Holiday Inn Sunspree Reviews

Ive been to alot of places but this was our best yet even now my four yaar old son aand my nine year old still talks about it and when there going back. So we have just booked to go next july cant wait. The only thing i will say is that i felt you had to tip constantly but that was the same everywhere in jamica . We made freinds with alot of the staff there so freindly and so laid back cant do enough for you. The food was great especially the jerk hut thats a must were going back just for that itself. My kids were in the kids club all the time loved it . The beaches are beautiful try the water sports what a laugh we had, what can i say it was for us a holiday of a lifetime, i dont no how people can complain about this hotel some people have got nothing better to do with there time !!!!!!! TAKE IT FROM US BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just returned back from a 2 week holiday with my husband and two children age 9 + 14. This was meant to be a "holiday of a lifetime". What a severe disappointment. Upon arrival we knew this was a poor hotel. It needs complete rennovation or even better knocking down. The first room we were given was of a very low standard, after complaining we were moved to a modern and cleaner room. One of the reasons we booked this hotel was for the teenage club. No such thing. Just a games room which you must pay to play. The food was very poor and repetitive. Considering Jamaica is a Carribean island, very little fruit was on the buffet. The entertainment team were only interested in entertaining themselves. Some were rude and this also applies to the bar staff who only give good service if they are tipped. On a few occasions there was heavy rain which caused the roof above reception to leak, flooding the lobby. This hotel is not 4* more like 2*. Please believe us when we tell you this. Don't make the mistake we made by not believing previous reviews!

Just got back from our first family holiday ever. Hotel was good - in a need of some renovation (esp. the rooms) but if you want some sun,fun and see something and not to stay at the hotel all the time, then you have arrived.Staff is friendly for your first 2days. Then, if you do not tip, do not expect to get your drinks too fast. Other then that everybody was friendly and they are brilliant with children. Food was OK, repeating a lot and there is never enough of fruit. Went on some trips and there were amazing. Again - take loads of cash with you as you need to tip - tip for the driver, your guides and anybody who is around. Also DVD's do cost loads of money - beware swimming with dolphins. Lovely experience but a biggest rip-off. $93.00 for 1 DVD!! Entertainment was OK but repeating, So if you staying for 2 weeks and loved children of the drums on Friday but your camera run out of battery - don't worry. next week it will be excatly the same. Drinks are lovely (we must have drunk around 3 bottles of rum in 2 weeks) and pool is clean. Jaccuzzi were hot and the adults pool is a lovely quiet place to stay. Kids clubs are brilliant - do a lot with the kids. Nurse is helpfull (that's when you get burnt like we did) but you have to pay for medication in advance ($250.00 for antibiotics). The rooms are tidy but very old. TV works fine (loads of channels) and the air-con is not too noisy. Overall we loved it. We will not return as we have done everything what Jamaica had to offer but we will recommend this hotel to our friends (they are doing some renovation later this year).

Well what can i say, this holiday was the best ever!! This place is absolutely amazing!!

It was a first time to the caribbean and afer reading some of the previous reviews, it didnt sound that good, but there was nothing to worry about it was brilliant.

We arrived in the evening and got checked into our rooms pretty quickly. The rooms are fine, some things were a little old in the room e.g mirrors were rusting, and some switches were not that stable but what the hell you are only sleeping in it, the rooms are clean and comfortable and in my opinion that is all you need in an all inclusive complex!
The food is lovely, there is soo much choice, we were there for 2 weeks and some things did get repeated but as there was soo much choice you never got fed up, definately recommend the seabreeze restaurant on the beach, food was brilliant and was nice to be waited on!!

The staff are soo friendly and are happy to help you always, obviously if you tip them you get treated even better, these peoples wages are soo low and their attitudes are brilliant, they genuinely seem to love their jobs!
Entertainment is good different shows every night but everything is finished by 10.30 where you can just drink by the bar or go to the club (our group never went to the club as the staff working at the bars kept us entertained!)
All in all this hotel was lovely and would recommend it to anyone, we are planning on going back soon!

Happy holidays!

arrived on 5th November @ 4.30 to room not ready. It was dirty and in my opinion rated wrong. 4* no no no its about 1*. We were very disappointed and as soon as the rep arrived we asked to be transferred. it cost us $230 to move (paperwork) and $40 for a taxi. but well worth it. We went to Starfish in Falmouth. We have been there many times before and it is rated 3*+ should be changed to 5* if holiday inn is 4*. I would not reccomend any one go there it gives a bad impression of Jamaica.

Go Riu of Starfish!!!!

Fantastic. The accomodation is fine. The people make this holiday. Nothing is a problem. food and drink fabulous.Brilliant kids bar, ice cream,popcorn,nachos,pizza,hot dogs and drinks.adult bars are super, just remember to ask for 'brands'(still free) good mix of nationalities. The Americans do not get preferential treatment! Totally safe to go out and about. good idea to hire a taxi for the day ( ask your rep) no hastle, no hard sell. A polite 'no thanks' is fine. Must is to swim with dolphins, and Dunns river falls. Go out on a boat and visit Margaritaville.

