this would be the third time i have stayed in negril in the last 4 years and all i can say is this is probably the best place to be at !!!!!! not only is the house a great house but to have tony as the host is the greatest thing about the whole trip!! he takes the best care of you and you have "no worries mon!!!" the entire trip!!!. i will never stay anywhere but here! the best vacation i have ever had!!!!

I can't say enough great things about Gatehouse Villa. Ali was a breeze to work with for booking and payment. Tony, Joanie and Violet treated us like guests in their home. Tony cooked amazing meals for my friend and I on two different evenings. We were spoiled by also having AWESOME neighbors that quickly became our friends. Staying at the villa over a resort was the best decision we could have made. I hope to be back in the near future to visit Tony and Joanie again. If heading to Negril....I would HIGHLY recommend spending your time at the Gatehouse Villa.

Myself, my wife, and a family friend recently had the pleasure of a short 9 day stay at the Gatehouse. Our stay was the latter part of August 2010.

1st of all let me start with saying that we very much enjoyed our stay @ Gatehouse Villas. All of our contact from top to bottom, owners,management, staff, and even the other guests was incredible. Everyone treated us so warm that we really felt as if we have stayed there several times before. The vibe at the Gatehouse is best described as warm,very friendly, cheerful, fun, and at the same time very peaceful.

Booking the Gateouse was a breeze, after some reasearch on the internet, my e-mail was very promptly responded to by Ali. After a few exchanges we agreed upon a price and the payment process was very secure and easy. We had a very late addition to our trip the day before arrival and here is where the owners really came thru and helped us. After contacting Ali with our request she called me on the phone and gathered our needs with our late addition and couldn't have been more friendly and helpful. Her guest service with our needs and pricing were outstanding. We actually talked for several minutes and it felt as if I was talking to my next door neighbor not the owner. Very Cool!
Booking and Payment = A+

Check In and Check Out were very simple and quick. We have been to Negril dozens of times prior to this trip. We know how this can be a hassle, not to mention a wait at some places. Not at the Gatehouse. Upon arrival we were greeted by Joanie. She is so sweet and a smile that could light up any room. We instantly felt at home by the way we were greeted by Joanie. What a doll! Tony also came by to introduce himself and also made us feel right at home. Thats it, thats the check in procedure. New friends greeting each other and handing over the keys, quick tour of your rooms, and let us know if you need anything at all. How wonderful is that? Start your vacation immediately. Checkout was very similar with Tony, he even secured a ride back to the airport for us within minutes after we had an issue with the return ride we had arranged. The ride Tony arranged was very nice, professional, and most of all safe.
Check In and Check Out = A+

Room, our room was very nice. I do have to mention that it's slightly dated but still very nice and kept extremely clean. We had the entire downstairs and the rooms and kitchen were huge! The island in the kitchen was many nights a late night gathering spot for some cold beers and great conversation with new friends that were also guests at the Gatehouse. Tony even came by a couple of times and sat and visited with us on the porch and we had a blast talking with him. The air conditioning in the front room with the ocean view worked incredible, the air conditioning in the back lower bedroom worked ok.
Shower pressure was great and hot showers were no problem at all. Kitchen fully equipped and closets large and easy, also in room safe.
Rooms= A-

Grounds and Bar at the Gatehouse are very nice. The Gatehouse has a really cute little beach bar called Tony's Hut that is an awesome place to chill. Hammocks close by and a million dollar view of the sea, which is only 20 feet from the bar. Violet the bar tender is a sweet young lady. The bar could be just a little bit more lively, with some music and some energy. Beers were ice cold!!
Grounds and Bar= B+

Guest Service must be mentioned. Tony prepared some meals for us that were out of this world. I'm serious when I say these were easily the best meals we enjoyed on this or any other trip we have taken to Negril. You can not get food this good in the restaraunts. One night we had Lobster Pizza that was incredible, another night we had Jerk Chicken that again was simply better than any we have had in Negril. Our last night Tony fixed a feast of veggies, rice & peas, Lobster and Barracuda that was off the chain. Also having Tony join us and our friends for dinner was very fun. We made new friends had great food and drink and had great conversation.
Guest Service A++++++

Ok I'm getting a little long winded so I will close with this thought.

