was marginal at best. View from our upgraded room was of the parking lot with a dumpster. They call this 5 star, that was a blatant LIE. This was like the middle of the road motel on Route 66. Sandals is a SCAM. BEWARE.

I got married in February and had them do all the photos and video for my event . They send me a copy of the video to approve and I had one issue before approval so I expressed I wanted it changed . Two weeks later I get a email stating I would have to pay $350 to edit the video . Wait what? You sent it to me to approve and I DO NOT APPROVE! All they do is try to upsell you and overcharge when they made a mistake . Be very careful what you agree to as they always try to make excuses to make them seem in the right.

Good afternoon,

My Husband and I stayed at the Sandals, La Toc on April 14, 2022- April 19, 2022. I am sending an email on a billing issue but going to express my concerns and issues while there as well.

We arrived on April 14 around 4pm at the resort. We were taken to the Butler check in and it was nice. We were then asked to confirm our already pre booked agenda that we booked with the Sandals email butler service ( I will attach the emails as well). We had requested a couple 90 minute massage and breakfast in our room- all confirmed through email. When getting there we find out that the online butler had booked our massage for the 19th instead. The butler service helped get this issue fixed. (my billing issue as you will see in the email attachment you will see where the Email Butler Service charged us for the couples massage and also the Boat Ride and we were then charged again by the Resort when leaving for the massage and never refunded our boat ride.)

We were then asked to confirm our sunset cruise that we specifically asked for it to be just my husband and myself over emails, this too was confirmed by the Emailing Butler Service for the April 16th for just the two of us.

We were then given the butler phone service and told to call or text with any needs; we had a late zoom meeting when we got it and texted the butler phone and asked for dinner to be brought to our room at 9:30pm because we know that butler service ends at 10pm. We also ordered breakfast for the next morning- the night before like we were told.

We never received dinner to our room and had to call the room service and order something else along with waiting for a manager to take our call that never came to the phone.

The next morning our new Butler, Gem, came on staff and apologized over and over, she went above and beyond for us. She took us to the manager of the Butlers and she apologized as well.

April 16- we go to the main lobby to board our sunset cruise and my husband, Lawrence notices a lot of people for it to be just the two of us, so before boarding the van with 10 other couples, we ask the lady and she says it is a sunset GROUP cruise. We were so disappointed! The only thing that got done about any of this was that Gem got us a full refund because this was not our fault. We looked forward to this since booking the trip.

I say all of this to say that we came here to celebrate 5 years of marriage and were extremely disappointed. Between the mess ups in the scheduling, we were expecting resort food to be better that just 1 or 2 places, servers are not so friendly because their being over worked and cannot be tipped, and the lack of “making it up to the guest for such screw ups”.

We spent almost $7 thousand dollars on the stay, $3,500 on plane tickets, and another $4 thousand in your jewelry store.

I hope this reaches someone important who does try to make a larger effort of an apology. We will unlikely stay at another Sandals Resort over this experience. Please read attached email thread so we can get our $662.00 refunded.

Thank you,

To Whom It May Concern:

I spoke to a Sandals customer satisfaction agent – Genel Mc Kenzie – Bennett over the phone who kindly took notes and opened an incident report [protected] (tel [protected]) but I would also like to send a written account myself.

My third visit to Beaches Turks and Caicos started off with disappointment from check in. We checked in at the Italian Village and my request for upgrade and early check in were both denied even though it was noted weeks prior. However, it’s not just the denial but the rudeness and attitude of the check in personnel. To dismiss me from asking questions at the desk, I was told embarrassingly and loudly by Kieke, “Mam please be seated over there!” We were told that check in, STARTS at 3pm and they had no idea when our room will be ready that we just must wait around until they get word that the room is ready – whatever time that may be. They knew our arrival time as I entered our flight information and requested an early check in. My children were hot and uncomfortable and agitated because that wanted to start their vacation and not stand around. I asked to speak to the manager, he came after a bit and apologized and tried to get us in a room. Just want to note that the same person that was rude to us was shortly nice to a “white “family – was that a pigment of our imagination? Sure, hope it was but it was the same theme we noticed throughout our stay this time!

