Sunflower “Resort” Villas
Ok, this was definitely one of the most overt and offensive switch and bate tactics I’ve ever experienced, so for foreign travelers (ie non island natives), BEWARE! You don’t wanna get stuck here under false pretenses like we did.
So I reserved a one bedroom cottage for a few days as the location I was staying at for the holidays didn’t have any rooms for the first two days of a two week trip. I saw the photos of Sunflower online and thought CUTE and COLORFUL (and it’s nearby to the MAIN resort I was at for the remainder of my two week vacation, so convenient). Of note, it’s located in Salem, the town AFTER Runaway Bay, when you’re coming from MBJ, AND not Runaway Bay. Not a big deal for those of us who frequent JA and St Ann anyway. The whole “county” is lovely!
When I first arrived, I noticed that the front office looked pretty much JUST like the online photo…..GOOD sign!! BIG SMILE! Colorful and alluring. This is probably the first, and only smile I experienced at the resort, expect those from audaciousness and definitely the ONLY color on the entire establishment (other than the would be red you would see in my cheeks from fury at times if I were of a fairer complexion)!
When I enter the front office, no one is at the front desk and there is no ringer to summons anyone. I knock on the counter for awhile but no response. For almost five minutes no one is around. By not around I mean, I hear some female voices in the back room adjoining the reception area, talking and laughing with one another (obviously enjoying one another’s company) but not attentive to us at the front desk. I think, maybe they’re housekeeping, because I can’t SEE them although they have to hear US. Then, a young lady emerges from the back and finally comes to check US in. (OK, not house keeping). Maybe hose was on her mandatory 10 minute break (j/k: I don’t their employment laws encompass that in JA, I really don’t).
After checking us in, she exits the office to the right. I notice cottages, somewhat similar in design of the structures I saw on the website, to the left. We cross the street and enter the gate of a long single story structure of units, which looks NOTHING like the structures shown online. The building its crouched against what densely favors the pool photo I saw online, expect this pool is NOT pretty and blue, kind of looks like a border line cesspool …and CATS are crawling around EVERYWHERE. Probably no less than 10 to 15. (Oh yeah, I’m ALLERGIC to cats!!!! So maybe it was 7 to 10, but when its more than 2 or three, who’s counting).
So as we make our way through the feline entourage, we are introduced to an exterior door that abuts a companion door to a connecting room of our “1 bedroom cottage”, with a long window across the room . From the outside view, there are mosquito screens on the windows, but the screens are ripped and torn at numerous places. (Maybe the mosquitoes won’t notice the points of entry?)
So after a few good pushes by the front desk clerk, the door opens and whala! [-] Are YOU kidding me? I reminded her that I reserved the 1 bedroom cottage with the pretty pastel colors and bright colored furnishings. She said this was it. I asked if all the rooms looked like this b/c I really didn’t want THIS room because I hadn’t reserved THIS room. I mean, I’ve been in MANY lodging accommodations that may not have favored what was advertised, but this was a completely different …. PLANET ….. TIMEZONE … RESORT. Definitely NOT what I reserved and paid for online. She assured me this was it and all their rooms looked like this. I pierced into the open door of the “room” adjoining ours and it was a fraternal twin. (BTW a room which also shared one of those doors that allowed the rooms to connect into one unit if you saw fit). It was two days before Xmas and rooms on the island were scarce and booked from my online research before my arrival. Having just been on planes for the past fifteen hours, I had no more FIGHT in me. We took the key and acquainted ourselves with our new lodgings.
OK, this was suppose to be a one bedroom cottage with a living room and separate bedroom,, not big room with sleeping quarters. There was a kitchenette area immediately to our left, a “front room/living area to our right, with a half wall border separating what was to be defined as our “separate” bedroom”, with a bathroom adjoining that area.
Kitchenette: OK, definitely not touched (ie furnished/updated) since the 1960’s or 70’s, well before I was born! The mini stove and fridge was rusted. The microwave that was advertised was INVISIBLE. And we later discovered that the kitchen sink stopped up the first time I ran the water to wash out the glasses. And best of all, absolutely NO pots and pans to cook. They had two glasses, two small bowls and two plates. The walls were remnants of lead peeling paint. At this time, I had no idea I would hear my connecting neighbors on either side of our room EARLY in the AM cooking and banging pots, playing music and carrying. I think we could even hear them whisper. (We also suspected the neighbors to our left actually LIVED there and not vacationing as they appeared to be the only ones with pots and pans).
FRONT ROOM: The front room/living room had two OLD fabric sitting chairs and a twin bed disguised as out sofa/couch? Now I’ve been in many rooms with a convenient extra bed in the front room, but NOT where the bed is the main means to sit and relax and takes up a majority of the livrm space. At least there was a 15 in TV that I was able to hook up mu Wii and watch cable. There was also an eating table in the front room where we were able to play the game “what did the last guests eat” from trying to guess what the different food remnants were that still dispersed on the table and stick globs spread around on the table, stuck like fly trap. (Hey maybe this would lure and catch the mosquitoes that were smart enough to discover the trap door through the window screens).
