Point Grace review Feb 2002
 

We're back from the Turks and Caicos. We stayed at Point Grace the first two nights of our trip. The facility itself is very nice and even luxurious. The beach is beautiful and long. There was very little surf and the air and water were both plenty warm.<BR><BR>We stayed in an oceanfront two bedroom suite on the third floor of the east building. It was beautiful inside with huge bathrooms and marble floors. It had a full gourmet kitchen as well. The elevator was out of service during the entire time of our stay. This was not a problem for us, but it was not our expectation to have to climb three stories each time we retruned to or left our room.<BR><BR>I was very disappointed in the service at this resort. The employees were friendly enough, it was just completely disorganized and they didn't seem to care that they kept making errors.<BR><BR>They failed to schedule two spa sessions that we had reqested even though we had confirmation that they had received our request. They failed to schedule a requested taxi for a dinner reservation, even though they had written down our request and an employee had signed for it. Our toilet broke (failed to refill the tank) and they failed to respond to our call for service for more than 8 hours at which point we reported it a second time. They fixed it and then it broke again two hours later. It was broken for most of our stay.<BR><BR>When we went to check out, they wanted to charge us for our stay a second time even though it was a pre-paid stay. It took a telephone call to the US (our expense) to resolve the issue.<BR><BR>We would not stay at this resort again. There are too many other great places to stay in the Caribbean.<BR><BR>We did have an excellent meal at the restaurant at the Grace Bay Club (I think it is called Anoecona sp?). The meal and the service were both flawless.<BR><BR>We spent a week at the Meridian Club on Pine Cay after leaving Point Grace. It was amazing. I will post more on our stay there in another post.

dear dudley<BR><BR>would realyy like to hear your review of the meridian club. i canceled the meridian for point grace. sounds like i made a mistake.

Eagerly awaiting update from Meridian Club! Hear anything about the past managers that bought a place (maybe Windmills or on Salt Cay) and are now reopened? Would love to hear about the redo to the bathrooms and all the rest!

Erin:<BR><BR>I don't know when you're tarveling, but the Meridian Club may still have vacancies. They're getting pretty full in March, but they have lots of room in April from what I was told. I don't know what you are looking for, but the two resorts (Point Grace and the Meridian Club) are very different. The Meridian Club seems to appeal to people who want to go and relax on the beach, do a little snorkeling, eat good food, and take some simple day trips. As I'm sure you know, there are no real phones (one in an outhouse like building that may or may not work), no TV, and no newspapers. We had a great time, but it's nothing like Point Grace.

Hi Dudley: Sorry to hear that you had a bad time at point grace. Did the other people staying there have the same experience? How far away was snorkeling? Did they clean your rooms (i.e. change sheets and towels?). Did you ever discuss the problems with the manager who supposedly is nice and very helpful? Am trying to decide if I should change our reservations to Grace Bay Club instead of Point Grace. Know the Meridian Club is supposed to be amazing, but don't want to be stuck eating only at one place...we like to try new restaurants/bars every night. Thanks for the input. cece

We are booked at Grace Bay Club but just saw the Point Grace spring special and were considering a change to Point Grace. I had read about poor service (dated 2001) and was wondering if it had improved. Apparently not. I'm sticking with the Grace Bay Club. Thanks for your trip report!

CC:<BR><BR>Almost every employee was "very nice" although there were one or two who seemed indifferent to the fact that guests were paying hundreds of dollars a night to stay at the resort. We never met the manager at Point Grace which seemed add due to the fact that the occupancy load seemed low. In fairness to them, we only stayed two nights, but we spent plenty of time there for him to introduce himself. We never met anyone in management.<BR><BR>I think one of the biggest problems is that this is as much (or more) of a condo place as a resort. I think they rent the unsold and unoccupied units for extra income as opposed to being a resort that caters exclusively to paying guests.<BR><BR>An older person would not have been able to climb three flights of stairs several times a day due to the broken elevator. Perhaps they would have relocated us if we had complained, but I'm not sure.<BR><BR>At no time during our stay could the front desk provide change for a $20 bill. We asked on 3 or 4 separate occasions and each time we were told to check back later.<BR><BR>They were not fazed by their continued mistakes and oversights. I don't think you should second guess yourself now, but you should know what you are getting into. When I go on vacation i don't expect people to fall all over themselves trying to please me, but I do expect them to try their best, be friendly, and to pay attention to the details that matter like working toilets and calling a taxi for dinner reservations.<BR><BR>You will get beautiful accomodations (as long as you are not in a cottage) at Point Grace, but in my opinion you will not get the service that you are paying for.<BR><BR>The Grace Bay Club is less fancy, but is more casually elegant.<BR><BR>Hope this helps. I'm sure that you will have a wonderful time wherever you stay. The beach and the weather will great.

