Unofficial Negril.com readers' survey: Favorite hotel in Negril

[sher]

1. Cocolapalm
2. Catcha
3. Spa retreat
3. Rockhouse
4. Tensing pen

Disclaimer: we always spend most of our time on the beach and we love Coco. We like to spend a couple nights each reach on the cliffs and we really liked Catcha in Sagi. We are staying at Spa retreat this next trip because I think it's beautiful, love the restaurant and the location to visit all the little bars we discovered on last year's Boardie pub crawl. I like to have a couple days of quiet on the cliffs to just decompress! Rockhouse was full or that was our first choice. Tensing was beautiful but when the sun went down the place closed up. Not even a bartender around. I would NEVER stay at Banana Shout again due to the horrible experience we had with the management. Been to Sandals negril and Beaches years ago and wouldn't go back.

[gerryg123]

I would NEVER stay at Banana Shout again due to the horrible experience we had with the management.

Any details on this?

[JitterBug]

bar b barn
sunset at the palms
catcha a falling star

i'm a long time bar b barn fan . . . ppl are missing out on a really reasonably priced gem . . . sunset at the palms was the only all inclusive i stayed at in jamaica and i did two times in six months, loved it that much. i'm not a cliffs person otherwise catcha would be top.

[M&G Montreal]

Gotta weigh in here.

Sunset on the Cliffs
Fun Holiday (especially with kids for a day at the beach - pool - ocean - close proximity)
Seastar
My (Our?) Favorite Pastime
Yellowbird

[IRIEchic]

CocoLapalm
Rooms

[sher]

Regarding my stay at Banana Shout, it's kind of a long story but I'll try to shorten it. In Dec. 2012, we booked and paid for 2 nights at Banana Shout for May 2013 in one of their cottages closest to the water. In April, my fiance was laid off but found another job which required to him to go away for training the same week we were supposed to go to Negril. I emailed the owner, Milo, and asked if we could switch our reservation to a couple of weeks earlier than we had booked. He wrote back "Not a problem!". A few days later, I reconfirmed our new dates and he wrote back that we were all set. Upon arrival at Banana Shout, no one from management was to be found. We sat with the other guests and while talking, found out that another couple had already been staying in our reserved cottage and weren't scheduled to leave for several days. When Milo finally got there, he told us they were overbooked, but No problem! they would find us another place to stay. They claim they called all over and the only place available was Sunset on the Cliffs. They said we'd be there for our first night, then we'd have the other cottage the next day. Milo, Marianne and us piled in their little car with our luggage and went over to SOTC. At first, the room seemed okay for the night, but it ended up being terrible. So many problems. Anyway, we tried to suck it up for the night knowing that we would be out of there the next morning.

The next day we called Milo to pick us up. After waiting and waiting (apparently they had car trouble), we get back to BS and they take us up to a room, but not the cottage we had been promised. This was the room on the 2nd floor with the bath downstairs. Not the little cottage I had planned for and wanted for our last night on the cliffs. After a lengthy discussion (and some tears of frustration on my part), Milo and Marianne talked to the people in the cottage who were apparently their friends and had no problem switching rooms for the night so we could have the cottage. I was hesistant; I didn't want to be "that person" who kicked someone out of their room, but I was assured that the couple was happy to switch and Milo was compensating them generously for it. Well, turns out, as we were moving our things into that room, we find out that the other couple was furious over the switch. In a small setting like BS, we were now the jerks who caused problems. All I wanted was to spend 2 nights on the cliffs in a relaxed atmosphere, no worries, just my Red Stripe in hand. Now we are on the rock for over 24 hours and it has been nothing but misery.

Marianne said she felt really bad about the mixup and to make up for it, they would give us three free nights to use in 2014, plus Milo would be making us a traditional jamaican meal for dinner that night - the best ever! Having read that he is a good cook, we were looking forward to the meal and decided to make the best of the rest of our stay. It was a nice little cottage with a great spot for watching the sunset. Marianne and Milo came over to our chairs during sunset and we chatted for hours. Eventually, someone brought us a bowl of soup (broth, really) and they made a big deal about how great it was. This is our traditional jamaican meal? Bait and switch if you ask me. We would have gone out for dinner at LTU or something had we known we would get a bowl of broth!

The next day at check out, Marianne again expressed how sorry they were at the mixup and couldn't wait to see us on our next trip. We were happy to be headed to the beach...

Fast forward to a month or so later, when I emailed Milo to lock-in our dates for 2014. He responded that he wouldn't take our dates until we had purchased airfare because he didn't want to have to change them later. Okay, I get it. A small place like BS doesn't want to lose business when someone cancels down the road. So in December 2013, when I was able to book airfare, I emailed Milo to say I had my flights and wanted to book just 2 nights instead of 3. His response was that since no one else had booked yet on either side of my dates, I had to wait to make sure someone didn't want my dates. So now, after everything we dealt with on the last trip, he is basically saying he won't confirm my dates until he knows he isn't getting a paying customer in there.

Emails went back and forth, and I expressed how upset I was after what we had to deal with last time. All I wanted was to reserve my dates.

Dear shelly
You are asking abailable dates for uour free stay with us 7 month earlier ans we ask you time to arrange good the booking in order to do not loose 2 weeks reservation
If you cannot wait...
Best milo

First off, my name is Sherry. And what kind of response is this? A few days later I get this email from "Andrew" whom I've never heard of or dealt with before:

Hi Sherry, this is Andrew, writing in behalf of Milo. I manage the business for him now. I'm very displese of what I've read..please feel free to come the days you required. I will be happy to accommodate you in Dolphin View Cottage the 23rd and 24th of April.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Andrew

A couple of days later Milo emails me asking to confirm my dates. Frustrated with the whole thing and the way it has played out, I told him that instead of any free nights, all I wanted now was to be refunded for the night I paid to stay at BS that I didn't get. I brought up that he put us up in a terrible room (mold, broken shower head, etc.) after we had paid to stay with him and he probably paid a lot less to SOTC than I paid him. I asked him to do the right thing and we wouldn't bother him anymore. I got this response:

Dear Shelly
Andrea wrote cause i was not in office.
we paid 80 usd for you there, i remember you that we do the possible to help you out and we give you 3 days night free as present, i'm very sorry you cannot wait as asked for a couple of days to arrange other reservation of 2 wees
all the best
milo

And with that, I'm done with Banana Shout. I can't deal with worrying about what we'd be dealing with if we ever stayed again. I go to Negril to relax, not stress.

[original spanky]

Swept away
Idle awhile
Blue cave castle
Catcha
Nirvana

Curious what is it about sea star that people love so much . I have never been there?

[Patricia]

[Soursop555]

this requires much thought...
1.Blue Cave castle...multiple trips.
2.Blue Horizon West...miss this location and hope they re-open
3. Xtabi...last July
4. Rockhouse...1st cliff trip
5. Grand Pineapple...great experience

And for Bob's B-Day this ranking may change as it's my first stay at Seastar...