So has anyone stayed at Gardenia since Hotel Impossible visit ?

I'm staying there in a week hoping it looks a lot better

Do yourself a favor and go in with low expectations. Not that Gardenia cannot step up to meet what you are looking for, however if they rise above it will make your trip that much better. It is all Irie.......

wondering too

I didn't take many pictures but this was my room that i stayed in December 24, 2012 - January 3, 2013. This room is located across from the pool (if you watched the webcast and you looked beyond the pool, it is the room on the far right. It did have a porch, but it had only one chair and it was covered in old plastic and was dusty.

excuse the unmade beds

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A few more...and their was not a mirror in my bathroom. Now, they could have gotten to this room, I don't know, but as of January 3, 2013 this is what it looked like.

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Also, where you see the foldable hamper...they put a small fridge there that I had requested.

It seemed pretty clear that they really didn't have the money to do the recommended renovations. Seemed to me that the consultant thought the idea of renovating for a mere $1,000/room was a cheap fix, whereas the owner recognized he really didn't have the funds.

wouldn't want his monthly water and light bill...

I'm not sure agreeing to appear on such a program will help the establishment, but I certainly don't mean to seem as if I'm slamming the place. The 'problems' cited are common to lodging establishments in Negril. You simply can't use US standards in viewing hotels in JA. Maintaining a property in a environmentally challenging climate (salty air and humidity age wood and metal very fast) where materials costs are very high make it impossible to maintain standards that would be considered the norm in the US. And in a resort area where occupancy is going to be quite low for half the year, the revenue stream just isn't there. Regular visitors readily accept that and understand that the relatively low rates they pay for lodging are predicated on tourists not expecting everything to look like a recently constructed Holiday Inn. But the establishments in Negril have a lot more individuality and charm than you'll find in cookie cutter hotels in the US.

I love charm. But $100.00 is too much for the rooms we saw. (the one on the show and the pics posted here by Luvsdaislands.)