My travel agent suggested Sandals Whitehouse. I know it just opened in Feb. I am wondering if anyone has gone yet and if so what was it like (hotel, resturants, beach, service, etc.) I would love to know before I book. Thank you.

I am wondering the same thing. We are going on March 21st so I will let forum know after that. Hope it is a good time.! Bell

it's nice, but not done yet. service is terrible and the grounds are not completed. in time, it will be one of the nicest sandals anywhere, but right now it is pretty rough opening up.

I have changed my plans to go to Whitehouse in April, to go to another resort. It seems that the Whitehouse WILL be FABULOUS in time.. .. .. .. ..but I'm not sure it can deliver this early in the game. Read all the reviews, and see what you are willing to put up with.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .

I WAS AT WHITEHOUSE FEB 17 THRU 22ND. 1ST STAY AT A SANDALS. SURE THINGS WEREN'T PERFECT BUT ANY SHORTFALLS WERE MADE UP FOR BY THE WARMTH AND KINDNESS OF THE STAFF.

THE BARS ARE UP AND RUNNING 100%. . YOU CAN HAVE A GREAT MEAL ONE NIGHT AND A SO SO THE NEXT IN THE SAME RESTAURANT.

THE CARRIBEAN RESTAURANT ELEANORS WAS THE BEST.

THE ROOM SERVICE FOOD WAS THE MOST CONSISTANT.

THE ARIZONA BAR JUST PAST "RESTAURANT ROW" WAS THE BEST BAR TO MY THINKING.

ANYONE STASYING AT WHITEHOUSE FOR THE FIRST 2 WEEKS GOT A FREE VACATION OF EQUAL VALUE AT ANY SANDALS TO BE USED BY THE END OF 2006. CAN'T REALLY COMPLAIN ABOUT SOME OF THE MINOR PROBLEMS CONSIDERING THAT PERK.

YOU'DE HAVE TO TRY REALLY HARD NOT TO HAVE A GOOD TIME AT THE PLACE.

IF YOU ENJOY THE BEACH IT'S THE PLACE TO GO.

I posted this same message as a stand-alone thread but also wanted to "weigh in" here . .. .. .. .

My wife and I booked a trip to Sandals new Whitehouse resort back in the fall of 2004 for our anniversary. The trip was last week and we came home TWO DAYS early.

The place is NOT ready to accept guests . .. .. . and is, quite frankly, a big MESS!! Big problems with rooms, amenities, and the service is lousy. We changed rooms twice . .. .. . after having our clothes SOAKED by a malfunctioning air conditioning system that was above the closet area. This is just ONE of MANY problems we encountered while there . .. .. . which explains why we chose to end our vacation early.

The travel agent that sold us the trip was told by her contact that "everything is great" (a BIG LIE). .

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that anyone considering this location look elsewhere.

This place is a DISASTER!

These people have lost ALL credibility in my view.

My wife and I booked a trip to the new Whitehouse property back in the fall of 2004 . .. .. . to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. The trip was last week and we came home TWO DAYS early.

Not only is the place NOT ready to accept guests, Sandals renegged on their advertised promotion to provide us with a "complimentary" set of luggage for booking early. These people lie at every opportunity it seems.

Anyway, the Whitehouse (aka, the "shit house") is a DISASTER - problems with rooms, amenities, and the service is lousy. The travel agent who sold us the trip was told by her contact that "everything is great" (a BIG LIE). .

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that anyone considering this location look elsewhere.

I have contacted VISA and have begun the process of denying ALL charges that were placed on my credit card while I was there. I have digital photos of the mess we encountered and it will be a cold day in Montego Bay before they see another penny of my money!!

good luck on getting charges taken off your VISA card. how you plan on doing that anyway?

I've already covered it with my customer rep . .. .. . been a VISA card holder for YEARS. They have always been a great business partner . .. .. . unlike the crew of mis-fits at Sandals Out House.

With all respect to posters that had a bad trip.. .. .. .. .. .. .

SW changed so much in the ten days that I was there that I don't see how you can post how it is today if you were there in the first week or two.

My experience was a good one. I knew that no resort chain would give me a free week if everything was going to be as it should be. I chose to go anyway, and was pleasently surprised. Did I have to wait for dinner? At first, yes. By the time we left, ten days later, the wait was shortened to an acceptable amount.

I returned from SW on Feb.26. I would not even guess how things have changed since then.

My advice to everyone going is to only pay attention to very recent reviews because things are changing daily.

Please, do not take this post to be unsympathetic to anyone that had horrible things happen to them while at SW. I am only trying to make the point that it is impossible for anyone to know what the resort is like today if you have been home for even a week.

I read your report on the other thread too, Jed. Again, I am so sorry you had such a bad experience. Nobody should have a bad vacation. In reading other reviews, it seems like Sandals Whitehouse is improving each day. Sandals did offer 50% off which leads me to believe they knew that the resort would probably have some problems. It may have backfired on them for opening too soon. Of course, there was the hurricane and I am sure many of those working on the resort were pulled off that job to help elsewhere or were very concerned about their own homes. Perhaps they should have delayed the opening. We don't go until November so i am hoping all the bugs are worked out. It will be interesting to see other reviews in the future. I was happy with SDR and SRB so I hope we have a good experience at Whitehouse.

