Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay

The hotel and staff are the best! The hotel manager (Winsome) makes all her guests feel welcome. I have stayed at this hotel for years and the staff remember your face and your name year after year. The waiters, bartenders and cleaning staff work their butts off to make your stay the best. The beds are comfortable and the food is amazing. Thank you Holiday Inn and staff for another amazing vacation. See ya next year! Read less

We just returned from a 6 day /6 night stay at Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay. This was our first visit to Jamaica, and to a HI-branded resort. We are a retired couple from Canada and by now experienced leisure travellers who were interested in an inexpensive, relaxing short holiday at a Caribbean all- inclusive. We are frequently guests at IHG properties and so we happened to see and book this resort through the IHG App. Many of the reviews in TA are from guests who return here repeatedly- some, dozens of times. That’s impressive, because Guests who return again and again are proof of a property’s appeal and value. Some TA reviews we read before booking tended to be critical, complaining about many things. A few reviews are very harsh, and a bit unfair in our view. We decided this would likely be an interesting place for us to stay, keeping in mind we might be disappointed, possibly with expectations not met, or worse, regretting our selection. I need to note that we also were attracted by the price- comparatively reasonable for ocean view, king room, all-inclusive, for 6 nights. Our expectations were tempered, knowing we were not paying top dollar, and you usually just get what you pay for. To us, this is a good quality 3 star resort. Our arrival late on a Sunday in early December found the place rocking loud with a live band playing on an open stage by the main pool. It’s a short drive from the airport- lots of taxis and shuttles available at the airport. We got to our room after a short, pleasant check-in. We were offered cold towels, water, and a porter for our luggage at the VIP Check-in, due to our platinum rewards status. It was nice to sit in a/c comfort while we checked in, had a drink, and a friendly introduction to the layout and amenities. We turned down the offer of a bell-person as we didn’t have a lot of luggage. But- we got lost trying to find our room. We got there eventually- but tip#1: when offered bell service, take it. We stayed close to the main building, in building 2. I was very concerned about the noise, from the outside stage by the main pool, but everything loud ended promptly around 10. We grew used to hearing music and announcements when in our room during daytime hours but we weren’t bothered, and our location- close to everything- was a good trade-off. We were close to all the resort goodies like restaurants, spa, shops, but there was always fairly loud music around the main pool- all day. So, tip#2: if you want peace and quiet, choose buildings 1 (east or north facing) or 4 through 7, away from the main building activity, music and announcements. The Adult only area is found in buildings 6 and 7, and that end of the resort is peaceful and quiet. We chose to stay put in building 2. Our room was comfortable and clean, with a fridge where we kept our cold drinks. Bottled drinks, including water, are cheap at the shop, so you don’t need to go anywhere offsite to get them. Tip#3: If you are an IHG Rewards member, you can have free small bottles of water from the vip check in, but only 1 per day per person. With a pricier place, there might be minibar drinks available in your room - but not here. That’s ok by us. Most important for our comfort was air conditioning. Jamaica can be very hot (+31c/88f) and very humid (70-87%) in December and our room was consistently cool at 21c. (Sometimes when I stepped out of the room into the outside air my glasses would fog up! That’s humid.). The air con was quiet and efficient. Bedding and towels were very good and excellent quality. Our first night, we were initially cold in bed as there was only a top sheet and no blanket or comforter. A quick call brought a beautiful king sized comforter to our room within minutes which stayed with us for the duration of our visit. Shower and all fixtures in our room worked well and no issues with plumbing. If we needed something a quick call had it at our door within a few minutes (consistently). Food: We found the food in the one medium-sized buffet area to be quite good. There was a good amount of choice, and the service was very good to excellent. The food stations were well provisioned and attended. Tables were cleared and re-set promptly, and there are lots of friendly staffers