I thought the horrible service would end there, it surely didn’t to my surprise. I can write a book on my 3-night experiences at Beaches, but I will just try to summarize for productivity:

General unfriendliness, roughness, rude and unwillingness to help staff

No beach or pool service - I had to carry my own trays of food from restaurant to beach and the horrific part about it was – the restaurant male staff in Barefoot was comfortable to hand over a huge platter with 6 plates of food to a woman to walk it to the beach on sand

In, my 3-night stay only one time I found a person taking a drink order and he couldn’t speak English well, I had to write my order for him

Not enough pool or beach chairs, had to get up early to secure one

Long wait time for food, we wasted a lot of our vacation waiting on food

After the long wait, food was often cold

Restaurant staff just unwilling to assist and very laid back

Buffets more limited than previous trips, never got my fish and grits that I enjoyed for breakfast in prior stays

Pool bars attending to white families first even though we were there first

I left with a rash from pool water, kids mosquito bites from room

Jerk chicken shack “ran out” of hot sauce because he said people took more than the allotted amount prior – am I hearing right? Is this Beaches?

Hibachi chef insensitively and embarrassingly violated our religious dietary preferences even though she was told prior, she never apologized. The front desk staff apologized and tried to make amends because she knew that we told 4 different people prior to prevent this from happening - she also knew that we were assured that no beef will be cooked on grill with our food until we were served.

From nurse to attendees, just never smiled – they seemed burdened to do their job. Our last experiences were opposite, we met happy people going above and beyond without tips to do their job

Sadly, and hurtfully, I am giving you a snapshot of what transpired during our vacation at Sandals, Beaches – Turks and Caicos. I really regret returning with my family for this third visit, maybe if we didn’t return it would not have severely tarnished the great memories and high regard and respect we had for Sandals name – this place was our little paradise for my family now no one is interested in a fourth visit. I hope that you take our experiences seriously as a family of color. It is said that sometimes we treat our own the worst! We have experienced that this time!

Extremely disappointing experience, the value for the money is not what Sandals advertises. I will take it upon myself to let all guests know our experience, as well as social media. We waited over 90 mins for a main course that should have taken 20 mins tops. I have been to the Dominican republic and to Cancun and have received much better service than “5 star service” at Sandals. The property and the experience are sold as 5 star service and Sandals is not even close to that level of service on the facilities, attention to detail, and service provided. I can tell you with confidence that i would not re-book with Sandals again, and that my overall experience is that i was taken advantage of for the value for the money paid. I hope Sandals understands that what they sell as five stars is maybe 3.5 stars at best. My recommendation to others would be to not waste their money on an overpriced marketing campaign. The managers offered a candle light dinner, they should offer reimbursement…

1- beach towels not available before 8:30 am

2- towels not replaced in room

3- no hair dryer

4- falsy advertises top shelf liquor, no don julio, no glenlivet, no crown royal, bar tenders tried to substitute for lower grade liquor.

5- waited 90 mins for main course at reservation only restaurant…

6- sliding door doesn’t lock

7- 5-10 mins calling reception without answering

8- no mint for mojitos advertised on cocktails menu

9- no mango either for signature cocktails

10- tropical fruit without flavor and not ripe

11- advertises prosciutto avocado toast and not prosciutto… some weird roast beef.

12- poor staff service, not motivated to be friendly or welcoming.

13- rooms are basic, smell musty

14- sMoke detectors falling off the ceiling

15- cafe paris advertises closing at 11:00 pm, crew was picking up and refused to serve crepes at 10:37 pm

16- room service cake was taken out of room when housekeeping came by in the day, sitting outside the room at least until 7:10 pm when we went to dinner.

17- bars are under stocked with cheap liquor, not premium as advertised.

My wife and I, along with 6 friends, recently stayed at the Sandals Regency La Toc Golf Resort & Spa in Castries, St. Lucia. This was our second trip to a Sandals property.

On February 24, 2022, while eating pizza from Sandals’ Bella Napoli restaurant, I bit into a metal ball bearing which was in the food, damaging two of my teeth. Needless to say, this was quite painful. Four of my traveling companions witnessed the incident. In addition, four Sandals employees quickly came over to assess the situation.

The Sandals employees were very friendly and genuinely concerned. However well intentioned, the arrangements Sandals made for me to be taken to a dentist were haphazard. The driver did not know where we were going. First, he brought me to the wrong dentist, then to an office, which was closed. After another 30 minutes of driving around, the driver was informed of the destination. The dentist had been waiting 45 minutes for my arrival, quickly examined my upper teeth, and missed the major damage to my lower teeth.

During this ordeal, my wife was extremely distraught, concerning my whereabouts and my well-being.

When I returned to Regency La Toc, I spoke with the hotel manager, Rohan Louis. Ms. Louis said a report had been submitted to the legal team. I told her there were two damaged teeth, not one, and to please update her report accordingly. Ms. Louis assured me that the matter was being taken very seriously, and a full investigation was being launched. Ms. Louis stated she had already sent the pictures from my dental visit to the legal team, who would be handling the matter going forward. I attempted to correct her in that the dentist did not take any photos, and I asked if I could have a copy of these pictures. She declined, saying she was unable to since this was now a legal matter (her exact words).

