Guest Report

[Ryan Stroschein]

After an absolutely blissful week in Castara, my family spent one Saturday night at the Jetway Apartments in order to catch an early morning plane back to the States.

First the good:

The proprietor and his wife were very friendly and the hotel was not dirty, per se.

The location of the hotel is right across from the airport so you do not need a cab to get to the terminal. It's a one-minute walk.

Now the rest:

Unfortunately, we found our apartment unit to be run-down, old, and dumpy. The furniture was very old, outdoor-style iron furniture that was rusty and very uncomfortable. The television reception was so poor as to be useless. One of the windows had no curtains and was directly across from another unit so others could see right into our kitchen. The appliances in the kitchen were ancient and I can't imagine a scenario where I would've turned on that stove. (The refrigerator did work okay.) The sheets on the bed were threadbare and coarse, and the mattress was quite uncomfortable. Both my wife and I woke up with bug bites on our legs (I assume bedbugs) and the bathroom was full of ants. Moreover, beware that not all rooms have air conditioning. We requested a room with AC and were told they were all taken.

In summary, North Americans (and probably Europeans too) should beware that this hotel is not up to American/Canadian standards and I would not stay there again -- even if the room was free. Also, MyTobago lists an apartment as costing between US$20 and US$45US. It is MUCH more expensive than that. We paid almost US$75. For a unit without AC, mind you.

As an aside -- and I do not blame Jetway for this but I did feel that they could've WARNED us about this when we called to reserve the room -- we were there the first night of Carnival and a huge street party was taking place less than a block away, across a vacant lot. This included a massive sound truck that blasted Caribbean dance music at decibel levels that literally shook the hotel. Furthermore, the music blared until 6:30(!) in the morning. I'm not kidding. I do not think I got more than one hour of sleep that night. Surely the Jetway proprietress knew this was going to happen and could've said something.

Because the proprietor was friendly I take no joy in saying this, but it was, without contest, the worst hotel stay of my life. We will never go back under any circumstances.