around for whatever you might need. Coffee and beverage service is available at the tables if you are there long enough. Food was always available for us, and in even the busiest times there was seating available. Breakfast gets super busy from around 8:45 to 10 am. We went early on a couple of days, and slept in for 10 am on a couple of other days. We didn’t like how crazy busy it was during rush times. There is an omelette station which we used every morning, and loved. There is a good bar and grill place within steps of the beach, the island, and the main pool. Close by is a small kiosk with soft ice cream, nachos and hot dogs, popular with kids. The Jerk Hut is a little further toward the adult area and offers delicious jerk chicken and pork, along with endless red stripe beer and other beverages. This is a good bar to spend time at. Great place to sit and enjoy the ocean. We visited each one of the specialty restaurants and enjoyed ourselves. Food again was fine. We have had better (and much more expensive) dining experiences at other resorts certainly, but we ate very well, every evening no matter which venue. The staff overall really makes an effort to serve. We especially loved Seabreeze for steak and seafood- amazing food. Although the resort had a $15,000,000 USD refurbishment in 2015, it does show its age in 2023. There was only 1 very busy hot tub that we could see, (adult pool) and the main pool Jacuzzi appeared to be under repair. We never did get into the hot tub. Signage isn’t great, so keep the site map with you, at least for early days. Only 1 of 2 elevators for our building worked, and there was no light indicator on our floor when the button was pressed- it was burnt out or something. The one cash machine on the property seemed to be constantly off line or unplugged, although it sometimes worked for others from time to time. The elevator doors closed ever so slowly but we were never stuck. A few Lights in the hallways were out, or just not there. The room access cards can lose their data if close to a magnet or a phone, so keep it separate from your phone and wallet. Tip#4: bring a secure way, like a neck lanyard or fannypack to keep your room card, money for tips, and whatever else you may need (I carried a credit card just in case) on you. These were minor problems to us, but they add up. I must emphasize though that the whole place was clean, and we saw many groundskeepers, window washers, painters, and cleaning people working every day. My biggest concern was the billing system, which was largely paper-based. For example, booking a specialty restaurant (Japanese Teppenyaki) was done at guest services, there was an up-charge of 29$, which I thought we’d pay at the restaurant. The restaurant couldn’t accept Visa/Mastercard but took US cash, which I did not have. This meant a trip back to guest services to pay the charge. We now understand the system in place, but a decent point of sale system would eliminate all this hassle and remove the onus from the guest to keep track of these little details on scraps of paper. We had to find cash at an off-site ATM for taxicabs (they don’t take plastic), gratuities, and small gift shop purchases rather than just putting it on the card, and you CAN NOT put any charges on your room, which we found kind of surprising and disappointing at an IHG property. It’s 2023, not 1993, and this system needs updating! Tip#5: bring plenty of USD cash with you. You’ll need it for gratuities. We made use of the smaller spa several times and found it to be excellent. Great people, skilled masseuses and great mani-pedi services, all very reasonably priced. The very best feature of this resort is its family-friendly water front. The beach is lovely, and the water is shallow, warm, and inviting. On our visit, there were lots of kids at the beach having tons of fun. There are numerous non-motorized water sports (paddle boats, masks and snorkels, etc) that are available at no charge. The main pool was active with volleyball, swim aerobics, and fun diversions through the day. If you plan on crashing under a shady palm tree with a beach chair and a book, this place is likely a great choice for you. We grew to really like this place and the people who work there. We must mark our score down, due to the obvious property wear and tear we saw. However, I would say that our expectations were exceeded due to very good staffing and service levels, good food and dining options and the wonderful beachfront and pool area. We would recommend HI Resort Montego Bay as a budget-friendly, kid-friendly active resort geared toward family fun. We would return if we had immortality, but hey, the world is a big place and we have lots of places left to visit. Read less

