When we arrived, we were directed by the "Transport" company, "Tropical Tours" to a hotel room that was substituting for the "Lobby" of the hotel. We had to stand in the bathroom while the "receptionist" dealt with a resident who was drunk and smelled horrible, an apparent permanent resident in this "shelter". After taking an imprint of my credit card, I was told where my room was located. In traveling to find the room, (no assistance with luggage), I passed through what appeared to be the prior "Lobby" that had several missing ceiling tiles, light fixtures torn out of the walls and lots of trash on the floor. "Under Construction" read a handwritten sign on the wall. Once I entered the room, there was an unpleasant stale odor. Upon turning on the lights, I noticed pubic hair on the desk. I went to the patio and attempted to turn on the light that didn't work. .... Then finally, something good, I opened the door to the patio to a spectacular view of the Bay. The sand just 10 feet from my door and the water just another 50 feet away. My fiancee and I smiled at eachother at that point because that was what we were really looking for in this Island Of Paradise, was to just get away for a while from the stresses of work and the cold weather in Boston. I attempted to call the "receptionist" but, not surprisingly, the phone did not work. I walked back to the reception "bathroom" and advised them that the phone did not work and that I needed some cleaning supplies to clean up all of the pubic hair in the room. I was told that someone would come to the room shortly, Some 45 minutes later, a man came to the door wearing a gold chain that hung down to his belly button, looking like a younger "Mr.T" wannabe and said he was there to look at the phone. He walked in, picked up the phone, didn't get a dial tone and said, "yah, it's broken and I don't know when they are going to fix it, but you can use the phone in the office upstairs if you need to make a call." He also had no cleaning supplies on him and I didn't expect that he was there to clean anyway, so I didn't even bother to ask. ..... The next morning, we ventured out to the beach. THAT'S ALL THAT THERE IS THERE!! Located on the property on the beach is a Night Club, Restaurant, and a Bar....ALL OF WHICH are boarded up and closed, not due to the "off season" but, as I came to find out from some of the residents there, these places have been boarded up for about 4 years due to an ongoing legal battle between the condo association and the hotel over a dispute due to the noise that comes from them. One resident who owned the condo next to me stated, "Yah, you wouldn't believe how many people come to me and complain that this is a run down ghost town of a hotel, and that it certainly isn't like the brochures purport it to be. I've complained to the management that they shouldn't be misrepresenting this place like that because it causes bad feelings from all of the guests towards the residents." ....... I called my travel agency, but the hassle and costs that would have resulted from moving to another hotel would have made the whole situation just that much worse. ....... The ONLY REDEMPTION that the Antilles At Sapphire Beach has is that the beach itself is beautiful and just outside of your patio door, other than that, I was robbed of $2000. for 5 nights at Frankenstein's House.
- Antilles At Sapphire Beach Hotel
