The Sands at Grace Bay — Hotel in Providenciales

Start with the best and then some complaints , also some general comments on Turks and Caicos ||Room and cleaning service: the room was great (full kitchen , full living room, washer and dryer which means packing less) and the cleaning service was on top of it . The porch was large, screened in with a table to dine at. All rooms seemed to have similar vibe, just different sizes some where very large some where smaller . Note: TV didn’t work and they said they would send somebody and they never did. Was ok as we had wifi and iPad when we needed it.||Pool and beach: cool design with pockets of small areas that were more private where family can get some chairs and swim around (3-5ft deep). Main pool is as nice too and had easy bar/ restaurant access. Generally clean. |Beach had beautiful sand and clear water, not much marine life as there was no reef (closest one was bight reef) . Overall given the beach is why people come to the island as the water is perfect, this didn’t disappoint. ||Food and drink: only 1 restaurant and food was mixed bag. Lobster overcooked and chewy , tuna undercooked (practically raw). Fish tacos and grouper main hit the spot. Portions are enormous and a lot of dishes come with huge portion of fries. Order accordingly otherwise you’ll have 4 pounds of fries left over! Fries were good though just don’t need that much. It’s an island so throwing away food in general doesn’t feel great .|||Drinks - very heavy pours and heavy in sugar, no craft cocktails. Best part was beer and staff service , everything came back quick and staff was very friendly |Notes on food options outside hotel:|Nearby cafe i think called shay is great (coffees, breakfast and lunch) . | Best food: Nearby is a restaurant called embers, best craft cocktails I had and best food . However it is extremely expensive , I live in nyc and am used to higher prices but this place 30-55 USD a main , 20 dollar drinks. Was it worth it, some of it, but I was satisfied with quality, service , flavor and decor. It’s vacation so if you want a date night spot and willing to splurge it’s good! ||Concierge : mixed , reservations for water adventures by the pool was easy and guys there had an awesome personality. . Front desk was a bit more DIY. They were very informative but they tended to say, Here is number I’ll call them you speak to them … ||Rented a car: company front desk gave was great. They delivered the car to the hotel and always were easy to call over the phone. Reasonable prices , didn’t need a fancy car just something to get around. They drive on opposite side as America so I recommend getting the car with the steering wheel on their side as well as it’s more natural to drive on the other side if the steering wheel is also on other side. Everything is a traffic circle so just approach carefully if your not sure who has right away they tend to have patience with tourists ||Reservations department: the worst part. We used a travel agent who provided us confirmation of our days. We arrived to hotel and they said they had our reservations for 3 weeks from that day despite our confirmations showing otherwise. Front desk said they would deal with it but updates were very slow. Took about 3 hours for them to get us in a room. This also seemed to happen to a few other guests who had to float around the lobby while waiting for some sort of screw up made by reservations. I appreciate the staff at the front desk cannot decide things on their own so they did their best but the initial manager lacked urgency and didn’t come back saying here is what we can do for you while we fix our mistake. I feel once the new manager showed up it was dealt with quickly . Either way not happy. Nothing was comped besides a rum drink. The place was not fully booked either so it was frustrating they couldn’t come up with a solution quickly . Frustrating way to start vacation and lack of clear communication and urgency was the biggest issue. Few people said they had issues checking in as well, so maybe the reservations department needs some work. |||Airport- customs was horrible, they have fast track for 75 a person. While it’s a complete rip off to skip line it’s available for people who want to splurge and not wait with elderly or children given customs line is very very slow. It is right when you enter airport and initially feels like a scam but those people cut the line and others waiting 1-2 hours just to get through customs. ||I got a stomach bug there , assuming water. So drink bottled water even though they say tap should be good (desalinated ocean water typically) . Sh&$! Happens ! ||Overall the island is being developed for bigger tourism , so it isn’t a pretty landscape outside the beaches . I am unlikely to go back to the island as I’m not a huge beach person but my better half and kid are so we will try another country or state when we do another beach trip again. ||Activities: it’s a beach island with water sports, snorkelling and diving , kayaking in mangroves , and lounging as the main activities. If you’re not huge beach people, 3 days is probably enough. sun is hot and outside of beach umbrellas not much reprieve from it||The hotel was a 3 star for me but the price wasn’t too bad, and despite 3 star, I would recommend it as a middle tier short term stay given quality of room, pool, beach.l and service staff. My lower rating may have been my reservation experience , but as I stated few people commented on this too. Given it’s in grace bay you can access various food options close by and have access to boat adventures right...

Ok. I've always been told to start with the good, so let's do that first: The staff is friendly (for the most part) The onsite restaurant is good (but we did have poor service for one meal) Nice landscaping Beautiful beach views

