Paradise Promised, Not Delivered

My wife and I make an annual trip to the Caribbean. It's nice to get away for a week, unwind, and recharge the batteries. We've seen some absolutely unbeleiveably beautiful places and been treated with exemplary service. We are fairly loyal to the Sandals resorts, but after a horrific experience in Feburary, combined with the absence of a reply to my letter to the board chairman, I've decided to post the body of my letter here. I hope it helps you in your vacation planning.

March 10, 2005

Mr. Butch Stewart, Chairman
Sandals Resorts
4950 Southwest 72nd Avenue
Miami, FL 33155

Dear Mr. Stewart:

My wife and I have recently returned from a week long vacation at the Sandals Grand Ocho Rios. As an executive level professional that would appreciate feedback regarding my staff, I felt it beneficial to provide you with an appraisal of our experience. Allow me to preface my comments with praise for our two previous vacations at Sandals Antigua and Sandals Regency St. Lucia. Our visits to these fine properties have set a level of expectation that was not met during our stay in Jamaica. I also wish to express my gratitude to my travel agent Patty Skinner and your regional saleswoman Abigail Ujhelyi. These women worked very hard on the front – end of my vacation, and I appreciate their special attention to detail.

As I am merely providing a chronicle of opportunities for improvement, I’ll outline the experiences individually and refrain from any editorial commentary.

1. We arrived in Montego Bay and were warmly greeted by airport staff and promptly shown to our transportation to Ocho Rios. The quality of our transportation to Ocho Rios runs perpendicular to the elegance of your resorts. We suffered for two hours on an uncomfortable and unclean bus.

2. Upon our arrival at Grande Ocho Rios, we encountered an overwhelmed and disconnected staff. Our expectations, being set by previous registrations, were not met, as I had to seek out the concierge facilities and introduce myself as a concierge guest. In my two previous concierge registrations, a staff member was assigned exclusively to my wife and I, greeted us upon arrival and ushered us into a private and relaxing environment.

3. We found our room pleasant, but soon discovered its shortcomings. My wife and I had a long day of flying, followed by an uncomfortable ride to the resort, and we wanted to unwind with a cocktail and a glass of wine. My bar was adequately appointed with liquor and there was ice in my freezer. However, I had no cocktail glasses. My wife, who wanted a glass of chardonnay, was unable to enjoy one because there were no wine glasses in the room. Luckily, we were traveling with friends, who were in the same villa. They were able to share their glasses with us. The next morning I wanted a cup of coffee, and although we had a coffee maker in our room, we had no coffee.

4. Our visit to the beach was most disappointing. The beach is touted as extraordinary and spacious. The beach area is hardly large enough for the Riviera side, let alone the Riviera and Villa sides combined. There were not enough chairs for everyone, and the chairs that were unoccupied were so close together that privacy was impossible.

5. Our dining experiences were inconsistent with the near perfection of previous visits. They do not reflect the lofty culinary expectations Sandals has established and we’ve come to expect.

a. The breakfast buffet at the Marketplace is not open for an adequate period of time. We were only able to make it to the buffet twice, and both experiences were dreadful. At Sandals Antigua and St. Lucia, the buffet is a pleasant experience where my wife and I unwind and linger to watch the sea. Being coffee drinkers, we appreciate the fact that servers bring us a pot of coffee each time we dine. At Grand Ocho Rios, I asked for a pot of coffee, waited ten minutes, asked again and was given a cup of coffee, which was never refilled. Suffice it to say, we didn’t unwind and we didn’t linger.

b. We visited the Orchids restaurant twice for breakfast, and both times received the wrong food, without an offer to rectify the problem.

c. The dinner buffet at the Marketplace suffers as well. Service is abysmal, as I, along with my guests, cleared our own plates and refilled our water on numerous occasions.

d. The Grill staff is unable to accommodate more than one order at a time, resulting in a 20 minute wait for a simple hamburger. It was here at the Grill that a member of management staff cut in line in front of my wife and I to order food for himself. This is inexcusable and I feel should be noted and corrected. As a guest paying nearly $5,000 US to stay at your resort, I expect my needs to take precedence over those of staff.

e. The fact that none of the restaurants accept reservations added to my level of stress. We intended to dine at Valentino’s one evening, and instead of being able to make a reservation for later in the evening, we had to arrive at 5:30 and put our name on a list hoping that we might eat there that evening. If we had been able to make a reservation, my wife and I could have relaxed at poolside and prepared for dinner at a leisurely pace. Instead, we had to rush about and place our name on a list, and then wonder if we should eat something, or wait to see if we’d “get in” to Valentino’s.

f. Our experience at Valentino’s was pleasurable and the food was delicious. However, we were disappointed that the dress code was not enforced. When you’re dressed in evening attire, you don’t like to sit next to someone wearing a beach cover up.

I offer you this appraisal as an opportunity for improvement. My overall impression of the resort and the staff was one of disorganization. The staff has not gelled as one, and it’s reflected in the quality of service. My wife and I both felt the service we received, or didn’t receive for that matter, was in stark contrast to prior experiences at Sandals Antigua and Regency St. Lucia. My wife put it best when she said that the overall impression she got from the staff was “I don’t care. It’s not my problem.” We often felt that our simple and routine requests were seen as inconveniences by staff. Granted, we did make numerous requests for simple items like an extra pillow, but only because the requests weren’t honored the first three times we made them.

After praising Sandals to friends for years now, we found ourselves embarrassed and regretful that we brought another couple to Jamaica with us. Their stay at Grande Ocho Rios was as trouble ridden as ours. Without the luxury of a positive comparison to Antigua and St. Lucia, they were left wondering why we thought so highly of Sandals.

I think Sandals is a great company that strives for excellence in every aspect. We have been so pleased with our two previous vacations. It was the lack of excellence, disappointment in our vacation and knowledge that you’d make every effort to improve that prompted me to write you. I hope you have the opportunity to address this issue with your staff, and bring the level of service up to where I know it can be, and where I expect it to be, should I choose another Sandals property as my next annual Caribbean destination.

Most Sincerely,



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Cc: Patty Skinner, Patrik Travel
Abigail Ujhelyi, Sandals Sales Department