Traveler BEWARE!!

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

Jed, so sorry to hear your trip was a failure

Your week at Whitehouse if I am not mistaken fell under the soft opening dates. FEB 10 through I think MARCH 5 that Sandals was/had been giving out the replacement vacation vouchers day for days booked/minus air fare. Did you receive your voucher when at Whitehouse?


Many of the reports that have been coming back from Sandals Whitehouse have been very mixed. Those that were prepared for what they might find not done, etc., seemed to fair the best. Unfortunately for those that were not prepared, I can imagine would not have been very happy.

Post your review and I if you can please, post your pictures at

www .chris-n-cheryl. com

This is a whole message board that has been dedicated to Sandals Whitehouse.
_________________

honeysugergirl,

I've been behind you 100%! Glad to see you stuck and are sticking it out! Too many that have good information to share about these Sandals resorts, just to be personally attacked and chased away! Interesting isn't it?

It's a trip

Hello friends who have responded to my report from the Sandals Whitehouse . .. .. . which I rather call their "Out House", or in some cirlcles, worse than that!

If there are "Sandals enthusiasts" (of which I was one before going to the Out House) who wish to post against me . .. .. . I urge them to feel free. After all, it's THEIR money . .. .. . if they demand nothing better than what is being presented today at the Out House, then they are welcome to it!!

As for me, I spent just shy of $5000 on this trip and, were I a "lawsuit happy" person, would be communicating with my lawyer today . .. .. . not some travel message board.

I have digital photos that I will post at www.chris-n-cheryl.com as soon as possible.

Until then, if there are people out there who don't mind paying 5 grand for a trip to "boy scout camp" . .. .. . be my guest.

And a word about the "free week" being offered to those who traveled during thier so-called "soft opening" . .. .. . that too is a scam. Buyer beware!!

As for me, just give me what I paid for ON THE FIRST TRIP . .. .. . and you can keep your "free week". .

Jed, I am truly sorry that you and your wife went through such an ordeal on your vacation.
I can only imagine how upsetting it was for your clothes to be ruined and the many things that went wrong.
May I ask why you say that the soft opening vouchers are a scam? Are they not redeemable?
I hope that you are able to get things resolved from Sandals.

yeah, i didn't see what was a scam about the vouchers. i do agree that the resort wasn't ready to open, though your vacation was probably a lot better than ours on opening day. sorry it went bad.

So sorry about your vacation. I think we'll stay where we always go, smb, no problem mon.

It is important that we hear both good and bad reviews. Sandals needs to have these reviews too. You can't fix a problem if you don't know about it. I am sure this resort will be changing each month. I am anxious to hear from you Ruby Ann when you go in April.

Bummer Jed. Sorry you had a bad experience at SWH. We had a couple in our group during our stay at Iberostar in the DR that had major AC problems very similar to yours. The AC unit was located in the ceiling and the condensate drain line plugged up. Water literally ran down the wall into their closet. Their clothes weren't ruined but it certainly put a "damper" on the evening. The resort moved them to a different room and offered to launder their clothing at no cost. All went well after that.

My sister-in-law is a travel agent and recommended not staying at Sandals in Jamaica from the negative feedback she's received and heard about.

Any particular Sandals, Judy, or just Whitehouse. I have stayed at SDR and loved it. I am now reading a lot of good reviews about Whitehouse. Don't forget, it just opened in Feb. and will take time to get their act together. The recent reviews seem to be fine. I have also heard good things about Sandals Negril and Montego Bay.

I didn't ask - I will the next time I talk to her - but I suspect she's talking about the new Sandals that opened. What she specifically said was if we wanted to go to Jamaica she would recommend a resort with better price and value then what Sandals had. She then went onto say that Sandals has a great reputation and that Jamaica would be the only place she would recommend against . .. .

If you get a chance, see which Sandals she was talking about. I just loved Sandals Dunn's River in Jamaica. I know Whitehouse has had problems but I am reading so many reviews lately that are really good. I guess everybody has their own experiences.

She could be talking about Whitehouse, this would be feedback she's hearing from her clients. She has a lot of high end clients that are MPs etc. She just said that she would recommend some other resorts for the same money and they would be better value. I'm not sure if it's for all the Sandals resorts or specifically with Whitehouse.

I would agree that it is Whitehouse. More recent reviews on Whitehouse have been great and I am looking forward to going there in November. We have been to SRB and SDR and loved them both.

llund, yeah she's back! Was getting a little loney over here. I see the good dr. is back also.

We just got back, and Had a great time!!

otter, good to have you back also. Hope your trip was great.

