Sands At Grace Bay

The people at the front desk went above and beyond to help us. The 2 bedroom unit was great, as was housekeeping. The beach was paradise.

I would never recommend this hotel or stay there again. Our room was on the third floor building one with no elevator and the front door to the room was a shade so there was light coming through even at night and bright as day by 6 AM. I slept awful the entire time. Our keys didn’t work the first day there so we were locked out after going to the beach. We had to go down the stairs twice to finally have the front desk person come up and admit the key didn’t work. The. We had to have someone recut a key since their system is so outdated. From the first day of the trip we only had one working key since they were low on inventory they said. It was such an inconvenience to share one key and going up three flights of stairs every time. We asked when we checked in when sunset was and were told 5:30. It happens before 5 pm so we missed it the first night and got to deal with the key fiasco. Every thing we asked for advice wasn’t helpful and the attitudes of staff was much less enthusiastic than any other island we have stayed at before. There was no one coming around by the pool to get drinks and the service in Hemingway’s was ridiculous how long it took to get your food. It was similar for other guests who would track the waiter down to get refills or anything else we needed. Very disappointing stay and lacking hospitality of Aruba.

The bed was hard as a rock. I had to sleep on the couch otherwise I wouldn’t of gotten any sleep in this place at all. The air conditioner is extremely loud and the air blows right on you when you’re trying to sleep. We ordered an ocean view room, but when we got to our room we had no Ocean view. We took some photos to prove it. We went back to the front desk to complain, but they said they didn’t have any oceanview rooms available. Even though we had booked one. But They did they did tell us they would move us to an ocean view room the next day. This process took over an hour. They kept going back to the back office to speak with someone who was the manager, and then they would come back out and tell us nothing. The next day we went back to the front desk, and they told us they did not have an ocean view room available. So they lied to us. The manager, Barbara Rigby, was extremely belligerent regarding our request to change rooms to the type of room that we ordered, And would not accommodate us in anyway Except to stay and our non-ocean view room.

Beautiful beach, nice condos, good restaurant and moderately priced as compared to the rest of the island. Nicest people I have ever encountered traveling, not just at the Sands but throughout the island! Wonderful trip. Food and alcohol are terribly expensive everywhere there. Carry on lunch meat and staples with you. Nice kitchen at the condo plates and utensils so cooking is possible and recommended.

The biggest plus of this property is the location. It is slightly outside the main Grace Bay area, and in a quieter stretch of the beach, which is spectacular. You can however reach the main area on foot, or using one of the hotel bicycles. A few negatives... The rooms are quite dated and some have a lot of minor maintenance issues. We booked an ocean view condo, and our first was small and quite tatty. Few of the condo units actually have a clear ocean view. It's a bit misleading, as they should really say 'partial ocean view'. Our first also had a side sea view, but over the public car park, complete with rubbish skip and portable WC, so be mindful that if you arrive when it's dark, you may wish not to unpack before you can see the view in daylight. We moved to a larger unit, in better condition, but it still only had a partial sea view from the side, not directly in front. Some of the staff are excellent, but unfortunately, these are let down by the few with attitidue.