BEDROOM: The “bedroom”, basically a small space hidden less than discreetly behind a waist high wall border, had a double bed which was made up of two twin beds they had pushed together. YES, pushed together, with old sheets and cover thrown over it. The bedding area was barely enough room for us to walk around the bed comfortably.
BATHROOM: The bathroom resembled efforts of their trying to update the shower stall (no tub) and sink, as they were somewhat modern although they OBVIOUSLY forgot about the toilet which had rusts on the bottom and stains in the bowl. It’d also rack when you sat on it. (A roller coaster with my room). And the kicker, NO TOILET PAPER!!! YES, NO TOILET PAPER!
There was no phone in the room so I skip upfront to the front desk just thinking she’s going to go to the back room and hand me over a nice fresh new roll, just to be politely informed by the same soft spoken but ever so cheerful front desk girl that she knew. There’s no paper in any of the rooms. Housekeeping had informed the manager already.…. OK? So what do we do about toilet paper? She said the manger planned on bringing some in whenever she comes. Ok, when is that? Today? Tomorrow? After my stay? She smiled because she honestly didn’t know when. I was trying to ascertain whether her smile was because just maybe she thought this was pretty incredulous herself or aha you suckers! OK, I know I can be a spoiled American but come on…NO TOILET PAPER! Not much more to say to her but laugh it off inside, as she was obviously only a young local workerbee just trying to get by and I’m certain has to deal with many unhappy patrons and irate customers routinely and there’s nothing she can do (as I’m certain it would be too much for them to send her to the same corner store right up the street that my husband walked up to, to buy toilet paper ….and cleaning beach).
So, I retreat to my room to shower with plans to finally rest in my DOUBLE BED to embark on a new adventure… they have warm , not hot water, that turns COLD in less than one minute. To that off, the shower water overflows and floods the bathroom within minutes. (Obviously connected to the kitchen “problem” sinks which we discovered was stopped up also). NO WAY! It’s my husbands turn to go deal with the front desk this time because I’m just TOO exhausted by now to redress and go upfront, again. He returns and says they are sending someone.
A few minutes later a young kid appears (16 or 17) with a plunger. He goes to the kitchen first and plunges that… (Ok, where had that plunger been before….eeewwww). Perplexed at no real changes as he runs the water to see the problem repeat itself like dejavu he decides to tackle the bathroom…. He’s looks at the overflowing shower stall and lets us know the pipes connected outside are bad. (Ok, so obviously this a problem they are already aware of). So we debate whether we should get another room b/c I can’t stay here two more days and NOT shower! We basically surmise from him that all the rooms are pretty much going to have the same problem. Again, he’s jus a young local workerbee, what else could be expected from him. He politely offers that he’ll call a plumber. (By the way, never saw a plumber before we checked out and our bathroom jus flows each and every time we shower, those are the breaks).
So we work with what we have and lay down to relax, but wait, its how and humid and we need air Especially since we opted the best way to keep our mosquitoes out would be to keep the windows closed rather than rely on the mosquitoes unintelligence by possibly not seeking entrance through the screens loopholes) …where is the air conditioning they advertise??? NO WAY! The “air conditioning” is a regular household floor fan hammered into the wall in the bedroom! I kid you not! Look at my photos!
We start our countdown for the remaining 48 hours we’ll be held hostage here before our real resort is available and decide we’ll rest and go walk down to the beach.
BEACH: So we take a stroll down past our jail cell “complex” towards the units which somewhat resemble the cottages advertised on the website, towards the oceans horizon on the other side. As we get closer we pass more cottages, two things are obvious: 1) the online photos of the cottages were taken a few decades ago as these units were dilapidated with rust on the outside walls and 2) these cottages were ALL either vacant or inhabited by locals, and definitely NOT a resort with vacationers. The residents eyed us like strangers entering the town in an old western movie walking to a showdown. What’s scarier, is that there were STRAY DOGS everywhere! (Our area had the cat infestation and this area was the mutt motel). My husband asked for my glass soda bottle which we decided would be our best line of defense at the barking dogs that gave US their undivided attention when we strolled past to the beach.
As we made it to the beach, I totally understood why their website advertises that they are beachfront, yet advise guests that they might want to take a shuttle to another beach down the road. The building at the beach looked like it was “washed” out from a hurricane with open windows and glass dispersed all around alongside a mud filled swimming pool abutting the ocean.
Strangely, the girl at the front desk asked for my hand written receipts/invoice back because she mistakenly wrote me a receipt for the resort called Skycastles, another resort they own. I inquire as to whether Skycastles was nearby because after this place, I’d be willing to try to exchange to anything else. (In fact, I remembered a “Skycastles” online, but it was in Ochi, not Salem). She smiled and said no. (So it think, why is the Skycastles log book right next to the Sunflower log book, at the front desk of the Sunflower “Resort”? ??? Not my problem, I’m still on countdown. Now, look at MY photos and the photos of Sunflower posted on THEIR website if you think I’m embellishing anything… BTW, When I returned home and went back to their site, I noticed that they do have an add for Skycastles on their page, and this place online looks as habitable as Sunflower does online, so I wonder….
http://www.sunflowerseavillas.com/sunflower/cottages/rooms.asp
http://www.sunflowerseavillas.com/sunflower/photos.asp
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
