Beaches Ocho Rios -A Spa,Golf & Waterpark Resort

When you spend money on an all inclusive, I don't expect to have to have to ask for services, or to be told to go ask some other staff member for help with a situation... but I was here. The bees were awful bc staff was not staying on top of picking up fruity drinks [and food FTM] by the pool. I got stung. Place was run down in parts. We were a bigger party so were making revs in advance, while standing at the kiosk for almost 5 mins, only to find the person we needed was standing there when I walked up to them asking for help...just watching us! Service at dinners was S. L. O. W. I put the sticker off the top of my face cream on the wall in the bathroom 2nd day to run a test.... pic is our check out day...we stayed 7. Do your research!!! There are better places. FWIW.. we have been to others and know to and had been tipping ppl when appropriate. Read less

The staff at the resort are fantastic. They are all friendly, professional, welcoming and seem to enjoy working at this resort to create memorable experiences for the guests. We were escorted to our room upon arrival by Naomi who also spoke to us throughout the stay to ensure all our needs were being met. Kerry Ann in the Red Lane Spa was exceptional and I enjoyed the best facial treatment ever. Kenedra in Loyalty approached us one afternoon by name as we were relaxing at the main pool. She also assisted in booking our next Sandals vacation. The water park is fabulous for the little and big kids alike. Our 7 year old great niece enjoyed the ocean, beach, kids program and the Sesame Street show every evening as well as the water park. While this resort is older, it is extremely clean and tidy. There is lots to do if you so desire, and it is also wonderful if one wishes to just relax. Read less

Overall, we had a lovely vacation with our 3 and a half year old daughter. The staff were exceptionally nice and accommodating to families. Venecia, our housekeeper, was fast, efficient, and thorough when cleaning our room. She accommodating our daughter’s quiet time schedule and made sure we had a clean room with made-up beds each day. The Sesame Street entertainment and the kids camp saved our vacation too. Seven days with a three and a half year old has its challenges. The little break gave my daughter a chance to use the camp facilities for free play, organized craft activities, and learning activities too (explore the moon with Elmo was her favourite activity). Although the resort was very family friendly, some vacationers at the resort may not be as friendly. The resort offers wedding services. There was a wedding on the beach on the last day of our vacation. My daughter wanted to play in the sand. While we were not at all disturbing the wedding, during the photo session, a member of the wedding party rudely told me to move my child. I complied -- being uncertain if we were actually in the photographers way (I would have expected the staff to politely tell us to move, if we were in the way) and also not wanting to cause a scene. Moving my daughter from her play area caused a tantrum and I’m not sure it was totally warranted. If the resort offers beach weddings, closing off the beach or part of the beach for an hour to support the wedding and to prevent this unpleasant experience for another family might be a solution. Or if we were not infringing on any photos, perhaps the wedding staff could remind the wedding party and invitees that the beach is open and unrestricted to other vacationers and the professional photographers are skilled to work around it. We did let our concierge know about the incident and he said he would relay the information to the wedding coordinator and her team. Read less

