Iberostar Selection Rose Hall Suites

Despite my underwhelmed first impressions, this hotel did very well. We had a fun, uneventful trip.

Layout: compact hotel means getting from room-pool-sea-restaurant is very easy and quick.

Room: we had an oceanfront room. Lovely square direct-view of the sea. We saw lightning, partial sunrise and sun sets, beach weddings and drank champagne on the balcony. Big tub, good shower, dated grouting and blackened marble. Tub was marked and scratched up. Big king bed and good mattress.

Major downside to the room: it was always too cold. The floor is marble and sends chills through your skin. The cold air rushes down on you making sleeping difficult. It was cold despite the temp being set at 22-25Centrigrade. One extra blanket that covered half the bed. Minibar was good. If you open the balcony door the floor becomes slippery.

Food: pretty good. We paid $25 to have the spiny lobster bake at the Italian restaurant. It was worth the wait and extra charge. Aunt Ruby’s steakhouse was disappointing. The lobster was 7/10 but the steak was a 6. The Jamaica beach restaurant at Waves had good but tiny escovitch fish and pork. The terriyaki place at Waves books up and requires a reservation on the day you arrive. The buffet once served lobsters but we missed it. It looked generous. They had fresh churros frying for Mexican night and oysters twice. The breakfast was best with fruit, egg stations and pastries. They had a chai table for tea with spices but the water was not hot enough to brew spice tea, leading to tepid tea.

Service: proficient but unsmiling. The wait staff in the buffet and Italian restaurant were smiley and tried to do a little extra. The ice cream lady, pool towel staff, the bar tenders, the concierge, room service and the coffee shop, all do their job but they don’t greet or smile. They just expect you to walk to them, not greet you, give their bored faces a task and wait in silence for the result. The housekeeping lady came to tell us she cleans our room and on a different day she told us it was her last day so she wouldnt see us before we check out. We tipped her in person and she didnt count the tip but it seemed we somehow didnt please her. It’s normal for them to let you know how unexcited they are by the task. We saw this across the hotel. It was comical as my husband and I would share stories of how the staff had behaved at different interactions and laugh. The guest services were helpful. I only dealt with them on the phone so I couldnt tell if they smiled.

Kids: Rebecca in the Starclub was so warm and smiley. My child liked her instantly. She painted my kid’s face 3 days, which was great. The problem was, a man came to drop his kids while my 3 year old waited for her face to be painted. The intake process took 30 minutes! Even though we were there first and even though my kid’s face painting was about to begin, we had to wait for this man and his kids to be settled, changed, have lotion applied, and taken to the pool before we could be attended to. Rebecca said she was short staffed but I found the wait ridiculous. The American man saw us waiting but was very happy to be waited on fully while we waited (we were the only other people at the club) but we were delayed in our follow up plans due to this. Also, the a/c was very cold in there

Concierge: they tried to get us to have breakfast with them. In return we were offered a free couples massage or Iberocash. We did not take the offer. We didnt want to sit through the sales pitch.

Spa: it was 6/10. The massages are very expensive. We received a $25 voucher for spend over $100. It doest get far as they add tax to the price first. They don’t tell you this until after the massage, but you have access to the sauna, steam and jaccuzzi if you use the spa once. It would have been helpful to know that earlier. Massage was good but the swedish massage only covers “light to medium pressure”, as I was told after I paid. The masseuse told me she had to press harder for me and that was not covered so I tipped her well as she had ensured she pointed out her extra efforts.

Birthday: the hotel gives a 2 inch cake complimentary. My husband bought an 8 inch cake. It was good but too big. The hotel refused to store it for us after we cut into it so we had to discard half the cake. The hotel also delivered breakfast in bed and champagne. It was all good because we had a king bed. $50 for breakfast in our room at an all inclusive seems silly. Shame the cake could not be stored overnight for us by the hotel.

Pools: the lazy river has currents that push in two directions leading to slow movement and tubes piling up in a jam. The big pool is huge and relatively clean. It can be very noisy with music. The middle pool is under construction.

Cafe: the only place that makes a hot tea. Cakes were not great but drinks were good. Service is good and unsmiling.

We went to this hotel and bought that Club package! HUGE MISTAKE!!!! THEY LIE TO YOU AND REFUSE TO FOLLOW UP! They switched Waves to a couple hotel and Selection hotel is now for family!!?? This hotel has a smaller dining rooms only sites for families??!! Don't make sense and the customer service, NON EXISTENT! DONT GO HERE!!!