Sandals Regency La Toc Golf Resort & Spa

We had the best time on our honeymoon at Sandals Regency La Toc. We had a butler suite and we cannot recommend this enough. G, Clovis & Donovan were our butlers and they were so amazing and made our trip truly something we will never forget. We cannot thank them enough. The attention to detail was great, the rooms spotless every day. We definitely will be back! Read less

I want to preface this review by noting that my husband and I are well traveled and live in a beautiful part of Florida (with white sandy beaches). Our experiences influence our expectations and we understand that ours are likely not the average. That said, Sandals labels itself as a luxury, 5 star resort for couples. We just returned from honeymooning and unfortunately our expectations were not met at Sandals La Toc. This is a lengthy review and I hope it helps as you’re likely searching for a romantic getaway. I’ve listed cons and pros below as well as tips should you opt to book. I’ve also provided several suggestions to management. Starting with the cons… - When you arrive at the airport, you have a group of men shouting “Sandals?” And they threw our luggage onto a cart to walk 20 steps to the Sandals “lounge”. The man with our bags aggressively demanded a tip and waited for me to dig through my purse. Afterwards he said “that’s it?!” We realized after the fact that they are not Sandals employees but the Sandals employees working the lounge let this occur and Sandals should take a look at this. Not a great first impression. - Long shuttle to the resort from the airport (90 minutes in a van with an erratic driver soliciting us for private tours - again, not Sandals staff). - Poor check-in experience where our room wasn’t ready at the end of a long travel day (4:30pm). We sat through an odd group intro and then waited for 45 minutes while staff chatted amongst themselves to stall letting us know that our room wasn’t ready. - The restaurants requiring reservations were almost fully booked up when we arrived. You’re able to make 1 in advance but the others we secured were at the end of our stay and the options left were 5pm or after 8pm. We heard many others complain about not being able to get reservations. - Our initial room left A LOT to be desired. It was quite dated with cheap furniture, lots of dings in the doors and walls, and it smelled of mildew. There were very dusty balloons attached to the bed and fake rose petals… The bathroom tub was cracked and the grout was moldy and missing in some places and there were no towels hung up on the towel bars. The ocean view was nice, which is why we booked the room, but the patio was dirty as well as the chairs. Management, specifically Terry, was very responsive and apologetic. He offered us a different room the following day which was much more spacious with a private pool. We were however missing the ocean view and bathtub that I had originally looked forward to and booked with the other room. The new room was also not 5 stars and needed some updating / maintenance. - Outdated resort lacking upkeep and cleanliness that you would expect from a “5 star resort” (missing pool tiles, moldy and missing grout in showers, broken shower, rust in pool and on buildings, dirty patios and patio furniture) - Subpar housekeeping and cleanliness (e.g. clean towels were not hung on the towel bars, empty, used cups and water bottles not cleaned up, Fake rose petals from prior guest stay, dust on furniture, etc.) - They had a sewage issue below the middle pool for a couple of days that smelled awful. It was pooling larger on the grass by the hour and when we asked if it was being taken care of, they acted like it was just brought to their attention… you could also smell it while dining at Neptunes restaurant. - The beach had a red flag every day except our last day which meant no swimming. It was nice to hear the crash of the waves but if you’re looking for a beach resort and to enjoy water activities directly from the beach throughout your stay, look elsewhere. - While the view is pretty, it’s certainly not the lush green, mountainous view from the resort that you can see by boat at the Pitons. Our original room is listed as “Pitons ocean view” which we realized is a label for the area near the Pitons restaurant, not the mountains. - You have to take a bus to any excursions and the dive shop. It’s not a long drive but it would be more optimal to have boat excursions leave from the resort. - Our fridge was not restocked one afternoon and we called 3x to ask hospitality to bring some water to us over the course of the evening. It never came… - Yard work outside of our thin room walls at 7am… we were trying to sleep in and enjoy our honeymoon. Yard work and power tools should wait until 11am. - There was a great steel drum band the first night but other than that, there wasn’t much entertainment. They were corralling people for an egg toss on the beach one day… It certainly wasn’t all subpar! Here are a few of the positives about this resort: - A majority of the staff we interacted with were great and friendly! - Overall, the food was quite good. - Our couples massage was great! Alane provided excellent deep pressure and it was very relaxing! - Scuba diving was great! Beautiful reefs on the wreck sites. We also enjoyed that it only took up our morning so we had the rest of the day to relax. - We enjoyed the catamaran excursion to the sulphur springs and waterfall. The food was pretty good on the boat as well. - Terry, the same manager that helped us with our room, booked us a private airport transfer upon departure. Thank you, Terry! Tips if you book at this resort: - Get a room with a butler. - Make the one dinner reservation in advance that you can and others immediately when you arrive. Assuming a butler may have some more pull here as well… - Lower your expectations to a 3 star resort. - Get out on the water to see the most beautiful views of St. Lucia, specifically the Pitons landscape. - The personal pool at the room we moved to was very chilly (not heated) and shaded. While it’s a nice feature, we didn’t use it and I’d recommend only looking at rooms with private pools where they get sun. The CEO and members of the executive team happened to be visiting La Toc for lunch while we were there. I’d be curious to hear what they thought of the resort conditions and where they vacation.. Suggestions for management: - Advertising this resort as 5 stars is misleading. I’m sure it was when first constructed in 1993, 31 years ago, but it no longer is. Adjust the resort rating if you don’t plan to revamp this property to be a true 5 star resort. It will save guests from being disappointed, and your staff the frustration to try and remedy guest dissatisfaction. - Aside from the renovations needed to modernize - maintain the property! Power wash, replace rusting and or missing tiles and grout in pools and bathrooms, replace broken utilities and furniture, etc. The pools had missing tiles (assuming they are original from 1993), rust, moldy grout, etc and were pretty dirty as you could see a ring of filth around the water line on the tiles. The pool decks also looked like they could use a good power washing as there was dirt and sand everywhere (the shower from one of the beach entrances to rinse off was broken) and the loungers were often stained and dirty. - Designate a pool for guests with “butlers”. It’s ridiculous that guests paying a good amount of money can’t get a seat at the pools, specifically with a view, because the butlers reserve them in the middle of the night / very early morning. We reserved the last two chairs at the upper pool at 5:30am one morning and a butler was irritated that we snatched it right before they did… A private pool would also make the guests with butlers feel like they are receiving more value and exclusivity. Also as our first Sandals experience, we didn’t understand the value of a “butler” and don’t feel it’s communicated properly when booking. Other guests that frequent the resorts said that at some sandals locations it makes a huge difference in the experience and at others, not so much. - Invest in better technology so select staff has access to guest preferences, information, reservations etc. in one system. This will help your staff provide better service to guests and eliminate frustration from guests having to track down reservations made at XYZ because only the person at X desk can see it. Also the Sandals app is clunky and often provided errors. - Hire Sandals employees / drivers from the airport and to excursions versus the external company that is also soliciting private services and tours to guests, and asking for tips. Likely many guests are not aware of the difference between the two companies and it could be dangerous. I hope this review is helpful and at least helps to set expectations if you book. We talked to several folks that raved about Sandals and said unfortunately La Toc has seen better days. We also heard similar sentiments from guests that stayed at the Grande. We likely won’t experience the difference at other Sandals resorts. Read less