A different type of review: Pearl v. Hedo II

[tj71903]

So, after more than 30 trips to Pearl (the most recent being for the 4th of July this year) we ran into a situation that forced us to branch out for more than a day (we'd previously taken day passes to Temptation and RM).

Our scheduled opened up with a chance for us to have a long weekend somewhere. We had some airline credits to burn and so we called Pearl in hopes of making a quick down and back and ... they were sold out. Given that it was Tuesday and we were going to leave on Thursday morning, accepting the perfunctory "Wait List" spot didn't make sense and so we decided..."let's go to Jamaica instead".

So we looked and, sure enough, Hedo II had availability and so we booked in for three nights thinking that we had met enough people who liked the place so why not give it a shot. After all variety is the spice of life and it made sense to branch out...if nothing else, we'd have a basis for comparison.

And compare we did...

ARRIVAL/AIRPORT

Comparing MBJ to CUN... We used to go to MBJ about once a quarter for several years and liked it for the most part. Arrival was easy off the jet bridge and then you walk down the various corridors to the, now, electronic arrival stations. You scan your passport and have your picture taken with the machine which prints a receipt for you. This is similar to the new digital arrival stalls at CUN. Once you have your ticket it'd down a few ramps and then you're in the customs hall where you wait to have your receipt reviewed before heading to baggage. Similar to CUN which does this all in one process instead of having the progression to the next room.

Worth noting (and a theme that developed) we booked the arrival service through Club MoBay via the Hedo website and received confirmation for same. When we arrived at MBJ there was nobody waiting on us and so we moved on. When we arrived at the last level of the arrival process (where your receipt is verified) we spoke to a rep who said the reservation with Club MoBay was never made...interesting.

Once we got through customs and collected the bags it was through to the arrival hall where we found the transportation service booked through Hedo. We checked in easily and were told to head outside where the representative was waiting. We had booked a private transfer as we knew Negril was a good distance away and having dealt with a 3:45 wake up call to make the early connector to ATL it made sense to have some down time.

Met the gentleman outside who said it would be 25-30 minutes for a car to show up (this was similar to USA Transfer in Mexico), but since we had booked the "Private VIP service", it would be more like 10 minutes. Yeah, we're in Jamaica and understand island time so we figured a half hour as unappealing as that would be. Sure enough, 30 minutes passes and no car. Another 25 minutes passes and finally someone shows up. It's a sedan and it's seen somethings in its 15+ year life. No worries though, it runs, it's got A/C, we're good.

There was a lot of traffic, so the trip took us around 2.5 hours from MBJ to Negril. Driver was terrific. Fun and entertaining.

Overall impression: CUN's airport is more refreshed, especially with the new taxi/car area outside of customs. The MBJ area could use some TLC and investment. The logistics of the arrival were similar between the two companies, but if I had to give a preference it would be to Desire and USA Transfer just because their cars are bigger and arrive (usually) on time relative to arrival and check-in.


RESORT ARRIVAL

I fully admit that our frequency to Pearl has allowed us to build familiarity with the resort and the personalities there. That is an important disclosure when comparing the two processes.

While on our 2.5 hour venture from the airport to the resort, I emailed the concierge to ask about the Club MoBay no-show/book. To their credit I got an email response within five minutes apologizing for the confusion and offering refund the money paid for the service. I accepted, and said if it was easier to just keep the money on our account so that we could use it for incidentals (if any) at the resort. No, the accounting department would rather refund it. Cool.

During those discussions we were offered the chance to "upgrade" our room from an oceanview to a beachfront room for a nominal cost. I responded that I didn't care, but if there was a difference in the room (i.e. size, amenities, etc) I'd like to know so I could present to the wife. It would be her call. Again, immediate and kind responses which attempted to paint a picture of a different room...so I left the conversation asking if they would be willing to show us the room(s) when we arrived so that we could get a real comparison.

Fast forward to arrival. The porter comes to car and grabs our one bag, immediately commenting that it was a bit heavy. It was because we had computers (still have to work to play) and theme night stuff included.

The front desk was very nice and efficient. Nothing overly remarkable about the process compared to Pearl. You give the credit card for incidentals, get a wrist band, and then sign whatever information you need to sign for. The lady who offered the upgrade comes to us and immediately takes us to the room. All smooth, just like Desire.

We first went to the oceanfront room with the hot tub and once there we find out that the only "upgrade" is that you get a hot tub and you're on the beach. Rooms are all the same size and same layout. So...we took that one.

Overall: Not much to pick between the two processes. Thinking back to our early Desire days, it's just a standard check-in process. These days we're so familiar with it we just walk in and head to the Mansion to greet everyone and get settled. At Hedo, it was pretty much the same thing. Call it a draw.