And now the bad: On their website, Sands describes themselves as "Elegant & Comfortable". I would call it anything but those two things. The shower is a tub / shower combo that requires stepping over the tub to get into the shower. The shower curtain (yes, there is a curtain with plastic liner) feels like it came from Walmart, and the shower head is plastic. That is neither elegant or comfortable. In fact it's just the opposite. The front door window shade didn't even cover the door! There was probably 2" of space on either side of the shade, making it easy for anyone to just stare into our room. That is definitely not comfortable, especially while there is someone directly outside of our room painting. Despite being in the building closest to the check in desk, as well as the same building as the hospitality lounge, gym, and spa, our wifi was basically unusable in the room. It would go out all the time, and at the best of times was incredibly slow. The walls are paper thin. We could easily hear the guests in the room next to us talking, watching TV, and listening to music, despite all those things being done at normal volumes. When they would enter and exit their room it would shake ours due to the slam of the door. Every balcony is screened in for some reason. I'm not quite sure why, as there were no bug issues, and neither of the other two resorts we visited while in T&C had screened balconies. It makes for a very cheap look both in the room, and looking at the buildings from the outside. They have complimentary bicycles on site. This is a good thing in theory, but in reality is terrible. Since I love to bike, I decided to try them out. First of all, they have twice the amount of children's bikes as adult bikes (the total amount of adult bikes they have is only about 3-4). Second, the bikes are one step above death traps. The tires are worn and flat, the seats are not adjustable and lean back when you sit on them. The handlebar rubber is broken on most of the bikes, and sheds all over your hands. The brakes barely work as well. Spa Tropique is the onsite spa at Sands. They advertise everywhere on their website. It is advertised as being opened 7 days a week between 9am-7pm. My wife tried for two days straight to make a reservation for a simple pedicure there and could never get a single person on the phone. When she tried to simply walk in, the door was locked. She even enlisted the help of the front desk, who also was not successful in getting a response from the spa.

Other nitpicks: If you stay here, make sure to check your bill closely upon leaving. Multiple times I walked by the check in desk there were people questioning the staff about mysterious charges on their bill. When we checked out, we had a charge from the onsite restaurant, despite paying for all of our meals with a credit card. They removed the charge without question when we brought it up, but it still shouldn't have been there. There was a random quarter sized hole in one of the tile squares in our room The cold water was almost impossible to turn on in the bathroom There is an onsite gym, but to enter you must use a code (not your room key) and we were not provided that code.

In closing...Turks and Caicos is one of the most expensive vacation destinations out there. If you're looking to save a little bit of money over a place like Beaches, there are plenty of options. But I would not recommend Sands as one of those options. Check at their sister property The Palms. My wife and I visited there twice during our stay, and it is wildly superior to Sands in every aspect for not that much of an additional cost. I would not recommend Sands at Grace Bay to...

Our first visit to Turks and Caicos and absolutely so happy with our stay at The Sands at Grace Bay, from beginning to end, in May of 2017. We are booked and excited for our return visit in the spring of 2019! After staying at a huge resort in the Bahamas and spending most of our day walking long distances to the beach, pool and restaurants, we were looking for a quiet, intimate resort with all amenities conveniently located and The Sands, was that little slice of paradise! Loved it! Also important was a casual, relaxed restaurant dress code, so that we could enjoy relaxing at their gorgeous white sandy beach and at the pools without cutting our day short and have to return to the room to dress in formal attire for dinner! The Sands offered all of the above! A perfect vacation in so many ways!

Peaceful tranquility in building #3 (which also has the only elevator), waking up to gorgeous sunsets and sounds of the ocean and amazing sunsets as well! Every room in the resort has a screened in patio or balcony! You can relax any time of the day or night, no bugs..and some have picnic tables on the patio!

As an aside, and another reason why this was a perfect vacation for us.. if you have mobility limitations, as I have, after two spine surgeries, building #3, closest to the water, offers a short walk to the pool, Hemingway's Restaurant and the beach..all within steps of one another. Even with the garden view rooms or ocean view rooms, the walk isn't long at all with the pools running the entire walkway from the check in desk to the beach with beautiful gardens and palm trees!

This was a great place for families and couples. There is no resort directly next door, so the beach is never crowded. There are rooms with full kitchens, which is a huge help with families who have small children. The staff is very friendly and helpful. By the end of the week we felt so welcome and felt like family...not just a guest that gets lost in the crowd. Everyone greeted you with a smile and were so helpful. The restaurant was amazing. We only ate dinner out one night. We traveled with another couple and enjoyed the musical entertainment while dining and watching the beautiful sunsets! Every food item on the menu was delicious and beautifully plated. Say hello to the chef too..he's amazing! Coconut shrimp with the mango sauce, filet mignon and fresh fish..even breakfast, cooked to perfection!

Yes, there is cocktail and food service at the beach when we visited in May. The beach staff works hard, walking the hot sandy beach every day to take orders for cocktails and food. There are palapa beach huts and/or the beach staff will set up umbrellas and lounge chairs if you would like to be closer to the water. The white sandy beach has no rocks, no big shells and the water is gorgeous shades of turquoise green and blue. There is also cocktail service at the pool. They are all very hardworking staff, who made our stay so enjoyable. Thank you to all!

The front desk called our room the evening before we left to confirm our departure time and that we had reserved transportation to the airport, so that our departure would run smoothly. This was very thoughtful of them and our travel companions were leaving on a later afternoon flight two days after us and they allowed them to have a late checkout so they could enjoy the pool and beach.

We cannot say enough about the helpful, friendly staff. Even our taxi driver took us on a four hour tour of the island. What a beautiful tour we had and how fun it was to get experience the island outside the resort. Thank you Sands, from your reservation staff, to every smiling, friendly resort staffer for a beautiful vacation experience. We hope to make this our home away from home. We met many guests who return every year and we know why.

Miss this little slice of paradise!...