Jolly Beach Antigua - All Inclusive

The only word that comes to mind when thinking how to describe this place is scam. The rooms are extremely small. The balcony is the same size as the room. The bed is almost taking up the entire room and it is just a small bed. You barely have a few inches on the side to move and you can’t even slide a suitcase in the gap between the bed and the walls. There are security bars on the inside of the room door and you get the feeling that this is prison not a hotel. No fridge or coffee or tea making facilities in the room. No water. No Wi-Fi. This place is dirty. Mould and dirt everywhere you look, even on the sun loungers. Rooms are crawling with bugs which looked like cockroaches. Glasses stained with lipstick so clearly, they didn’t even bother to replace them between guests. The bed linen was stained, there was hair and it looked like there were bed bugs too. It seemed that they didn’t even bother clean the room between guests. Extremely rude staff. We were at the hotel for 2 hours and did not see a single person from the staff smile or try to be polite or helpful or in any way make you feel welcome. The person who checked us in Paulette was very rude and made us feel very unwelcome. Went over the charges for lost keys and towels and safe key 3 times. Repeated another 3 times that it is very important to be present the following morning for the orientation so that we are made aware of all the services and places which are not included in this all-inclusive hotel. While we waited for our room to be ready, we tried to have lunch but were met with more of the poor service and management at this place. No drinks are served at lunch. Not even coffee. Coffee is a myth altogether as the only coffee this hotel offers is instant coffee. No espresso machine anywhere in the hotel. The beach ***** is ok but really not seeing any upkeep in years. We were there only shortly because the only free sun loungers had mould on them and a there was a tractor going back and forth making noise and spreading the smell of burnt fuel and not doing much else. The hotel has not seen any maintenance or repairs since it was built. If this was in the UK it would have been closed long time ago due to health and safety concerns. The disrepair is evident anywhere you look. On top of this there seems to be a construction going on at several places throughout the hotel and the noise is really loud. After we experienced all of this in just our first hour at the hotel we decided to speak to speak to a manager and started with the front desk staff who advised the manager is busy and we need to come back later. After several more attempts I eventually got to speak to a supervisor who told me this is the hotel you booked, there is nothing that can be done to which I replied I would like to check out please. She advised she needs to speak to the duty manager. The duty manager arrived and expressed some understanding and said he needs to speak to the general manager which sounded odd but anyway we waited another hour and after another couple of attempts to persuade to stay he instructed the front desk to check us out. This is where is got interesting as now trip.com are saying the hotel never agreed to cancel our booking and are refusing to refund us. They asked me to speak to the hotel and I have multiple times and the hotel are saying their checked us out so our dealing is now with the booking agent. Trip.com are now saying there was another supplier involved in the booking and they are refusing to refund us but they won’t tell us who this supplier is or how to contact them even though trip.com should be leasing with them. I am now speaking to my credit card company and the travel insurance and I am exploring the option to take trip.com to small claims court. We paid £1000 for the 5 nights we were planning to stay at Jolly Beach and 10 days after those horrendous 2 hours we are still chasing them to get a refund.

Food was amazing. It’s on a clean clear beach so that’s a plus but you have to pay $10 for room service (room to be clean) and the WiFi only works in the lobby.

My partner & I adore Jolly Beach Resort so much so we come twice a year; if life permitted, we'd come even more often...maybe in the future. We arrived at the end of July and stayed 19 days. Usually we stay 3 weeks because time here flies so easily & we can't seem to get enough of Jolly! Nothing beats the beach only steps away from the hotel! If you a beach bums like us, this is your place! The beach is impeccable & is the main reason we love coming here time after time. It's utter perfection unlike anywhere we've experienced in the world. You can also explore the other 364 beaches of Antigua while you're here, but we feel Jolly is #1!! It's like coming home to a second home when we come here that's how much we love it here, and we miss it so much when we leave. The staff overall are very nice & personable. Keon helped us upon arrival with our bags & rum punch that punched.. that was awesome!. The rooms all have an ocean view which is amazing because not a lot of resorts are like this at all if you've traveled around. Although a bit outdated, we don't come here for the decor. We always have a clean and extremely comfortable bed, clean shower with hot water & clean towels. The bathrooms are stocked with hand soap, body wash, shampoo & conditioner if you happen to forget yours. I make my own bed anyway whether I'm here or another place, so housekeeping not coming daily is not a big deal for us. I clean my own space, but do love when housekeeping tidies my room for me every week for a refresh. We enjoy spending time on the deck of the room when we awake in the morning and watching some sunsets in the evenings if we aren't still on the beach. The air conditioning is powerful for those hot days, and there's a screen on the door if you prefer the ocean breeze in your room. We just love the cozy, laid back vibe here! Meals here are delicious. There is a great variety. My partner is the biggest fan of the breakfast here as he gets his fresh omelettes made to his liking. I adore the salt fish mornings & baked beans daily with eggs & sausage or bacon. There's also an assortment of fruit, yogurt, cereals, bread & pastry along with hot teas & coffee. Lunch is my favorite for the freshly baked cookies for dessert: sugar, chocolate chip WOW! I asked to meet the baker because she deserved an applause & appreciation for those cookies. It was a pleasure to meet her! There's always salads, an array of dressings, a fish and chicken dish. You can also opt to eat at the grill by the pool on the beach & have any drink you desire. Dinner menus change daily & there is a schedule located at the front desk showing you what menu to expect each night. You can also go to the Italian restaurant on site & make a reservation for it. It's delicious! Our favorite servers are DelMarie, Dion, Donelle & Jason. Much love to them. I can't remember names of a few others, but the staff in the kitchen and dining areas here are absolutely wonderful! When you got to the beach, there ar

