Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa

Just spent five days. I gave it three stars because the new owners really have to get on the ball. I met many people that have been going there for years and said it has really gone downhill. Pros: 15 minutes from airport but see "con" about check-in. Staff was so helpful and more than accommodating with exception to some instances below. Room; Very basic old hotel style but comfortable and service-able. My view from room 529 was very nice and so was my housekeeper. She was just lovely. The sheets, pillows are very nice. Bed comfortable. Lazy River and slide was sooooo much fun. Loved it. Beautiful Grounds. Cons: Check-in; I waited in line for about 15 minutes then it took over an hour to sort out my room. AN HOUR with the man to the desk. 1:15 minutes total. Food: throughout including all of the restaurants is mediocre to horrible. Breads like any basic motel. Desserts horrible. Lots of sugar. Lots of salt. Pizza and food at Mangoes worst gas station quality. Frozen Drinks at bar are all from pre-made mixes. All baked goods are horrible. Jerk chicken not the best. Quite ordinary. The WORST thing about the food is the times. See attached photos. They have limited hours and the most horrible thing I saw was people standing on line for ice cream. I was last and there were two little girls standing in front of me. They served a man ice cream and then when it came to the little girls they said sorry we can't serve you. I said there was no sign. I did not care about me but I asked the server to please give the little girls their ice cream. The server said flat out no. We close at 4pm and it does not matter if you were standing on line. I WAS FURIOUS for those sad little girls. The only other Horrible experience was at the pizza place which was one of two fast food places that did stay open after 4pm. The help on the Pizza stand were also terrible, mean, sloppy and from what I saw spiteful. The pizza was worse than gas station quality. Room: No robe as indicated on some websites. No blow dryer and no iron as also indicated. Walls are very thin so if there is a party next door watch out. The only full length mirrors are on the doors but THEY ARE ONLY 7"+ WIDE. CRAZY. NO FUNCTION AT ALL. Shame on that designer. There is only one 110 outlet in the room and one in the bathroom. Bring adaptors and plug strips. Some of the rules are silly so better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

I found my stay at the Hilton Rose Hall - Montego Bay to be very underwhelming. The food was atrocious. It felt like the procurement people for the hotel decided to buy the most absolute worst quality food they possibly could to save a dollar. When I go to a place like this I don’t expect microwaved chicken nuggets, the equivalent of a frozen pizza, pre-made watered down frozen drinks, and a buffet. The pizza, which we were to believe when booking was fresh, wood fired pizza, was nothing more than a frozen crust lightly topped with sub-par ingredients thrown into a microwave. To add to the issue with the food, if you check in after five PM there’s zero chance you can get a reservation at one of the hotels non-buffet options. This should have been noted in my reservation. When we finally got to sit down at one of the hotels reservation only spots, you could tell the fish and meat was previously frozen, and the rest of the meal had no taste or flavor. When I checked in upon arrival at the hotel the process was a disaster. There wasn’t a check in procedure and definitely not a line for Hilton Diamond members. We got through the tedious process of checking in and I asked for a complimentary room upgrade. I was told the hotel was completely sold out and none were available. I then asked housekeeping which rooms were open and available throughout my stay and was told the majority of suites were empty and it’s basically a policy of the hotel not to offer the upgrade even when it’s available. For being a loyal Diamond member I just didn’t think that was right. For an all inclusive resort, I felt that the tipping required to get remotely decent service at the bars throughout the facility was absurd. Not a single person moved a muscle unless you were dangling money out before your order. There were a few lovely employees but the majority were straight up rude. Tips at the hotel cost my wife and I nearly $100 a day. This felt super aggressive and added to what turned out to be a stressful trip. I also specifically requested before our arrival champagne and flowers be put into the room, at my cost, upon arrival. This request comically didn’t happen and then a bottle of house red wine was put out with a turndown service. My room was not up to Hilton standards either. The mattress felt like they were stuffed with feathers. The charging/plug options were limited with one of the two outlets half way behind the nailed into the wall bedframe which made the outlet unusable. The door to the balcony was busted and you couldn’t easily slide it back and forth. The paint was coming off the walls and the infrastructure of the balcony looked like it was crumbling. This was in room 605, which cost me more to book for an ocean view room. I give the resort a 1 of 5 stars. The awful food, the pushy service, and what felt like cost cutting measures at every singe turn left me with regret on redeeming my hard earned points on this stay. The whole stay felt lackluster. I will not recommended this resort to anyone going forward.

I enjoyed the resort. However, I would say the one thing I did not like was how Americanized the resort was. I understand you have to be able to cater to ALL but I just can't wrap my head around visiting another country and not indulging in their culture entirely. I probably will opt to stay at an Airbnb next time for a true Authentic Jamaican experience