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Sandals Antigua Resort Traveler Review :: "Antigua needs help"

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Summary of All Property Reviews Ratings based on answers from a total of 1 reviews (All Reviews) 10 is best 1 is worst
Feature	Ranking	Feature	Ranking
Cleanliness of Property	10.00	Quality of Property	10.00
Privacy & Quietness	0.00	Quality of Service	1.00
Courtesy & Hospitality of Staff	1.00	Accuracy of Website (marketing hype) VS. Actual Experience	10.00
Food and Dining Experience	4.00	Price/Value of Property	10.00
Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property)	10.00	Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach)	10.00
Total Property Score: 6.60 | Average Star Rating: 2.00 out of 5

• 0% (0 visitors of 1) said they would go back to Sandals Antigua Resort again.
• 0% (0 visitors of 1) said they would recommend Sandals Antigua Resort to friends.

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Add your comments about this review View Comments (1)

We stayed at Sandals and other resorts in the Caribbean so this is not our first stay at an all inclusive resort. We booked this trip to the Sandals in Antigua for seven days. The new Mediterranean Village, our room, the views, the grounds, the pool and the beach area are beautiful.

The European Management team and European intern staff were excellent. They get it. They understand what 5 star resorts are supposed to be and that if you are spending $5000-6000 USD on a vacation that you should at least get a smile.

We did have some major issues with the Antiguan Staff. It took an hour and ten minutes to get checked in through the reception office. We received a welcome package and headed to the room. We changed our clothes and waited a few minutes for the orientation brief. The orientation brief was poorly conducted by a young Antiguan male from the entertainment staff. He knew some of the layout of the village but could not answer most questions we had. It would have been nice to know where you book tours, where to get a snack in the afternoon, where to get a water or coke instead of waiting at the pool bar for a drink, where to find the illusive towels, when you needed to book dinner reservations and what the dress code for dinner was. It would have been helpful if it were explained that all external tours were not conducted everyday and that you needed to plan and book tours at the beginning of the week. It may also be a better idea to have a managerial intern or junior manager conduct the orientation. This orientation was a complete waste of time.

The Antiguan, male staff seemed to have no interpersonal skills. Most were extremely stuck up and never smiled. At least most of the female staff smiled and seemed to work hard. Most Sandals pool bars have a large drink menu posted on the wall. The Mediterranean Village pool bar did not. We had to try to make up exotic drink names because the bartenders did not know what we were talking about. We had to practically beg the bartenders to make us drinks. The bartenders gave you the look like it was an inconvenience for them to have to make you a drink. The Mediterranean Village pool bar bartenders just walk around the bar, walk from side to side, get one ingredient, go find another and finally make a drink. It may take the bartenders five to ten minutes to get a single drink order out. They need to be trained in how to be friendly and how to get drinks out to 20 people at a time. That can easily be done with a staff of three or four bartenders that care.

The Water sports guys were lazy and unprofessional. The hotel was 90% booked and the water sports guys only had 03 Hobie Cat sail boats rigged and ready to sail. We waited for sailing only to come back and someone else had taken our boat. The excuse was "sorry mon". Come back later. We booked a snorkeling trip to a dead reef. The only fish were the ones swimming around the bottom of the boat. The staff has to know that.

If you want dinner reservations you have to make them two days in advance. What do you get the first two days? What if you are there for only four days? After checking with the concierge desk we made reservations for the rest of the week. We were later booted out of two reservations and had to eat at two places we had already eaten at. We are also not used to eating dinner at 830-930 PM. On many occasions we noted five to 10 empty tables at restaurants but receptionists were turning us and other people away because we did not have reservations. The food was especially good at Mario’s and Kimonos.

Nevertheless, we had a blast because that is the kind of people we are. I did not want to spend my entire vacation complaining about everything, I certainly could have. I guess we were just spoiled from our last visit to the Grande St Lucia.

If someone were to ask me how to fix most of the problems at the Antigua Sandals, I would have to say that it may be an impossible task because you would have to change the culture of the Antiguans. They seem to have a chip on their shoulder and do not want to change. My only suggestion is to have a European Manager directly overseeing each section and working side by side with the Antiguans every day until they get it!

I would also send welcome packets via the internet or by mail so guests could read ahead on what we needed to reserve and plan before we get there.

Property Review
10 is best 1 is worst

Would you stay at this property again?: ... No
Would you recommend this property to your friends?: ... No
In your opinion, how would you classify the "style" of this property: ... Family Oriented
Possible Anwswers: Family Oriented, Couples Oriented, Mixed/Diverse in a Good Way, Mixed/Diverse in a Bad Way

• Cleanliness of Property: ... 10
• Quality of Property: ... 10
• Privacy and Quietness: ... 0
• Quality of Service: ... 1
• Courtesy and Hospitality of Staff: ... 1
• Accuracy of Website VS. Actual Experience: ... 10
  
• Food and Dining Experience: ... 4
• Price/Value of Property: ... 10
  
• Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property): ... 10
• Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach): ... 10

Destination/Island Review
10 is best 1 is worst

Would you visit this destination/island again?: ... No
Would you recommend this destination/island to your friends?: ... No

• Cleanliness of Destination/Island: ... 10
• Options of Activities in the Area: ... 7
• Ease of Transportation (air, taxi, bus, shuttle): ... 10
• Quality of Beaches in the Area: ... 10
• Courtesy & Hospitality of Locals: ... 10
• Safety Factor (Did you feel safe in the Area): ... 10
  
• Local Restaurant Experience/Options: ... 10
• Price/Value of Destination (Does your dollar stretch?): ... 5
  

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