Would I stay at Gatehouse Villas again?...... "Hell Yes!"

Big Up to everyone at the Gatehouse you are wonderful !!!!!!!

Mike & Beth

We traveled in a group of six people, total, and were fortunate enough to have the whole villa to ourselves. We stayed in the bottom level in the three bedrooms. We really enjoyed our stay. Both Joanie and Tony were great! The villa is quite a nice vacation home nicely situated near the ocean. That stretch of beach is a beautiful calm area - great for just floating on a raft and not have to worry about the current taking you too far out too fast.

We would get up in the morning and sit out under the patio area and enjoy our coffee in the quiet and solitude of the beautiful yard. Everyone commented on how they wish we could get THAT at an all inclusive resort!

Everything went well and according to plan with the exception of the cash problem. None of us correctly anticipated the amount of ready cash that we would need since we'd never done this before. By the end of the week, we were pretty focused on not running out of cash to tip the staff and hoped we didn't offend either of them by not tipping enough. They were both so helpful and we really felt like we wished we could have left them more.

We loved having Tony's bar right there and readily available and made us all feel very safe and secure having him and Bob (his watch dog) to stand watch 24 hours a day. However, the prices for drinks at Tony's bar were a bit steeper than we had anticipated and having to settle the bar bill in cash left us a bit short. We had bought beer at the Hi-Lo, but didn't correctly anticipate how much to buy and ran out quickly. We'd walk down the beach to cheaper bars to make our cash stretch farther and actually felt bad about not buying from Tony more, but in some cases his price was double what we could get it for elsewhere. Jamaica was more expensive than the dollar beer stands we were used to in Mexico. We did make another trip to the Hi-Lo for more cash, groceries, and beer, but that too ran out quickly. (I know we sound like a bunch of lushes.) We admit that was our lack of experience, but none of us had ever done a pay as you go vacation before (except on a cruise) and didn't have the experience to draw on. I guess we just wish mainly that we had a way of paying for drinks and meals with Tony by credit card and were happy that the meals in the nearby restaurants could be.

This being a July vacation many of the beach bars and restaurants were not open and that was disappointing. We had envisioned being able to walk down the beach and enjoy jerk chicken readily at mealtime and instead had to plan ahead about where to go to eat. We felt like it took us the better part of the week learning the ropes, but again that is our fault and lack of experience. We did ask Tony to prepare us meals - I think about 4 times and everything he fixed was wonderful. He truly is a great cook, but of course, again that really sucked up our cash. Again, our fault for not planning better.

Joanie was great too and offered to fix us breakfast, which we allowed her to do, I think, twice. She also voluntarily brought fruit and juice and prepared it and even brought it out to us, while we were sitting down in the garden around brunch time. She maintains a very low profile, trying not to be intrusive, but is always quick to offer to help and did a great job keeping our rooms cleaned and beds made. We felt very privileged having our own housekeeper. She really is a great find for the Villa.

We had a little difficulty with the in room safe, but Tony was quick to respond when we mentioned it. Our a.c. worked just fine. The toaster stopped working and Joanie promptly went out and bought a new one that day. We took bug spray and were glad we did. We did have mosquitoes, as anticipated. We also had a minor problem with jelly fish and found out that is not uncommon for that time of year. A bottle of white vinegar may be a good addiition to your packing list. The temperature was not as hot there as it is here at home in July.

Bottom line is the accommodations were great! We loved it all, but NEXT time, we will know better when it comes to planning our drinks, meals, and tips. We all knew this was going to be a learning experience for us. We definitely would go back again. We loved it.