Brilliant holiday.

The hotel is in a very poor state of repair and is under going refurbishment during 2006.
to many trainee's working there.
Staff very poor response to complaints
We had 3 rooms in 6 days
Entertainment very poor.
Problem with flight. fuel or hydrolic leak.
no hot work for 2 days.
broken windows.
2 broken basins.
socket hang off the wall.
Power cuts
TV not work very well.

I could go on but think you go the message dont go. but dont let this put you off going to Jamaica the people are lovely. just dont use this hotel. there are lots of new one being build. so try them. good luck.

Well, what can I say. We arrived in Montego Bay and into a very hot climite. All I could think was YES we have arrived.
We had paid for prem gold and priority bags. We had to wait over two hours to get our so called priority bags in an airport that looked like a building site with no air con. Then onto a shabby coach for the 10 min drive to the so called 4* holiday Inn Sunspree.

On arivel at the hotel, it didnt look that bad, infact it looked quite nice. We had joind to hotels priority club which should of let us checkin first but this didnt happen and we had to wait over an hour. By this time we all felt like we wanted to go home.

When we got to our rooms i just wanted to cry. This hotel has suposed to of gone through a major refurb, but the room stunk, had mould growing, the air con was so noisey you couldnt talk at a normal level, the patio doors were to difficult to open. There was no wardrobe, just a rail which gave a hostle feel. To top it off we were in block 2 which is right on the pool and entertainment stage, which was so loud it was impossible to sleep during the day for a nap, and up until 2am.
We complaind to our airtours rep, whos response was ";NO PROBLEM MAN";
After 6 days we were moved to block 6. the noise was better bt the room was worse. the bathroom door hit the toilet so had to squeze into the room.

The food wasnt good to say the least, with the exseption of breakfast. salad for the most part.
They ran out of cups at the bar sevral times on a daily bacis.
The beach was man made and had you been able to go out into the sea without black sludge underneath you that stank of drains, that would of been fine.
The adult pool with swim up bar was small with only 4 seats at the pool so you couldnt really get a drink a drink.
I wouldnt give this hotel a 4* but more a 2*.

The only good thing about this holiday was the trips, and even they were so expensive.
One tip for you is if you go to this country, take out a morgage just to pay for the tips you have to give to all drivers an transfurs, trips and to antone who does anything for you.
£6000.00 down the drain, and a very bad stomach/bottom to go with it.

Fist things first, the flight was via Venus (Manchester to Gatwick an hour and a half on the tarmac then all the way back up over Manchester and over to Canada to refuel 2 hours on the tarmac, finally the last push to Jamaica, 6 hours later you'll arrive)Total journey of 15 hours.

As for the resort:
Pretty much the same as others, this resort has never seen 4* plus as indicated in the brochure. The beaches are not good, the staff are reluctant to serve you unless you're waving a dollar bill in front of them (If you're American or Canadian you'll be OK) The rooms are basic and almost clean although we did have a visit from a huge cockroach to which the Hotel staff didn't seem too upset.

Don't even try to cross the road to the shopping village cos you'll get badgered by the dealers, they will even shout to you over the fence of the complex to ask if you'd like to buy some drugs.

The food was OK although the main resturant resembles a works canteen rather than a resturant and the A La Carte aren't A La Carte.

The best part was our son went swimming with Dolphins and absolutely LOVED it and the weather was great.
Please don't go here if you're expecting a holiday in Paradise cos you'll be bitterly disappointed go to BARBADOS instead at least the naitives are friendley and the beaches are beautiful.

I was really worried about going on this holiday. I checked out the reviews after i booked it, but i was plesantly surprised. The hotel was extremely clean and child Friendly. The rooms were always kept clean, There was everything you would need, the towels were cleaned every other day but if you wanted them changed every day you only had to ask and it was done. All the staff were friendly eager to please and the respect went both ways. The daytime entertainment was excellent, Ricardo and mental were very enteraining. The downside on the entertainment was at night there were only 7 different shows and they were repeated the second week and it all was over by 9.30-10.00pm everynight. The lifeguards did an brillant job in making sure everyone was safe and that there was no hypa children causing distress to other holiday makers. By the second week you did start to get sick of Jerk chicken but there was a chef on call that would cook things fresh in front of you if you requested.

Finally First Choice are a first class company fantastic service, polite staff, clean and spacious flights and resort care good too

this hotel should not have been open.after hurricane damage it was still being refurbed.two jcbs on a beach full of clay,a dinning room floor being dug up,the main bar was closed,the roof was being put on block 7,the rooms smell of damp,the balconies are tatty (nobody sits on them),there was painting work going on all over,the food is terrible no choice ,the list goes on.we were told by one of the staff that it would be nice in 12 months.dont go to this hotel.

Oh well here goes - where do you start?

