Jewel Grande Montego Bay

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. Read less

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. Read less

We arrived on 7/2. Hurricane Beryl was supposed to arrive on 7/3. Prior to our departure we were only given the chance to move our trip, not cancel. And we were notified of that the night we arrived in Tulsa to fly out. There wasn’t another date we could all do so we decided to ride it out. When we got to the room after eating dinner we realized the AC wasn’t working. It was set on 68 but the room showed 72. It felt hotter than that especially in the bedrooms. We were dripping sweat and the floor was condensating. We called the front desk and they sent someone to check it. It seemed to fix it briefly but then quit working again. Then we lost power in one of the bedrooms and bathrooms. There was no AC or ceiling fan. We called back down and they said they would send someone else back up. An hour and half later we still didn’t have anyone to help us. My husband saw a security guard and he told us to just open our window. The excuse was the hurricane but judging from all the reviews these are common issues and the hurricane hadn’t hit yet. We booked a 2 room butler suite and at this point we hadn’t even seen a butler. We told the front desk that and almost immediately a head butler showed up. He was very sympathetic and apologized and said he would get us a new room before he left at 10. Around 10:30 we hadn’t heard from him or the front desk. The manager was supposed to come with an engineer. The butler and the manager both went home without contacting us. My husband finally had to walk down to the desk because no one would answer the phone. They were rude until they realized we were supposed to be moved and they had failed to tell us that. One employee helped us pack our stuff and moved us to a new room at 11:30pm. Unfortunately the new room didn’t have working AC either. It felt cooler than the first room but the thermostat read 78 degrees and was set on 66. Sometime during the night a breaker flipped and again we didn’t have lights or ceiling fans. The breaker box was locked so we couldn’t fix it ourselves and they wouldn’t respond. Then hurricane Beryl hit. We received a piece of paper telling us to go to the lobby. We did. One staff member told us it was mandatory. Another said it wasn’t. My husband went to the front and they said they would shuttle us to our room if we wanted to ride it out there. They just needed to document our room number. We went back to our room and the room was flooding. Water was coming in all the doors and windows. And it eventually started coming out the wall and light fixture in our bathroom. Paint was peeling. Water was seeping up through the tile and wood floor. We tried our best to soak up the water with towels and packed up our stuff and went back to the lobby. When we told the front desk our room was flooding we received a lecture for not being in the lobby…even though they drove us to our room. In the lobby they gave us a piece of paper with information for meals. The paper also said no alcohol would be served but none of the servers knew that. When we went up to the buffet they told us that information was not correct. No one seemed to know what was happening. After the brunt of Beryl passed we went back to our room. They were sending people around to check them. Two men came in and checked everything and said that we need a different room but they will make our room as comfortable as possible for the night and get us a new room in the morning. They were going to send someone to help get the water out. We waited an hour and half and no one came. We called the front desk. They said they would send a request for someone to come clean it. We called again, nothing. My husband waited up til 2am and nothing. We finally went to bed in our flooded room. He had to walk down to the front desk to ask for help again in the morning. Did I mention we are on the 8th floor with no elevator? So every trip to the front desk or for a meal we have to climb the stairs. Also, some of the workers are staying here because of the storm. The guy next to us said his room flooded so he changed rooms. The new room flooded as well. My husband said when we were waiting for people to come clean up our water there were people cleaning staff rooms instead of guest rooms. We even asked the desk for fans, towels or anything to use and we would work on it ourselves and they said no. We were at the Jewel 3.5 days. No maid service, no butler, one buffet for each meal, no pool, no beach, one half day of alcohol, no AC and as of Thursday morning we had no running water, no electricity, or WiFi. The living conditions were inhumane. We were all sharing a toilet we couldn’t flush. They were scraping up leftover food to serve. Some of the fruit tasted bad and they served French fries for breakfast. I’m not sure if they’re had a working fridge how they washed their hands and how the food was prepared. Guests couldn’t properly wash up and were sharing a buffet. Ever since we’ve left we’ve had stomach upset and I went to the ER this weekend because of it. I’ve lost 7lbs. On the way to breakfast we noticed that the sewer was backed up, when I showed the manager he said the pumps weren’t working. I showed him a photo of the sewage running into the swimming hole and asked him if he had closed the beach. He told me he wasn’t aware. So, the pools were closed and the ocean had sewage. They never closed the beach while we were there. We were not told that we could go to a sister resort. There was zero communication. We found the manager and complained. He told us he would try to get us to the Hilton or Hyatt and to come back at 10. We went back. He told us to come back at 12 and we said we need sooner. So we went back at 11 and had to track him down. He offered us day passes. We lost it. We were not spending another second at that resort. It was hell! We told him to call immediately. They could only get us 2 separate rooms and we agreed. We finally saw a butler and told her to meet us at our room to get luggage. We went to our room, finished packing our bags, and waited. I went back down and met her at the bottom where she was just chit chatting with other guests. By the time she went up my husband was halfway down with 5 suitcases and 3 backpacks. She was trying to sing and joke and mock him. We were exhausted, hungry and drenched in sweat. Hurricane Beryl caused some of these issues but some of them are just common practice at the Jewel. And, if you have issues you will not receive help. This vacation cost our family of 5 around $13,000. It was my daughter’s senior trip and if we had stayed at the Hyatt the entire time it would have been a great trip. It was ruined because of the Jewel. This is our 4th trip to Jamaica and by far the worst. Probably our last. Customer service at the Jewel was awful even before the hurricane. We are fully aware that there was a catastrophic event. They just weren’t prepared and didn’t seem to have any procedures or protocols in place. It was like it was the first storm they’ve ever experienced. We were told multiple times they were short staffed but they had a band, 4 people playing volleyball and karaoke. I have videos of them just standing and sitting around. I thought we might have debri or wind damage. Never imagined that every single window and door would leak. I’m talking inches of water in the kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom. Water floating under the tile and wood. Most of our issues have nothing to do with the storm though. If you want to feel valued, safe, or even receive basic necessities the jewel is not the place. Both rooms needed updates; broken sinks, AC, breakers, and the pull out couch doesn’t have a mattress (which we needed for our kid). At around 6:30pm I requested a mattress or rollaway bed and it never came. Thursday night was one of the worst nights I’ve ever experienced. Our room was hot and humid. We had to sleep with windows and doors open and zero breeze. We could hear cars, music and babies crying. Around 11:30 on Friday we got moved to the Hyatt and it was absolutely amazing. Friendly staff, amazing food, and you couldn’t even tell there was a hurricane. They’re right next door to each other and it’s like a different country. The manager at Jewel said he was living at the hotel and sweating it out with us but when we went to the Hyatt we were told he was staying there. All of the guests that were subjected to those horrific conditions deserve full refunds! Read less

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. Read less

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. Read less