St. James's ClubReviews of stjamesclubantigua.com

We visited St James for the first time twenty years ago with our two toddlers, and wanted to return with our now adult children. We spent ten days there over Christmas and it was a mixed experience. The property has improved since we were there last, new coffee shop, gym, more rooms, clean and the floodlit tennis courts are fabulous. We were staying in one of the self catering Villas, which was in a perfect location literally feet from the beach. The first morning we decided to visit the hotel restaurant for the buffet breakfast - when I asked for the bill I was asked to pay $300 USD for 4 x people!. I raised this with the Manager thinking it was a mistake, he promptly told me it was correct. I was told that if I, wanted to transfer to All Inclusive they would charge me $340 USD per day but it had to be for a minimum of three days. They eventually gave me a discount but I had to argue for it. Generally most staff seemed miserable and overworked, they didn't seem to want to be there, expect long waits for just about everything, we waited for over an hour for lunch on more than one occasion and heard other diners complaining about the same thing.

Returning guest , 3-week stay , beachfront room. A lovely time but a mixed bag this time really, overall a noticeable lowering of some standards since previous 2022 visit. At times the resort felt very busy, although it was lovely to look at. The seaweed being washed up on the Atlantic side beach was a big problem this year , particularly on the beach side closest to the main hotel. Watersports excellent , restaurant food generally very good in our view with only a few minor issues. Restaurant service was very slow in the 11-11(all day) restaurant sometimes taking hours at lunchtime just for a salad but did improve after we raised the matter with Elite Hotels centrally. Food content and size were sometimes erratic- ie same dish different from one day to another. US $ prices in the restaurants look very expensive when converted into £ if you weren't all-inclusive ( we were). Room not cleaned for first 4 days but again, attended to after we had complained. Wifi not good enough for this day and age. Selected restaurant closures on certain days meant a restricting of choice to a buffet or the 11/11 restaurant and you needed to book your table early to ensure reservation at the Rainbow garden on the days that it was open. Staff were mostly friendly and helpful ( some very much so) but there was evidence of staff shortages and lack of experience.

Booked 5 days all inclusive package, got picked up at the Airport as arranged. Checked in at the front desk, sent to our room with no instructions,figured there would be some paper work describing the place and amenities.There was not even amap with the layout of the place. When time for dinner we did not know where to eat, we had to ask fellow guests. The front desk was telling us the name of the different resturants but not how to find them.Even asked some workers and they did not know.The dockside, their main resturant serves buffet style food for lunch, but is not open some nights. For the first 3 days we did not find a resturant to have a good breakfast or where the pool was located. turns out the Rainbow Cafe was about 50 yards from the front desk. For te entire 5 days while there I could not connect to the internet. One more thing there are no elevators in the place. I have 2 dislocated discs in the back also need rotator cuff surgery on both shoulders and to add insult to injury the tv set in my room had awased out picture that hurt your eyes to watch. I spoke to some of the staff and found out they are very dissafied with management. When the place shut down for 3 months during COVID the staff was furloughed, but when they reopened again they wanted to pay them as new employees, so most left and went to other hotels for better pay. On the positive sidethe grounds were meticuously landscaped-if you like peace and quiet to read a good book you will like this place. one more thing worth mentioning, they had a manager who tried toupgrade conditions for the staff but was fired after 2 months for spending too much, no wonder the staff is disgruntled, but they do not show it to the guests.. As someone who was born in the caribbean I was able to get informationthat they probably would not tell other guests. Needless to say I would not patronise this hotel? again.