We were absolutely disgusted with the condition of this hotel. From the moment we got off the plane it all went wrong. We eventually finished filling out all those forms at the airport and were met by some reps. When we asked about the transfer to the hotel, they said, ";Go outside and find your coach out there";. Talk about meet and greet you! We found some coach drivers outside and they directed us to our coach. I thought that was part of the rep's job, but obviously she didn't think so. There we waited and waited and waited, tired and fed up already. We sat there for 1 1/2 hours and then the so-called rep got on the coach and thought it was really funny that she had forgotten we were there. Ha! Ha! Ha! how hilarious was she??
From then on it just got worse, there's so much you should know about. I'm not going to go into it word by word, but here are the main points that we just couldn't believe. By the way, there's loads of main points here:-

The food was disgusting, no variation. Toaster never worked. They served up the same food for lunch and dinner. If you like curried goat and jerk everything, then this may be the place for you! The food was always cold except the salad and butter. We ate mainly burgers and chips as we were so scared to allow our children to eat any of their dishes.

Continuous building work going on around you, banging, painting and drilling. No apologies for the inconvenience! Our eldest Son was splattered in paint as he came down to dinner. Our 3 year old cut her feet toes open on the building debris around the complex. They closed bars and restaurants for 2/3 days without any warning or apology again.

Mini golf and volleyball areas were just a parking place for JCB's. Games room for children was never open.

JCB working on the beach for 3 days. The supposedly clear crystal waters were full of clay. I got stuck in it and had an asthma attack.

Drinking glasses were not cleaned properly, just dipped in cold dirty water and used for the next person. No wonder we used so much toilet roll during our stay!!

Swimming pool was freezing cold, they cleaned the surrounding areas while you were trying to sunbathe, always asking you to move.

No locks on poolside toilets, people were opening doors on you while you were sitting on the loo.

Water sports were rubbish, pool games were non-existant. Glass bottom boat never went out because you couldn't see through the water.

Beach was shut for 2 days due to their important guests from travel companies.

They shut the main buffet restaurant to dig the floor up with a kango-drill. As they were doing this, a newly-wed couple were trying to have their reception on the terrace upstairs.

We spent 2 days on the phone trying to sort this out, we eventually got moved after 8 days. This didn't compensate for the aggro we had while we were there. We packed up our things and moved as soon as we could. We went to the Wyndham Rose Hall - what a difference!! Even though the hotel was 100% better, all the happy holiday atmosphere had gone. We just wanted to go home, especially when all the staff at the Holiday Inn thought it was all a big joke!! When we did go home, the rep ran away from us at the airport, she couldn't face us!!

We have complained bitterly to First Choice since we got back and eventually we might be getting somewhere!!
People should not be sent here and they shouldn't have this 'Hell Hole' in their brochures!

We were transferred to this hotel at the last minute and having read some reviews of this hotel we were initially sceptical. We discovered that the hotel had only been open for a few days when we arrived (it had closed for reburbishment following damage from the hurricane). The first room they gave us had only one bed, then the second had a pile of rubble for a bathroom -- things weren't looking too good! However, the staff sorted things out swiftly and it was all upside from then on. The hotel was still undergoing refurbishment but they managed to keep disruption to a minimum.

The food was excellent, especially in the a la carte restaurants (although they should serve pizza in the Italian!). The cocktails were fantastic. But most of all what made the holiday were the staff - they were, without exception, friendly, efficient and seemed to genuinely care that the guests had a good time.
The Direct Holidays rep was lovely.

We had some horrible delays on flights in and out, but we had far worse last year when we flew on a scheduled flight with Air Jamaica. And the food on Air Luxor was better.

We felt this holiday was excellent value for money (basically we only had to pay the cost of the flights for the children and they stay free at the hotel).

Definately a fantastic place to stay, we were transfered here as the Renaisance Jamaica Grande was closed for refurbishment but when we arrived we were glad to have been transfered. Excellent complex especially for families, rooms have everything you need even iron and ironing board!! Loads for children to do, food at the buffet restaurant was a bit sameish towards the end of the week but you can book for the other ones on the complex to break it up. Only problems we had were with the flights there and back but that was nothing to do with the hotel!

Definately worth booking for here!!!

Having read recent reviews on the Hotel, i was a little worried.

The hotel itself is a little tired, and is in need a paint job at least. but apart from that i couldnt complain in the apearance of the hotel. I found the pool area nice and clean, with plenty of sunbeds.

I thought the main buffet restaurant choice was limited, and the standard not that good, but with a choice of burger bar, jerk bar, the fab seabreeze and great italian, wasnt 100% bothered about the jamaican a l carte, so there was plenty to eat for all tastes.

One thing i would moan at, is the bar area. there are not enough seats and tables, people tended to sit on loungers at night, not my idea of fun, when people have been laying on them all day with sun creams etc. and it would have been nice to have some back ground music round the bar also. I couldnt fault the hotel and bar staff in any way, they were always helpful. i would echo what previous people have said that some americans are very ignorant, but the staff just leave them, and get on with serving the non ignorant customers.

As a travel agent i dont think i would recommend this hotel at this stage, but when the refurb has been completed, i would definately try this again.

Also its not really the place for single people cause its mainly couples.

and its not somewhere i would recommend for people getting married, as the wedding areas are a bit scabby.