TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Our very first night was Saturday and our dinner was not great. The fish was extremely fishy and not edible. The chicken was a bit dry. The drinks were watered down. Our next 3 full days Sunday-Wednesday were good and the food was just ok. We rented, in advance, a beach cabana for the whole week and day one they did not have us on the list. It took a bit but they finally verified we did in fact pay for one all week. It was annoying and wasted some time but we got over it quickly. The beach service is just so so. We ended up getting our own drinks/food multiple times. Which is weird because we are great tippers! The beach is beautiful. The hotel grounds are beautiful. The room (2 bedroom suite) was nice, with the exception of the couch… that needs to be replaced. Very saggy and not comfortable to sit on. Also, a full kitchen with zero silverware. Weird. The AC worked in our room decent enough. The washer and dryer worked as expected. The fridge kept everything cold. The hotels common areas are not air conditioned and neither are the restaurants so be prepared to be a bit warm. The elevators are very slow. No real snacks except in the gift shop with the exception of ice cream. Even in the room all you have are banana chips. The spa is bait and switch. We prepaid but when we arrived were then hit with roughly $200 in additional “service fees” between the three of us not including tips. The service was nice though and the people were all kind. The spa itself is very nice. Just be prepared. Then the HURRICANE on Wednesday. We were told that we must all “ride out the storm” together in building A because they have a restaurant and a ballroom where the food would be served all day, the buildings are not connected thus the reason to have us in one building. We had to be down there by 11:00 am. They handed out a paper explaining lunch and dinner would be served in the restaurant and the ballroom for both meals. That was not true. It was in the ballroom only. The time lunch and dinner would start was also incorrect. The line was over an hour long and they ran out of food. What was there was cold. They still had power at this point by generator. ZERO communication until around 5:30 pm. We were told after dinner rooms would be assessed and if there were not damages we would be shuttled over to our buildings. Not a peep after that. We finally asked at 10:30 pm to be taken to our room. Fortunately it had no damage on the 10th floor. At some point in the middle of the night (Thursday around 4am) the generator blew. IT NEVER EVER CAME BACK ON. The only way we could find out what was going on was to go down 10 flights of stairs and over to building A where someone wrote things on a white board. My husband knows a little something about generators and what he heard at 4am he knew they were not fixing it anytime soon. He wanted to know where our food was being refrigerated. He was told at their sister resort the Hyatt right next door along with a few other admissions about the generator and the staff struggling which we could empathize with. We climbed 10 flights of stairs packed our bags and left. The Hyatt not only had power and a room for us they had the entire resort cleaned. It didn’t look like anything happened over there. All services fully running including entertainment at night. By 4:00 we had a room, a shower and our first good meal in over 24 hours. Meanwhile the Jewel Grande by Saturday , according to other guests who were finally placed by Jewel Grande over to the Hyatt, told us the floors were so slick and became dangerous due to the humidity and lack or AC. The sheets were soaked due to the same. They had to eat by flashlight and some candles. The stairwells were unlit and dangerous to climb. Some had to do that for 11 flights. They continued to NOT COMMUNICATE. They had sewage leaking into the ocean. The whole place smelled of urine and mold. The breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet was bare minimum and all of it cold. Still zero additional snacks and the gift shop was obviously not open to grab anything. If you wanted towels you had to go back to building A and they’d give you a bag of towels to hike back over to your building and however many flights you had to climb. The pool obviously couldn’t be used either to cool down because there was clearly bacteria floating in the water. In the 20 years we have been traveling together as a family, many of those being in Jamaica, we have never had such a horrible experience. Other hotels did not operate like this. The Jewel Grande was not prepared for any storm. Hurricane or otherwise. Going back and reading some of the 1 star reviews, almost all of them mention power outages repeatedly. With zero storms. Clearly they don’t have this part of servicing the hotel mastered. We did not meet a single other person even at the airport that had these issues. Not one. The generator problem needs to be addressed. Serviced on a regular basis and a backup plan in place so this never happens again. The lack of communication was astonishing. Their plan should always include moving the guests to a resort with power. Communicate on a regular basis with an emphasis on making it right as quickly as possible. Many many many other resorts didn’t have this issue and the Jewel Grande shouldn’t have either.

Celebrated my 50th birthday with over 70 family and friends for 4 days from March 27 - April 1st at the Jewel Grande. Tamina was very engaging from the onset, listened to my needs and worked with me and my family to plan a great party. All the staff were very courteous and attentive to the needs of my guests who had come from different parts of the world. Tamina knew I was very particular about the DJ and she got exactly what I needed even when I requested a last minute change. Thanks to Tamina and all the staff at Jewel Grande for making my birthday memorable.