Neglected until the numbers don’t run. This resort and some of the current practices leave both staff and guests unsafe and senior management will either feel totally exasperated with the board and owners and disheartened or they don’t care about guest safety and good hotel practices. This review is factual and observational with constructive feedback. I will start with the positives. Resort staff are for the most part engaging, approachable and friendly. The two restaurant supervisors who had young babies were very friendly and warm. They tried for their guests in the restaurants to make dining enjoyable. The pool bar staff were friendly enough and there wasn’t any long waits. The range of Appleton estate, titos and makers mark was always available there. The Beach although small was safe for a swim and the sand maintained. Its privacy meant that there was no hawkers. The view of the sea from the rooms was nice. The hotel as many have said would scrape a 3 star level with a generous inspector. If viewed by an inspector from the US/ UK being objective, under scrutiny this would be a 2 star hotel and recommended for closure. It would fail food safety (pest control lacking), environmental health, fire safety, liquor licensing, road safety duty of care (legal requirements in US/UK, government recommended in Jamaica) and be closed immediately if in the US. Those choosing to gloss over the negligence of the resort are doing so at the detriment of future guests. I am someone who loves the Sandals brand but just calling Ocho dated through a smile is not acceptable. Dated fixtures is fine so long as they work, broken, dirty or neglectful and accepted practices are dangerous and inexcusable. I reported to staff cockroaches at the buffet around the bread section and many reviews state seeing them in numerous areas. Clearly this is an issue not being managed correctly and the staff member I raised this with shrugged it off. There was black and red mould in numerous locations around the property including the main pool bar or the sealant and tiles and gents toilets by neptunes bathrooms. The changing tables in the men’s toilets were both broken. The main stage looked like it was crumbling. Guttering by the French restaurant was hanging off the building above a public staircase. Wood above the main lift sign hung precariously above the beach bar. Many stairs were broken around the property, door mechanism broken to the entrance to the nightclub which was a sorry excuse for a storage room with liquor that smelled of damp. The pool had missing and broken tiles in multiple locations, the flooring of the pool had come away in multiple areas. The poor bartenders had to walk around a bar with roughly a centimetre of water behind the bar with the occasional smell of sewage possibly from a drain evidently not clearing. Speakers in bayside didn’t work and played at 3/4 speed. Hot water ran out multiple times through the week even at low occupancy. The lighting on the passageway on route between the shop and piano bar strobed constantly. The lights in the French were super bright and gave no atmosphere. Dangerous and a potential fire risk. Whoever thought it a good idea to leave uncovered plug sockets strapped to a palm tree on the beach. One next to a sprinkler in a tree planter. I hope for guest safety that these are not connected to mains power. Why they are there in the first place I do not know. Underage guests were being served alcohol. It didn’t affect me and at no point was there any guests being overly drunk on property. The transfer does not provide child car seats for babies on a TWO HOUR TRANSFER. Do not advertize or offer a service which is not safe for your infant guests and in the major countries your guests come from wholly illegal. Buy some baby car seats suitable for the buses and have them stored at both hotels and airport lounges. Do not wait until guests board the bus under time pressures to force the journey to proceed. A recent staff bus crashing should emphasise the importance of guests and staffs safety. Everywhere you look it is possible to notice something crying out for repair. As initially stated. The resort is beyond dated. It is neglected. The main hot tub was broken, cloudy and never cleaned. The food is ok but inconsistent. The Neptunes restaurant needs some sort of fans to force air around. Even though the venue is outside on both occasions we dined the air was stiflingly hot and stale and not pleasant for dining. Both neptunes and the French are not wheelchair/ buggy accessible and would require carrying down multiple stairs. The Entertainment team felt like they weren’t very present and struggled to get engagement from guests. On many visits to sandals it felt like they would pull people in to events and that didn’t happen. Often the pool volleyball net would appear but no staff would be there to host it and there was no games reward points. They could do great things like boat regattas, tennis games, basketball games, board games etc etc but most things billed seemed to be cancelled and instead they could be spotted chaperoning Sesame Street characters around. Except for a movie trivia quiz they repeated the questions for twice within three days. The piano bar was strange. The pianist that was hired was pretty average and couldn’t and wouldn’t sing. Before he turned up on two nights the room was either bright and silent or the staff played dancehall on a speaker which didn’t really fit the vibe at all. Sort a playlist and leave it be. There was two guys who will remain anonymous that would sing and play each evening for half an hour creating an enjoyable experience. For some reason they didn’t have the full Appleton range all week and served sour cloudy beer that was clearly off. Each bar had issues with beer being flat and unenjoyable and should be checked professionally. The room was dated and the bathroom had lots of things broken. The air con was loud but worked. The door closed but needed planed and rehung as it was a struggle to close. There was a lot of rotten wood across the resort on bannisters and above doorways. The decking was heavily worn. There was usually a smell of cannabis by the staff entrance next to the piano bar. This is a public street and it is decriminalized and off property so 🤷🏻 Overall we made the most of being away and enjoyed the sunshine however it feels like they are praying on a hurricane to file an insurance claim and permanently close or refurb the resort. Keep your head up staff and try to enjoy the sunshine and rum if you are booked to stay. Read less