Yes, these resorts (Whitehouse and Ocho Rios) will improve with time. And, if we're talking Jamaica time, we are in trouble!

But, the reviews of weeks ago do have merit. Sandals, Inc. is in the rennovation/expansion mode now with the two resorts (that I know of) and the disheartening thing is that Sandals now has a history of opening resorts before they are ready and charging people as if the resort was ready to go! Why would anyone choose to go to any Sandals resort with a history like this? Why risk valuable time and money on a sub-par vacation? Seems to me, I would buy a vacation from a more reputable organization.

i agree with that frustration, honeygirl, but they aren't charging as much for early buyers as they would later on. your resort was 40% off and SWH was 50% off. unfortunately, they didn't offer you guys a replacement vacation on yours, but they did at SWH. so people that went between 2/10 and 3/5 really have not a lot to complain about. i got sick, too, for a WHOLE DAY. me and my wife both. guess what? it was 50% off in the first place and i have a whole other vacation for free. it's like i got 150% off of two vacations!

I didn't know you were sick too, drperfect! I am hearing about this way too much. They should continue with the free nights for awhile until the resort gets in good shape. Although it still seems expensive, we do have to keep in mind that the cost was 50% off and there was a reason for this.

For me, 50% compensation is not enough. I would have rather been told up front about the sub-standard facilities, untrained staff, loud construction (even went on downstairs in my villa at SGOR), and complete disorganization. Had I known, I would have chosen a proper vacation resort. BTW, my TA didn't tell me that our vacation was discounted at all, either! So, we did not have the knowledge beforehand. Should we have known by reading the boards? Isn't that what a TA is for? Doesn't the TA have a duty to know and therefore disclose all with regard to the vacation packages they sell? Yes!

honeygirl, sandals.com had the special in neon lights for about 6 months. it wasn't a secret.

we went to swh on feb. 20-25, and we had a great time. we had a group of ten of us. It was our sixth trip to sandals, and we were not disappointed. first of all, i was not surprised by any of the minor inconveniences, as we were well told by sandals ahead of time. in fact, we were surprised by how good things actually were, compared to what we were prepared for. our room was in the french village, and it was perfect!! everything was in place, nothing missing. we got breakfast delivered to the room twice with no problems. we had turn down service every night. the bars were working and the pools were filled. we had to wait for tables at dinner, but we knew that ahead of time, so we just were prepared to sit at the bar. again, there were no surprises! we had no problem with the food. I will admit the service was sometimes slower than usual at sandals, but again, it was just what we were expecting. plus, this is something that will change as the staff is more experienced. we even noticed a significant improvement from teh start of the week, to the end of the week! the resort is absolutely beautiful. You would be missing out by not going to this sandals resort!

Honeygirl.. ..your TA should have informed you about all of this. That is why you use a TA over going direct to Sandals.

Sandalsgal.. ..I am so glad you had a good experience. I think if people are a little prepared for the worse, they are surprising pleased when it isn't like expected. I am sure by November, when we go, it will be even better.

Dr, I saw the neon lights about the new resort, but didn't know it meant that we'd have all of the problems that we did as a result of them opening the resort prematurely. Anyways, it appears as if SGOR is getting it's s**t together now, which is good.

i didn't mean about it opening, i meant about it being 40% off.

And.. .. . shame on you honeysugergirl, expecting a completed room, and resort, not underconstruction for your 40% off vacation @ SGOR

What could you have been thinking

i think my point was, flowers, that she was saying she was paying as much as someone who went to SGOR later on and that wasn't true. she got an introductory offer. plus, and this goes to all these nay-sayers toward SGOR and SWH, if you choose to go to a resort when it is brand-spanking new, you have no one to blame but yourself. we booked knowing it may not be worked out, but we wanted the excitement of being there on opening day! we had no one to blame but ourselves for the long waits at dinner, the leaking water in the bathroom, the poor maid service, etc. it's what we chose. and so did JED and so did Honeysugargirl and DavKat and Ellababes and Laffs and all the others. WE all had a great time in spite of the problems.

I have been trying to say the same thing dperfect has said. When a resort first opens, you cannot expect that all will be prefect especially if it is newly constructed. We made our reservation in November hoping that most of the problems will be worked out. I do think it takes at least a year to get things up and running correctly. On the other hand, if it has been in business for awhile and they are just running deals to get people into the resorts, a guest should expect better services, room quality etc.

well said and absolutely lori.

if the resort is up and running and they run a special, then yeah, obviously you should still expect greatness. you just shopped around! but when the deal is because it's a new place and they're just trying to fill rooms in the early months, then you gotta be prepared for the kinks if you decide to take them up on it. and, as said before, you who went to SWH got a free vacation. JED has never told us why he didn't like the voucher.

Well, then I guess I'm just plain stupid (despite one undergraduate degree and two masters degrees). . I did not know that the covert rule was that the resort is newly opening and therefore discounted to compensate you for anticipated problems you will experience during your stay. I did not read that anywhere, nor did my TA tell me that.

If a resort is managed properly, there are no "kinks" to work out. Obviously the management at Sandals' resorts are deficient in this area.