Very helpful and polite staff. Lovely spacious rooms for families. Unfortunately we were caught up in Hurricane Beryl. The hotel management initially did a grand job looking after us, keeping us updated via printed letters under doors and handing out leaflets. We were asked to stay in the hotel lobby for our safety. However from that Wednesday night, nothing. There was no power which meant no lifts (we were on the 7th floor!) no a/c, no water supply, pools out, fire alarms out etc. not sure how food was refrigerated? We were all poorly for several days! It was becoming impossible with flat phones we were unable to even see safely on stairs or use toilet facilities! All other hotels had prepared and ensured generators were serviced and fit for purpose, it appears The Jewel Grande had not done the same. This situation continued until the Friday night with no updates from anyone. When we asked to move, the manager told us that new arrivals were a priority. At this point I shared that I couldn’t remain any longer. We then had to wait 3 hours in a boiling hot lobby in the dark to be allocated a room at the Hyatt. Eventually getting to bed at 12.30 am! Sadly not holiday we had saved for, Jewel Grande have refused a refund but offered a free stay for 2 days which is completely useless to me at the journey time is 12 hours.

This has been the worst experience we have had at any resort and we have been to many. We planned this trip a year in advance and was very much looking forward to celebrating my 50th birthday and our 22nd wedding anniversary. IT WAS A VACATION IN HELL!! We got there the day before the hurricane. A few hours after we got there the elevators stopped working so we had to use the stairs. We stayed in the C building and had to go up and down 6 floors of stairs which we were not happy about. We got through the hurricane safe and sound. Thank God, but it was a nightmare from then on. First, we had no electricity, then no water. We had no idea what was going on. We asked some staff members if they knew what was happening and they said that no one has said anything to them either so they are also clueless. We had to sleep with the patio and front door open because it was soo hot in our room. My husband had to go up and down 6 floors of stairs to fill 3 gallon bottles of water he got from the bar so we can flush and clean the toilet and also for us to take a bath. No one checked on us ever!! We were never given a lantern or flashlight so we can see to get up the stairs and in our room. It was dark as hell during the night and we were mostly in the dark since we only had our phones and with no electricity couldn't charge them so of course the battery died. We found cleaning supplies in a closet in the hall and cleaned the toilet and the floors since it was wet from the moisture. We had to take towels and mop the floors and cleaned the refrigerator that was now defrost since the electricity was off. We still never heard from anyone. We felt more like staff members because we were taking care of the room ourselves. We ate in the dark with the other guest and had a small lantern on the table so we could see our food. Everyone was sweating and uncomfortable. On the third evening after the storm around 8:30pm, we were having dinner, when a staff member came up to us and told us that they were moving the guests to the Hyatt or Hilton Hotel. They had all day to do this and now at night they were moving us. It was dark and we had to take our luggage down those 6 floors of stairs. We got help from a staff member who told us that he was struggling and didn't know the guest was going through this. We finally moved over to the Hyatt which was amazing. This is a long review but a necessary one. The hurricane was not anyone's fault but Jewel Grande was not prepared and didn't have anything in place to ensure that the guests were taking care of. I read reviews from previous months and it seems like they always had trouble with the elevators and lack of water. This is unacceptable. The generator should have been serviced on a regular basis to ensure that it was in proper working condition. There is no excuse for the lack of service and communication from management. Never again will we stay at this hotel or recommend anyone to stay here.

As a fellow Jamaican, I wanted my kids to enjoy a great time on the island and to also celebrate my birthday in the land of my birth. I will be honest to say my first couple of days was good. Food was a good mix. The issue was the flies. It seems like it was an infestation and I got turned off when I went to select certain foods and I could not eat in peace. They assisted and arranged a few excursions although it rained, the kids enjoyed it. I did start to notice that if the AC was not high enough, the floor would get wet from the humidity. My mom who has a bad knee almost tripped. Kids almost fell too. Then hurricane Beryl came. While I understand issues with post-hurricane Jamaican conditions, Jewel resort was not prepared for such conditions. Their generator lasted less than half the night. It just downhill from there. We had to climb 14 flights of stairs as each floor had flight of stairs. My mom who is elderly with a bad knee had to go up and down the stairs. Yes the power was out but in order for us to know anything we had to go back and forth because there was no other means of communication. The room was extremely hot and we did not full use of our room for 2 days. During the hurricane we had to stay in their ballroom. I understand it was for everyone’s safety but we should not be charged for not having full access. Our key chains to open our door did not work or was deactivated and we had to get a security guard to open our door! They were not always available. We ate in the dark So inconvenient on so many levels. They started to dummy down the food. I was starting to get concerned that they have cooked meat with no electricity so where are you storing the meat? I saved for this vacation and felt cheated because we had to go without power for 2 days and then the water was extremely low! Some rooms had no water. My kids slept on the balcony because the room was so hot. We had to carry 10 luggages down 14 flights of stairs. No handicap ramps, it was bad overall. Then they told me I would be charged a distress rate. The food was no longer up to par so we left and checked into another hotel. I want a refund for the days we experienced this horrible ordeal. The management gave no real solutions and kept saying power would be restored shortly. 3 days later for those who stayed and even so they still were not operational. I want a refund for at least 2 of the days. I have not seen my bill since I checked out. I will be disputing charges for staying for services that were not available. I will provide update. More hurricanes are coming. I would suggest not to book at Jewel. Dr. Maybank