I know things were rough in the first few weeks but they are now up to standard and a beautiful location.
For those who want to get out and about you may want to check out Chef Thompson at http://www.cheftours.5u.com
He did alot of tours for people who stayed at Ochi Sandals but he moved to Black River last year..great for anyone coming to the south side of Jamaica. He has a great reputaion and you can find reviews on him all over the internet
Anyone who would like local info on Whitehouse, Balck River, treasure Beach etc feel free to email me

Hi everyone! We took off for 10 days to Arizona in our motorhome so haven't been on in awhile. Now.. .. ..outside of a few weekend trips.. .. ..I will wait anxiously for our trip to Whitehouse in November. Otter, I am so glad you had a good time. The reviews I have been reading have been great so I am getting excited.

Libby.. ..what is there to see at treasure beach? We definitely want to do Black River and YS falls. We are thinking about adding in Treasure Beach but don't know what there is to see or do there. We are also thinking about Appleton Rum, but have done this before so don't know if we will do it again.

We agree with the posts here. We are here RIGHT now! October 6, 2005. We arrived a few days ago. 25% of the staff gives good service and 75% do not deliver good service. We didn't have any soap in our room for 3 days. We had to request everything. The restaurant servers are not friendly. When another couple sat with us AFTER they were seated by the wait staff, (we combined tables) one of the waitresses said "don't forget your water!"

The level of service here is what I would expect from a budget hotel with no staff.

The customer service you do receive clearly seems "compulsory." Nothing is genuine except from the water sports folks and the folks pouring drinks at the bar.

How about the glass bottom boat ride that leaves 5 minutes early?

We have so many stories and gripes.

We're in the low season, there are barely any people here and when we asked for a transfer, the concierge staff said that ALL of the other resorts are booked solid. That's what we're dealing with at this very moment. I'll keep the board posted on that later today.

Bill

We were at this property a week ago. Sandals WhiteHouse Jamaica has a lot of work to do to put it mildly. On the positive side they have a great facility (minus the bugs), food-wise they have presentation down to an art and some of the staff are truly making an effort. Unfortunately, 90% of the service, 90% of the food quality and tipping requirements were all poor and unacceptable. 10% of the staff is making an effort, but 90% just had their hand out for tips, when you don't tip, they cop an attitude. Let me assure you, the no-tipping policy at Sandals Whitehouse is a joke. By comparison, we received exemplary service at both Ochos Rios and Negril and they flat refused to take our tips when we tried to compensate staff for such wonderful service.

Food - the jamaican food and seafood were good. The Italian, American, and Asian were the worst I have ever had. We think the italian red sauce was Cambell's tomato sauce - yes, I am serious.

Service - I did not know service this bad was possible, consistently. Water requests were rarely fulfilled until the end of the meal, bad food was served cold, attitudes from waiters, a bug floating in my drink, slow service, unorganized buffets, etc. Every time we ate at a restaurant we watched someone walk out in a rage.

Food Times - Unlike Ochos Rios and Negril, bars and restaurants were only open at specific times. Wait times for Eleanors and Jasmine were over an hour, followed by poor service, bad/cold food and the Hotel manager being catered to while guests were just ignored. We watched on couple walk over, tell him off and leave. He sent one of his cronies to "deal with it."

Management - It became a running joke with our group of about 30 that if the general manager walked into a restaurant, you may as well leave. Every waiter and manager would scurry around his table waiting on him and his group, while the service for the paying guests came to a screeching halt. I experienced this twice myself and heard reports of this from others in our group.

Bugs - The facility is infected with microscopic sand fleas, biting flies and who knows what else. During out 10 day stay the stayed once. New bites have continued to appear a week after we returned. If anyone else has had this experience, please let me know.

Tours - skip the shopping tour to Negril - You are fish in a barrrel for the the rude shopkeepers who will not bargain with you at all. It was obvious we were being served up like prey to these vermin. You would be better off hiring a cab for $20.00 and going in on your own.

I would go back to Ochos Rios or Negril in a heartbeat, the people, service and food was terrific. I would not go back to Sandals White House Jamaica again.

A lot of good it does to complain about Manager Jeremy Jones when all Sandals does is send him the complaint and ask him to respond. All Jones did was blame us.. .. ..can you believe that - it's OUR fault? Well fool me once Sandals.. .. . we spent over $7000.00 on a joke. Jeremy Jones can keep all the employees waiting on him hand and foot and strut around like a peacock - we'll take our vacations with another organization. No more OutHouse, no more Scandals for us!