The Jamaica Palace hotel is described as an elegant and luxurious 4 * hotel which is within walking distance of romantic beaches and coves. Whilst it may well look elegant when you arrive at the hotel, on closer inspection it certainly is not luxurious and certainly not within walking distance of romantic beaches and coves.
The hotel has a feeling of the overlook hotel in the film 'The Shining'. Very few people were staying at the hotel and the grounds have not been maintained to even a very basic standard. Floors around the grounds were generally dirty and mouldy, as was the poolside. The pool looks dirty and is it need of repainting and the outside bar area looks like it has not been in use for along time. Within an hour of being there I nearly stepped in dog or cat poo twice. This had not been cleared up by the next day, despite us informing the hotel manager of this.
The room was very basic, did not have a hair drier and the shower was a trickle of cold water. Someone came to try and fix this with a cocktail stick!!! Needles to say, this was not effective. We were told the shower may have been cold because alot of other showers may have been in use!!! (The hotel was nearly empty)
The nearest beach was approximately 3 miles away by winding roads without pavements for pedestrians.
We were so appalled by the poor standard of this hotel that after one night of a five night booking we left. The hotel manager said he was suprised by our complaints and could not really see our problem. The booking was pre paid through Last Minute.com. The hotel would not refund us for the four nights we did not stay as they said that Lastminute.com would be responsible for this. Lastminute.com could only offer us a refund for 2 nights, so we were left out of pocket for a hotel which has been totally falsely described by booking agents.
Anyway, don't just take our word for it in respect of this hotel, have a look at the attached photographs of this hotel which show what it is actually like.
In summary, what was probably once an elegant and luxurary hotel is now a dirty and run down hotel.
- Jamaica Palace Port Antonio