Thanks for the information Dudley. We are actually looking forward to the "condo" thing because we get tired of sneaking our own food into mini-bars at resorts. We don't really look for much in the way of service, just clean linens and a good rum punch everyonce in a while. Don't really like to be bothered. But we are scheduled to stay in a cottage suite..have heard they are super nice, you think otherwise? CeCe

I have just heard a few grumbles from people who wished they has stay in the East or West bulding which are on the beach. The cottages are around the pool and as I understand it do not have any view of the beach.<BR><BR>We had no problem with the housekeeping, although another guest was unhappy during our stay and said he wasn't sure what they did and that they did not change his sheets. I'm sure that any concerns that you have about that you an work out with your maid. <BR><BR>I think all of the units have great kitchens if you want to do a little cooking on your own. <BR><BR>We had breakfast at the hotel twice - once it was $100 for three people and then the next day it was $30 for the same meal. I think you will need to be vigilant about room charges in general. I think they have a big problem with errors in the billing system.<BR><BR>If you've been to their website, the pictures are accurate. The beach service is great with little tents and free bottled water on request.

Thanks so much for the info Dudley. CeCe

Hey Dudley: forgot to ask one question: why did you take cabs to restaurants? I thought Point Grace had a shuttle that took guests to rest. in town? Thanks again. CeCe

They told us that the shuttle was only to the airport and that we would need to use taxis to go other places. I have been told this by previous guest as well. They do have bicycles if you want to pedal yourself to dinner. When they botched the taxi request they had a security guard drive to the Anacaona restaurant at the Grace Bay Club.

I returned from Point Grace on Tuesday and had a very similar experience. On the topic at hand, I spent $50.00 in cab fare one night to go to a recommended restaurant off the property. My husband, wanted to use the off property fitness facility that they talk about on their web-site. No one was willing to take him and most of the time he ended up walking the 1/2 mile walk to the club. <BR><BR>BTW we heard the General Manager was fired the week before we arrived. The Assistant Manager appears not to have a clue. We had: no maid service 1 day, they ran out of sugar, tequilla. Bailey, and plastic cups (means beach waiter can't bring you a drink at the beach and you have to get one yourself.) We stayed in a cottage which at first I didn't like because of the no view aspect, but then I heard several other people trying to change rooms because of noise problems (babies screaming at 6:00 AM) in the ocean view building. The hotel was full, so no one could change. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I'll never go back.

Yikes! That's it...I am definitely changing my reservations to Grace Bay. It sounds like even though point grace has nice rooms, the staff is just a nightmare. I thought there was free shuttles, great service and free gym use. The write up in Elle magazine was way off, and I can't believe that conde naste traveler voted it one of the best new hotels if the service is like this. GOod thing I just called to reserve a room at Grace Bay...hopefully I won't have any problems cancelling my reservation at Point grace. I hear they are terrible with charging extra. THanks for all the detailed information.! You're saving us from a nightmare vacation. Nancy

They should have at least comped you a free night or given you a discount! Its off my list now too!

Our cab driver told us that more than 60% of the guests that he drives have the same complaints about the service and lack of Managerial direction. With so many complaints, no one will get comped.

Hey Dudley<BR><BR>Did you stay in room e301. We stayed in that room and the toilet was also broken. It wouldn't fill up. Point Grace advertises that they drive you to nearby restaurants but we always got charged. We never saw the manager either. Again, the front desk never had change. The screaming babies were in the east wing. They were the people who hogged the pool chairs. This is a condo resort but the owners are only allowed to use them for 2 weeks during high season so the odds are that most of the people there were paying guests. The best thing was that my kids took the rolls royce to the airport and they loved it.

Yup, Rm 301. They assured us that it had never happened before. They said there was a little grit in the valve, but like I said the master suite toilet was out of service almost the entire time of our stay.

Hi Dudley et al: Thanks so much for your candor regarding point grace. Nice rooms/facility surely isn't enough for a vacation. Who needs to worry about things like linens, taxis and more importantly: toilets. We switched our reservation to Grace Bay and feel much less anxious about the potential problems. Thanks for helping us have a much better vacation. Rock on! Carly

this sure is a disheartening thread...we are going in april to Pt. Grace and I'm so looking forward to it. I'd love to hear some other opinions from people who have stayed there.