winnie

Have a reservation on hold at Sandals Antigua. The room we wanted to book was sold out. The next room up was too expensive so we booked one room down. A garden view, not to happy about that. However, this is our second trip to Sandals, so our first time being Signature Guest. The reservationist assured me that upon arrival Sandals would upgrade us to the next available room catagory. Which in this case would be two room upgrades since the one above what we actually reserved is sold out. Does Sandals really do this? Or am I going to be disappointed.

Thanks for your replys

kfusto

First of all, I doubt that you were assured of an SSG upgrade at check in. IF there are rooms available then the upgrade likely goes to the guests with the most past stays, just like many loyalty programs. With only previous stay, and considering the great repeat guest ratio at this property, I would not count on it.

Also, I do not know why you assume they will upgrade you 2 categories. How about the SSG guests on category above you? Should they not, using your logic, get the upgrade first?

I have learned to book only the category I will be happy with and not to expect an upgrade. This goes for all properties.

BTW, I have 14 Sandals stays and would not expect an upgrade, nor have I received one.

winnie

KFUSTO,

The reason for this post to begin with, is because the room grade I wanted was sold out. That is when the reservationist told me, being a Sandals Signature Guest would indeed assure me a room up grade to the next available catagory. He was specific in pointing out I should book the cheaper room. Then being a SSG Sandals would upon check-in upgrade me to the next available room catagory, be it 1, 2 or 3 catagory upgrades. To me this sounds a big too good to be true. That is why I posted this to see if any SSG have experience one or several room upgrades upon check in. At this point my reservation is on hold for 24 hrs. I wanted to get things straight before I confirm or cancel it.

Autoeng

Well if a SSG that has a room that you want gets upgraded then you would get the room that you actually wanted.

winnie

I see so it's kind of a chain reaction thing between the SSG. I will only get upgraded it a SSG in a grade above me gets upgraded. Is that what you are saying Autoeng. Have you personally ever been upgraded?

KVR

We stayed at the Sandals Royal Bahamian for our first Sandals experience and received an "so-called" upgrade at check in. Instead of getting the room we booked, which was a honeymoon concierge room with a view of the ocean and Manor pool with a corner balcony, we were "upgraded" to a room with a full ocean view of Sandals Cay with a sliding glass window. We did not consider that room an upgrade what-so-ever. We requested to be placed in the room catagory we actully paid for and they did so with no problem. The room we purchased was also bigger and had a better bathroom layout with two seperate sink areas. The "upgraded" room did not.

Our second Sandals experience we were SSG members and stayed at the Sandals Grande St. Lucia. We purchased the 3rd from the bottom catagory and hoped we would get an upgrade for being SSG memebers. We did not get any upgrade. We even inquired upon check-in and was informed they were completly sold out. We saw one couple throwing a fit at the check-in staff for a better room. We would never consider acting that way for an upgrade and thought they were totally out of line.

Purchase the cataogory your most comfortable with and don't ever except an upgrade. It you happen to get one then consider it icing on the cake. Just be careful. What they consider an upgrade might not be what you consider an upgrade.

I personally feel that Sandals' room catagories are ridiculous and way over priced than other resorts that offer the same or similar amentities. We have no desire to stay at any more of thier properties unless the price is discounted, and even then we would think tiwce about it.

brenandg

Sounds like hit or miss to me. We have had 2 satys at Sandal's and one thing I agree about is that the upper level room categories are way overpriced. We stayed in a lower category. That said we were upgraded as SSG's. At the time, I booked through Twinsburg Travel and they took care of it. I think what it boils down to is to not EXPECT it. I also agree with KVR about finding out exactly what your "upgrade" entails. It may not necessarily be a better option.

Reisender

I agree re: the room categories and pricing. At every other AI we have stayed at EVERY room, regardless of price point, had a stocked mini-fridge and room service available. To get that at Sandals you have to book the most expensive rooms. This makes no sense to me at all. We have also found the rooms at other AIs are generally much nicer than the ones at Sandals. I think they are living off the business they get from moon-eyed newlyweds that have never been to any kind of resort and see everything through rose-colored glasses clouded by their passion for each other.