SAD from Tulsa Ok.
After several trips to Point Village I am SAD at what it has become. The Last review has to be from the hotel.
The property is one of the best setting in Jamaica. But the
hotel has become a 1/2 star place. We stayed in a ocean front
studio tv didn't work hot water heater only woked the first day.
But worst of all the place has had it's light turned off in the stair wells. Staff told us it was for non payment, At night this was a very dark place. VERY UNSAFE . The food was ok, pool was not clean enough to get in. I could go on and on but i will be spending my time looking for a diferent place for next trip. Looking in some of the privite units thay looked very nice but they must be rented some other way. Even for them Bring a flashlight !

Frankly I am amazed at persons who say they love a property and then are prepared to bash it based on hearsay. Guys don't you know what's happening in Jamaica and the world. Travel is down. Negril's small properties are having lots of challenges getting business for years now. There have been a lot of large hotels coming in to the country over the last three years in particular. They can give great rates that smaller ones cannot. That's the reason for the slow down in guests. In the US all of our major tour operators are still featuring the hotel so it can't be considered to be bad.

Also, Point Village is what's known as a strata down there, kinda like a condo up here but without the strong laws. What does that mean? There are some owners out there who don't pay their maintenance fees and there's nothing management can do and that's the reason for the poor upkeep.

Yes, the staff continue to be great...and there are new ones that are great too. Horace is still there doing the omlettes. There's a great lady at the front- Ardette just to name a few. There's a new girl Tookie with the spa, she's good. Some of the old ones have left for new opportunities...new hotels or to come up here to work.

Yes the property needs painting and some more maintenance on the outside but maybe its just because funds are low.

I found the food to be great for the amount of money I paid. They had a great special on with Expedia at the time I booked. Most activities took place on time. We had one of the newly refurbished junior suites down by the Rock pool. Management had told us at a repeat guest party in 2007 that those were being done up during the September closure last year and true to their word they were great.

I will be booking a return trip for the winter because with everything happening here in the USA with the economy, Point Village is a great value. Plus I get to do my part to support a really great place

Oh by the way, I called down there and spoke with one of my friends and the manager was apparently asked to stay on until the end of February to help them with marketing at this difficult time. She had resigned in July giving notice for October 08. There is an acting general manager in place.

This resort village is very run down, resembling an "undecorated since the 1950's Butlins" in an absolutely gorgeous setting.
The whole place is extremely shabby with peeling paint, broken sunbeds lying around all over the place and virtually no entertainment happening at all. Maybe that's because it was low season but even so in my opinion it was very poor.

The staff have local reggae playing VERY loudly in the restaurant and bar all day and into the night which isn't condusive to peaceful meal times. I like music of all kinds but found this a bit hard on the ears to say the least. In fact we did turn it down in the bar on several occasions to the delight of fellow residents.

Entertainment in the evening consisted of one hour in the restaurant while people were trying to eat and was of poor quality. Bingo with cut out bits of paper for counters and karaoke - how can you eat and sing at the same time? The comperes did their best but the timing of this entertainment was awful for the above reasons. Also it was all just TOO LOUD!

There was also a problem with theft from rooms while we were there with little apparent interest from the management. We didn't get our police report till the day before we left despite the incident being 8 days previous.

The rooms are very basic and desperately in need of some updating. Having said that, they are clean and comfortable and we slept like logs the whole two weeks.

The staff are amazing and willing to do anything for you and I would like to thank them here. Couldn't tip - didn't have any money left after the theft!

The food we thought was very good. A fair choice considering there were very few guests due to low season and well cooked and presented. Try the local dishes MMmmmmmmm...... If you catch fish - they will cook it for you.

The location is amazing with great snorkelling - which is what we went for and the resort beach is lovely. Could have done with few new sunbeds though and the many broken ones need to be moved. They look very unsightly and are frankly dangerous.

Have a look online for trips and things to do before you go as there is virtually no information at the resort.

Local taxis are available outside and are very reasonable, your driver usually staying with you for the duration of your trip out so they can bring you back. Price is agreed before you leave.
Let them take you out for local food - they know where all the best is to be had. We had a very good lunch at a place I would never have dreamed of stopping at - just goes to show doesn't it?

Tips are welcome as most earn very little and abject poverty is only a few miles down the road.

Take a local boat ride out to a fantastic reef off the resort beach and snorkel to your hearts' content. Find Karen by the dive centre and she'll sort you out. The fish are plentiful and very varied.

Watch out for guests and locals spear fishing close to and sometimes within the swimming zones. We found this an almost daily occurrence and considered it offensive and unsafe.
Take beach shoes - there are loads of nippy little crabs and sea urchins to step on.

You also need to keep a watch out for jet skis coming in too close as well. There are buoys marking the safe zones but they are looking for business and don't seem to care too much.

Be warned that this resort is next door to hedonism 2 and in order to walk the fabulous 7 mile beach you need to walk through it or go round by road. If you have children, you'd need to walk round anyway as they are not allowed on the resorts "adult beach"

We had a thoroughly lovely time though and are going back next Feb - the first time we have ever done a repeat trip so they must be doing something right. It really is in a fantastic location with lovely staff, amazing snorkelling and great nosh!

I'm reading all these bad reviews about Point Village and wondering what on earth is happening with this beautiful resort. We've been going twice a year since April 2004 and absolutely love it. There's been new management for the past 2 years and during that time it's been going downhill. We have booked through various UK tour operators (Mytravel and First Choice).
First Choice have dropped PV from the end of October 2008 so as far as I am aware the only UK operator going there is Thomas Cook (who recently bought Mytravel). I have sent numerous emails to PV direct asking them to let me have a price, but have never received a reply. We went in May/June this year and it was very quiet. The theme nights don't exist any more and they always blame it on the weather when sometimes this is clearly not the case. The staff were on 2 days off a week and I believe this is now 3 days off a week. I've been looking at prices for our trip in January 2009 but the prices I'm getting at the moment are astronomical and certainly not value for money. Let's face it would you pay almost £1,000 each for 2 weeks there when you know the problems they are encountering.

I understand that the General Manager leaves (or has left?) this week, but I don't know the current management situation.
If anyone does know, could the post a report here please or send me an email.

We love this place - fell in love with it the first time we went and there's no other place for us. But, you have to seriously consider if you'd go back under the current circumstances.

We want it back how it was - the most fantastic, relaxing place in the world.