Have had a wonderful 12 days here at the Jolley beach. Yes the hotel is dated but so am I. The rooms are basic and need an upgrade but the beds are comfy and all you need is somewhere to shower and sleep. The food has been great especially the breakfast and the lunch at the coconut grill was delicious. What really stands out with this hotel is the staff. I found that they were all so friendly and always ready to help. Special shout out to Joanne and Winsome for the omelettes and Patrick at the long bar for the drinks. Margaret at he tour desk was really helpful. From the moment I checked in and the staff realised I wouldn't be able to manage the stairs to the original room and they went above and beyond to get me a ground floor one I knew we had made the right choice and I can see why there is so much repeat business. Would return in a heartbeat.

From checking in to checking out it was a wonderful holiday the beach is beautiful the rooms comfortable and clean great AC .The staff helpful and joyful to the customers . i would suggest that if you are from England Scotland Wales or Ireland o anywhere in europe please give the hotel a chance to go too . As June July and August if seeking the sun great food and nice drinks of all kinds then its the place to go to the hotel is only three floors all rooms face the fabulous beach and watching the sun go down is superb, my wife and i went to relax and that is what we did . I know the Jolly Beachhotel is rated as a 3 star hotel but it goes way beyond any 3 star and even surpasses a lot of 4 star hotels i have been too. you can organise trips from the hotel to places around the Island for ok prices . then you can pay a little visit to mervin on the beach who is someone that takes you on trips around the island comes on times and returned you all fo a good price too . if i where to find a fault it would be with me that i didnt stay for 3 weeks or more . all those i met had nothing but goodto say about all the above .i had read before i went that there was construction going on well all i can say they must work with rubber hammers as we heard nothing and yet it was the rooms below our own room that was being renovated. honestly please give this hotel a chance you will not regret it but will do if you dont . the choice of breakfast is vast the choice of lunch if you can handle one after breakfast is grand then the evening meal well i never ate the same thing twice for evening meals as the selection was grand .i am a seasoned a traveller i have been to africa europe americaand lots of islands but this holiday has been the best off all

In general, I had a good time at the Jolly Resort. Best things there are the beach, plenty of shadow and space in any part of resort. The resort beautifully kept. Staff is very friendly. All rooms have a sea view. I liked white stones walls interior in the room and buildings. I was a solo, so, not perfectly closing door in the room was not bothering me and size of the room with spacious balcony was also good. More important that AC was working great. Unfortunately, there was only one place where I could charge the phone located high on the wall. The all-electrical switches were in bad condition, so my small travel kettle was broken on 3rd day. I had it to have a coffee in the room since you need to go for coffee outside which is inconvenient as first things in the morning for me. By the way coffee they have is literally awful, the worst I have ever had. They also do not have any kind of sparkling wine. But still I would really complain only about the food - this need to be improved. Breakfast and bakery food was ok. All other food was very poor in choices, no meat, small, strange chicken cuts. Pizza Factory restaurant is also no good, in spite they were trying to serve better. I found the great solution with food getting this at Coconut Grill - it was very good. You can comfortably eat on the 2nd floor at the hut under shadow with a lot of space, looking at the blue sea - that was a pleasure. So, except of the food and coffee all other things were very good. There were also a lot of fun at night with dancing, live music and singing. People of all ages were dancing and having fun. It was not boring at all in the evenings. In general, I still can say I had a pleasant time, and I would recommend Jolly beach resort, especially considering very budget price.