myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

I stayed at Jimmy’s for 2 nights 3 days. Firstly, we had to make a deposit when we booked, but when we arrived the admissions person (a lady..or should I say woman. She was nothing of like a lady) told us that we had to pay for the full stay upfront!!! Hmm..ok!!!

Now the apartment accommodated 7 persons, but the admissions person assured us that she would supply an extra bed for the 8th person which she never did.
Then...NO TOWELS! I brought extra towels for the beach, but had to use them at the resort. Which is not a resort, might I add, its more like a shelter.

NOW The POOL...oh my gosh!! Isn’t one of the reasons you choose a place to stay with a pool is to have bathing/liming access by the pool.
Jimmy's pool is FENCED and opens at 8 am and closes at 9 pm!!! SERIOUSLY!

To top it all off the first night we realised that we were given sheets to cover with in the air conditioned bedrooms. SHEETS!! Anyone who sleeps in a/c knows that you'd freeze under sheets!! They're completely useless.

NOT to mention the obvious BLOOD STAINS on 2 sheets, which they refused to change for us. (They said they had no clean sheets and they weren’t getting until 2 days later). Based on the lady's attitude I am assuming she just didn’t want to change them. Then again which one is worst? In Fact does it even matter???
Point is - WE DIDNT GET CLEAN SHEETS! And because we paid upfront obviously it would have been no loss to them if we left.

SO THERE you have it! Jimmy's is a dump! Now off to another resort to test it out. I’ll let you know.

I feel I just have to say something...

1-Full payment on arriveal, that´s the rule at even big hotels, not only in Tobago, also in Trinidad and into many other countries around the world as it was a very short stay, many guest houses/hotels/resorts would even demand full payment in advance for such a short stay
2-Anyone who make reservations without checking what type of place it is (it´s not a resort), have absolutely no reason to complain about the place
3-The pool open between 8am - 9pm, there are more places which close the pool in the night, for security reason first of all, but also to make sure that persons who have had a little bit too much to drink (which happens here and there) doesn´t make the pool dirty
4-Only sheets in the night on the bed, well it´s Carribbean, and the night temperature isn´t cold at all, why not simply turn down the AC a little bit in the night
5-Blood stains, were they there from the beginning or was they seen in the morning, mosquitos does exist and that means they leave blood mark sometimes on the sheets during the night as peoples are moving

I must say, from my viewpoint, I´m really surprised to read what Jessie Stuart did write. She seems to have non or very little experience of travelling outside her own home.

I disagree with Ronald on a couple of points here - firstly, bloodstains on sheets - from whatever reason - are unnacceptable in any hospitality setting. Proper laundering procedures should be in place to deal with those kind of stains in any situation where guests are dealt with, whether it is a 5 star hotel or a basic guest house... Clean sheets are a basic expectation, not a luxury. Tobago is not a place where laundry has to be done on a river bank so there is no excuse for that.

Also, even if you research the accomodation you are going to, you still have a right to complain! Some people may not be realistic about the accomodation they have booked, it's true - but if you are told that something will be made available, such as an extra bed, and it is not provided then you as the guest have been misled.

Hi Rachel

Bloodstains on the sheets BEFORE one use the bed, that´s not something one should not accept, but if it comes from oneself during the night...no one really don´t die because of that as it is it´s own blood. If they doesn´t have clean sheet enough to change them at once, than one can complain.
Tobago is for sure not a place where laundry has to be done on a river bank, but the fact is, smaller places as Jimmys or similar smaller hotels, guesthouses or private homes, doesn´t always have enough clean sheets, not even in Tobago.

Yes, we always have the right to complain, but sometimes peoples complain far too much when on vacation, never mind what destination we are talking about and never mind from where they come.
About extra beds a.s.o., that I didn´t say anything about that as I doesn´t know what they were told.

No one can always expect a 5-star service when staying on smaller places, never mind which country we are talking about. Often one still get good service, but as smaller places has less service, less options, less staff, and so on, one must know that one might get less service sometimes on smaller places compared with service at, as an example, Hotel Coco Reef.