Holiday Inn Resort All Inclusive📍🇯🇲🫶🏾Mobay was a great location, for a relaxing holiday with my family. On our arrival the staff were friendly, helpful and supportive. We had the best sleeps during our stays, the beds felt like they were Orthopedic mattress. We were all happy to see luxury settings, like Spa breaks, so I booked in for reflexology. Private beach #beach days🌊#kids play area✔️🍼mouthwatering food🌽🍉🍌🥥4 restaurants #jerk hut😋#barefoot bar and grill #cocktails🍹#entertainment day and night, music for your #Soul ✨✨✨✨by surprise one night I was called up on stage to dance💃💃💃😂🤣which was like therapy for me, I truly love dancing 💃. Everything about Holiday Inn Resort was serene for us @Winsome, we would definitely visit again. #irie📍🇯🇲🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🎞️ Read less

The Holiday Inn “All-Inclusive” Resort in Montego Bay has consistently gone downhill over the last five years. We gave it one more shot this year (2023), and we were once again deeply disappointed. From the check-in to the check-out, it is clear that the staff has very little training. Further the prevailing attitude we as customers received was indifference and rudeness. Our family all reflected during the entire trip how much the staff’s attitudes had affected our feelings about this resort. We have been coming here for the last seven years, and I can categorically say this will be the last time. The check-in staff at the priority lounge check in acted angry at the world that we were checking in. I suppose we had interrupted their days? We were also informed by the check-in team that we were given a conflicting reservation of the Seabreeze Restaurant, the same night we were booked to go to the General Manager’s dinner for returning guests. I inquired if we could get it moved to another night and was briskly told that I would have to deal with the reservation desk beginning tomorrow morning. In the past, IHG Platinum Elite status members were treated much better than this…with reservations being booked for each night prior to arrival. However, it’s clear that the Holiday Inn in Montego Bay could care less about IHG status. Upon going to our rooms, we found that one of the two elevators in our building was out of commission. This was out of commission for the entire stay. It was also a common theme…almost every building had at least one elevator out of commission. Some of these dated to last year when we were last at the resort. Further, at the returning guest reception, the general manager asked the entire crowd for some “grace” when considering some of the things being out of order. Throughout the 5 day stay, we encountered more and more customer service issues. One of the biggest was that on several days, there were extremely long periods of time (up to 5 hours) where there were no beach towels. I would think that the resort knows how many people are staying there and how many towels they would need. We also asked our cleaning person for some additional bottles of water – there were two small bottles in our room when we arrived. We needed this to take medication. Our cleaning person told us that she did not have those to re-stock, but that if we wanted more, we could call the customer service number that she gave us. We called and were told by the staff that, “We don’t do that.” We knew the check in lounge had a refrigerator with bottled water in it, so we stopped by there after dinner and the worker proceeded to almost run at us to not go near the fridge and that we were allowed one bottle each, even though according to her, we weren’t really supposed to get any water. The next day we stopped by the front desk and inquired about the water and were told that if we wanted water, we could go the to onsite store and purchase it. This is “all inclusive?” At resorts in Cabo, Cancun, and Punta Cana, we have always been given bottled water since the resorts were all-inclusive. Many of the restaurant workers were also very poor when it came to customer service. The Italian restaurant staff acted annoyed to seat us at our reservation time and the staff was inattentive. During lunch one day, my sandals were still a little wet. I didn’t realize that I was leaving some tracks. A manager named Priscilla approached me aggressively and said did I know I was creating a safety hazard? I said I didn’t realize it, but she continued to speak aggressively, so I asked what she wanted me to do? I could leave if she’d like. She then got aggressive when my wife asked what was going on. I asked her not to speak to my wife that way, and she replied that she could speak however she wished. We have brought things to the attention of managers previously, and were treated like we were the problem, so we determined to just finish the vacation and make other accommodations in the future. There were two bright spots in a sea of negativity. Karen – a team lead/server in the Sea Breeze restaurant was one of the best. She was attentive, quick to fill orders, and maintained an extremely positive attitude – a rarity at this result. We requested Karen both nights we ate at this restaurant. She should be considered for general manager of this resort. She knows customer service that well. Also, the bartender in the Rose Hall room – a young lady was outstanding. She has previously worked at the Jerk Hut, but she is always quick to assist customers and has a positive attitude. These both were contrasted with the overall attitude at this resort. I took the time to write this review, so that others would at least have a heads-up on what they were in for at this resort. We travel a lot and want others to have good vacations. There is a clear lack of leadership and training at this property. The management should go visit other resorts in other countries and see the stark difference. Our family compared it to a resort in the Dominican that we visited earlier this year, and the comparison wasn’t even close. Holiday Inn should start from scratch and work to bring this resort back. It is deeply disappointing that things have gone downhill this far. We made the decision that we won’t be back until we can confirm major changes have occurred. We will find another resort, as we are not giving up on Jamaica. Read less

How do you put a “MAGICAL EXPERIENCE” into words? That’s easy!! HOLIDAY INN RESORT MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA. We just returned from our 31st visit to this AWESOME resort and some people may say we are prejudiced by not going anywhere else. We ARE prejudiced because after many, many visits to other resorts in Mexico, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, etc. and dozens of trips to Florida, we have found our “Home Away From Home”. The beautiful beaches, the warm clear water, the great drinks and food, the comfortable rooms with awesome views and great bedding are all fantastic but believe us when we say that the STAFF (from the gardeners, chefs, bartenders, housekeeping, etc) more than any place else we’ve ever been are the ABSOLUTE BEST EVER !!!!!…….All led by Winsome Smith-Hooper, the beautiful (inside & out) General Manager. “Once You Go——You Know” to quote dear friends who have been to HOLIDAY INN many, many times as well. You become family and are treated so very special !! How many resorts can say that over 40% + are return guests? HOLIDAY INN has a weekly “return guests” dinner to honor their return guests and it is such a wonderful, heart-warming experience to attend by special invitation slipped under your room door. The evening celebration is held in a beautiful hall decorated with white linens, serving a delicious special meal prepared by talented chefs. Gifts and raffles are given out during the fun evening. All that is asked of the guests is that if they have any suggestions, comments or complaints to please get in touch with the management and they will do ANYTHING they can to make it right and THEY DO !!!!! Thank you so very much to Miss Winsome❣️for EVERYTHING you do to make us feel “extra special” from our magical suite to the personal time you spend with us and everything in between. We feel the love🙂. We consider so much of the staff there our personal friends and we love you ALL ❌⭕️ Whenever we visit we meet other guests that visit at the same time each year and we are all so happy to be there 🌺once again!! Do not hesitate to book a vacation to HOLIDAY INN RESORT in MONTEGO BAY. It will definitely be an experience you will NEVER FORGET and we are sure you will go back again and again. Until next time we will be dreaming of clear, warm waters that you can snorkel in directly off beach, the wonderful private island to spend time on, delicious 5-course meals served in the Ala-carte restaurants by a great waitstaff, the daily buffet that offers so many choices, any drinks you can think of made with a smile, and don’t forget the famous JERK HUT serving Jamaican Jerk chicken and pork, great with a cold Red Stripe or Jamaican rum punch! Most of all we will be dreaming of the beautiful, caring people of Jamaica🌴❤️ Read less