Hotel Review: Holiday Inn

When my boyfriend and I decided that we would be vacationing at Holiday Inn, I honestly had really low expectations. I knew it would not compare to my experiences at Secrets or Palladium. However, I was still looking forward to it, because Lord knows I needed a vacation after my stressful exams.

Service
The service at Holiday in was surprisingly really good. I read a few bad reviews online before we went, but fortunately we did not experience any of the horrors that some guest complained about. The staff were helpful. From the start of our trip until the end, the staff were delightful. I particularly liked the fact that at check-in were served fruit punch while we waited. This is a step down from the champagne they serve at Secrets, but it was still a lovely gesture. I would have to say that the service was pretty decent for the price.

Accommodation
Another surprise for me was the room. I didn't expect that it would have been so spacious. We booked the deluxe suite with ocean view, and I must say that that was the perfect choice. My only complaint would have to be that the bathroom had no jacuzzi. Yes I know, I could survive without that jacuzzi, but it would have been a nice touch to have it there.

Food
The food was so so, nothing special. They had only a few specialty restaurant and we managed to go to two. The first restaurant we went to was the seafood restaurant. I am not really big on seafood, but the food was actually good. However, I was looking forward to the italian restaurant after reading all the wonderful reviews about it. But, what a disappointment! I guess my expectation was too high.

Both the morning and evening buffet are typical of what you would find at any all inclusive hotel, so nothing too special there. I have to give them props though for making some of the best tasting fried dumplings I ever had in my life...yum yum!

Beach
Let me start by saying that I am obsessed with the beach. Maybe I was a mermaid in my past life...haha. With that said, beaches are resorts are very important to me. Thankfully, Holiday Inn did not disappoint because they do have a lovely beach with plenty of space for the guest to spread out. They also had an island (or you might say a patch of sand) by the beach which was actually very lovely. The sand felt good and the water was clear and nice. It was all I could ask for.

Activities
Honestly I don't visit hotels in Jamaica for activities. I am more interested in just relaxing and not having to make the bed, haha. Therefore I didn't go running around the hotel trying to find activities to participating. However, my hubby and I did go wind sailing and it was lovely. We also had a round of competitive miniature golf which was pretty fun, especially because I won! In the evenings the hotel would have some pretty good performance. Our favourite performance night was the Michael Jackson night. Jamaica do have some very talented people!

Ratings
Considering all things relative to the price, I would give this hotel a high rating and would recommend it to anyone. 3.5/5

Check out our other hotel reviews in the mean time:
Tropical Lagoon Heights Resort
Secrets Resort-Wild Orchid


Shannon xoxo