I repeatedly requested a direct contact within the “legal department” and these requests were ignored until March 10th. I have since messaged the legal department multiple times with all of my correspondence ignored.

When I returned to the United States, I called the dentist in St Lucia, who confirmed that no pictures had been taken during my visit.

On February 28th, I visited my dentist in the United States. I was told that I would need a crown to fix the damage, and I might need a root canal in the future. My dentist also advised that I will have to replace the crown in the future, as crowns are not a permanent solution. Unfortunately, my tooth is now sensitive to cold, heat, and pressure.

My travel companions and I could not help but notice that Bella Napoli Pizzeria continued to serve lunch after the incident and was open the next day for lunch. If there was any type of investigation into the source of this metal ball bearing in the restaurant’s food, it was quickly resolved. However, we suspect there was no such investigation.

As you can imagine, this entire ordeal has been very frustrating. The last two days of my Sandals vacation were entirely ruined. My group planned this trip for a long time, and the last dinner we shared was spoiled by the incident and by my tooth pain. I have had to miss work to visit the dentist. To add to this frustration, it does not appear that Sandals is taking this matter seriously.

As of right now, it has been 40 days since the incident and no one has contacted me to resolve the matter despite multiple emails sent to them and reaching out on social media.

My husband and I arrived at Sandals Ochi Resort on 9/26/21. We were supposed to leave on 10/1/21. However, we left on 9/30/21 because my husband got kidney stones the day we arrived. The 25th Wedding Anniversary/Vacation was not going to happen as we expected. We couldn't snorkel, swim with dolphins, or go to restaurants. I ate room service pretty much for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My husband really couldn't eat being that he was in pain. We were in the room the entire time. We had to call in the doctors and we had to pay out of pocket $2376.00 to Omega Medical Services. Which was refunded to us.

I did talk with Debbie the Sandals manager to let her know my concerns and she said she was going to see what she could do for a future trip. I never heard back from her.

A few things being in the room 24/7 that we noticed was the mattress. It was awful. There is no seating area to sit inside. There was mold on the door, water stains throughout. I do have photos if needed. (See attached)

On our app, it says we only paid for 4 nights when we paid for 5. Yes we left a day early but we didn't get a refund for that day we left early so that needs to be changed to 5 please.

I was told by my travel agent that I would be wowed by Sandals and they would exceed my expectations. I see pictures online and they are amazing. My room was not. Very disappointing. I was able to attach the photos.

I did get an email from Maxine Williams stating we had 3 free nights which is very much appreciated. The way she worded it sounded like we could go anywhere. She never stated for the cost we paid, which I understand only makes sense. However, I tried asking her questions and we did go back and forth several times but she isn't clear and doesn't answer my questions. I believe the last communication was on Jan 21st. She never answered my email. It is very frustrating to receive no emails back and very unprofessional.

I was not impressed at all with the all inclusive Jamaica Ochi Rios Resort. I would go some place else but to no avail nothing returned from Maxine. I was trying to figure out the total cost and what specifically we needed to go by. It is very confusing.

We would really like to visit another Sandals resort and re-do our 25th wedding anniversary/vacation in the future. I am hoping that there is something you can do for me. Please let me know. Thank you for your time.

Danielle Ezman

[protected]@gmail.com

On check in 3/21/22 the staff was unable to open our room as the key did not work; he went back to lobby while we waited and came back with newly coded keys, and they did not work. He then ushered us to have lunch when all we wanted to do was shower and change after a long trip, but we could not enter our room. At lunch, the barefoot by the sea, there was a long line to wait and the tables were cramped together and it was uncomfortably crowded. after lunch we went back to lobby to get new keys and went to room, keys did NOT work, we went back to lobby and waited for new keys and finally got one key that worked and were able to enter our room after 4pm (we arrived around 12:30pm). We went to dinner at Bayside restaurant and the buffet line was extremely long, I have never seen such long lines at a supposed 5 star hotel, I was so disappointed. Service at dinner was lousy; we could barely find someone to order a drink. The staff here seems like they just don't want to be here and like they are doing the guests a favor, not very nice or friendly or helpful at all; we stayed at Moon Palace Jamaica in 2021, Paradisus Riviera Maya 2020, Paradisus Punta Cana 2017, 2019, and what a difference, the staff at Moon Palace and Paradisus were wonderful and make us want to go back. then again today after breakfast we went back to our room as I needed my medication and the room keys did not work so we had to go back to the lobby and a woman behind the desk told me she re-coded a key card and gave it to me but I asked her to try it because I did not trust it; she came to our room and she could not open the door. She called maintenance and they had to come twice, and this took 2 hours of time we were unable to enjoy our day. What a terrible place. The grounds are so old, the walkways are all in disrepair I was tripping on cracks all over the resort. Our bathroom only had one shampoo for 2 days even though I asked for shampoo I had to purchase my own shampoo in the guest shop. I did not want to take pictures for social media as I was embarrassed. I do not want to tell anyone where I stayed for I am afraid they will come too as a lot of people trust my judgment and copy my vacations. I even emailed the resort ahead of my vacation to see if we could set up some type of deal if I post them on social media as an influencer but noone ever responded; I guess Sandals is not interested in marketing. I will absolutely never book another Sandals ever.

We are over 30 year Sandals customers. Received an email Feb 28/22 that unless I book a vacation in the next 4 days, my over 20000 points will expire Mar 1. Emailed to explain that with Covid around for the last 2 years it was next to impossible to travel from Canada. I do understand that points expire after 3 years of non use. Was hoping that Sandals would have extended points due to Covid. Asked for points to be reinstated, or they would lose us as customers. Was told I would receive a reply in 24 - 48 hours. Have yet to receive any reply.

We payed for the travel protection and 2 days after making the reservation and 6 months before our trip we had to cancel yet the sandals resort told us they would keep the 345$ we payed for the trip protection

the trip protection is a scam

this resort have a lot of bad reviews in all the pages you can find

please don't make the same mistake we made

look up the reviews before you book anything with sandals

My name is Philip Schmeer 6309 Silver Moon La Green Acres Florida 33463.

My Reservation number is11716280, my cancellation number is 7982455. I was due to arrive on January 31,2022, and stay thru Feb.7 2022. I was informed on January 20. That my reservation could not be honored due to the room, the one that I had paid $7172.04 was not completed. I was to call back and make other arrangements. This was a message on my voice mail. The next day I called customer service, they verified the same, and offered me to re book in a few months ( note I had already re booked from December after being notified that the resort would not be open) Plus Rebooking from Covid, Not your fault. I have been paid in full since April. First. Why did I need to wait 20 days for a $350 refund? Then why did the rest of the refund come in $1040.00 short. I am VERY unhappy about losing the airfare with 11 days notice and being shuffled off to Bahamas Air. Who only gives me until May 2 to Fly. I stayed at The Royal Bahamian once before. With PRIMO service, food, and lodging. It was an unique experience. NO on ever offerd me a change of room, I was offered a change of resort, but I live in Florida and Picked the Bahamas especially the Royal Bahamian for a reason. We had planned to celebrate 2 birthdays because of the delays. The very least I expect is my money refunded in full, I cannot get past customer service, some very nice, some with poor information. I'd appreciate a reply.

Philip Schmeer

[protected]

[protected]@aol.com

This was our second stay at Sandals.

We went to royal barbados aug 22 to 29 2021 and Nightmare at Royal Barbados. We did not even have a friendly welcome. We waited in lobby for our butler. So much for luxury service. We were returning home Sunday Aug 29 2021. We did our return pcr test Friday..saturday morning I received my negative test. My husband didnt receive his. The manager came told us to stay in room and how health ministry will come get my husband. Most likeky he was tested positive. They kept us both in same room. Never heard from health dept. They refused to re test him. The whole saturday we stayed in same room. Lost a whole day. Sunday morning we had to pay extra to change my husbands flight since he wasnt able to fly without pcr test. After that another manager came around 12pm..asked my husband to do rapid test even though canada needs pcr and told my husband he good to fly even before he got tested. They got the result for him..negative..we were sent in a bus to airport with few other couples...my husband got home and next day got tested and he was positive.

This trip was a nightmare...ended up paying over 13k . We emailed Sandals..we never heard back.

Sandals refused to let my husband isolate at hotel..told us health dept will call abd come get him (never happened) and on top of that my husband was positive (confirmed in Canada) but they made me and him isolate in same room potentially risking me getting it to.

So much for worry free travel advertised online..they said it didnt apply to Barbados.

And I wrote an email to Sandals Oct..still have not heard back.

Thanks Sandals.

The resort is marketed as an all inclusive relaxation for couples. It is far from that. Every night the music is so loud that there is no way you could sleep until around 1am. I wasn’t aware that I was stepping into a frat party every night for thousands of dollars…

Management promises things and doesn’t deliver.

Maintenance issues on our trip: broken glass in room, dirty sheets, not working phone, broken dresser, leaking shower, oh… and no hot water for 24 hours with no solution or ability to use other facilities.