THE ROOM

We'd heard that these rooms had been recently refreshed. And it's nice enough. It's got a modern theme to it and reminded me forcibly of some of the mid-level brands of the Hilton or Marriott family. Very smart to have the beds on taller legs as it allows you to store your bags under the bed. Mirrored ceiling (albeit small) and a modern bathroom that uses glass partitions for walls.

That being said the rooms are SMALL. Very small. Reminded me of being on a cruise ship. The bathroom has a double vanity and a glass shower. The one thing I thought was good in the shower was that it was big enough for two people and it has a step so ladies (and I guess whomever) could prop their leg on to shave. Television was weirdly flush mounted to the wall around three-quarters of the way toward the door (which given the small measurements wasn't that far) and had 100 channels. The patio had a four-person hot tub on it with modern features. Very nice but also took up around 80 percent of the space. When you took the cover off it and placed behind, you had a narrow walking space between the tub and the two plastic chairs to get to the beach. Still, we spent a lot of time in the mornings in the tub and it was very nice. Honestly, the hot tub - something we rarely use at Pearl - was the saving grace for the room.

The proximity of being beachfront was very nice. We were in the last building to the nude beach and every morning could sit in the tub and watch the bay and beach which is lovely.

Overall: The more modern refresh (assuming it's recent) is very nice. When we stay at Pearl it's usually in a Mansion room or the penthouse. We like to spread out on vacation and even the smaller mansion rooms are probably 50-60 percent bigger than the Hedo rooms and they are more refined and nicer. To say nothing of the Royal suites. If you're comparing the Penthouses, you could fit three of the Hedo rooms into the Penthouses and that doesn't contemplate the additional 2-3 you could put on the outside balcony. The Hedo hot tubs are newer and have more features/jets. We haven't stayed in a regular ocean view room at Pearl in quite some time but comparing those to the Hedo room is a mixed bag for a couple of reasons: (1)we were "upgraded" to the "best" room Hedo had which means we should probably compare it to Desire's top room. In that apples to apples comparison, Desire wins in a landslide, but (2) If you're comparing the room to a similar sized room, then Hedo has a more modern feel, though Desire's layout is still better and while it's older and needs some modernization, I still feel that the Desire rooms (entry level) have some Mexican charm and theming whereas Hedo felt like staying in a Home2Suites on the road near an airport in the states.


THE BEACH

Hedo is on stretch of Negril's seven-mile beach that is lovely. Absolutely lovely. Soft sand bottom, turquoise waters. Lots of old and established trees that provide terrific shade (we were on the nude beach the entire trip). Compare that to Pearl where you have the ever-present seaweed issues and erosion and it's a clear win for Hedo. Just a beautiful bay.

My only issue with Hedo was the number of times tour boats and other boats from other resorts would make a show of intentionally coming up to the barrier of the bay to gawk and make jokes. I don't think there's much that can be done, but it was almost like a tourist attraction to bring a boat full of kids and similar up to the ropes to stare at the beach or in the water to laugh and point and similar. Ultimately their insecurities are their own problems, but it's something that should be addressed.

Overall: No contest, Hedo's beach wins over Pearl's and RM's.


DINING EXPERIENCES

Pearl has four different restaurants offered different experiences and dishes. They are separate with Suki/Pearl/and Aphrodite all being in different locations and then, of course, the Mansion is on the opposite side of the resort.

At Hedo everything is in one building with the buffet being beside/touching the Asian option. The Pasta/Italian option is on the opposite side of the buffet place as well. The main separate option is the steakhouse when is on the beach (was closed while we were there).

I found it odd that you didn't need to make reservations for any of these places. Everything was first-come, first-serve and it began at 7 PM. Also there was literally no dress code. You have to wear clothes, but the lack of standards was interesting. Some couples dressed up for dinner. Some were trying really hard to be edgy with women in mesh body suits (or less) and some showed up in bathing suit bottoms. While I'm all for "you do you", I began to appreciate the hygiene and atmospheric contributions of having a marginal dress code as you find at Desire.

As far as the food quality goes, I liked the Hibachi place. The buffets (two of the three nights for special events) were plentiful and the food quality was good. Lots of options no matter your pallet. The best meal we ate, however, was lunch at the nude beach's grille. Jerk chicken and fries with some corn on the cob. Yes, please. And thank-you. Breakfast each day was room service which was very good for a continental style meal.

Overall: On par with Pearl. I didn't love the lack of reservations/atmosphere, but the food itself was very good. I also appreciated the ownership of the menu. They are a Jamaican resort and they stick to that with Jamaican food. I long for Pearl to have a truly Mexican option one day over French or Italian, etc. I understand the need to service your clientele, but traveling to different parts of the world should include a taste of the local menus. Hedo does a good job of that, but again I love jerk stuff.


NIGHT TIME ENTERTAINMENT

There's a lot of potential at Hedo, but the logistics here are just off. The entertainment starts around 8:30 or 9 PM in the buffet area with stage shows, bands, etc. Problem is that if you get there to eat at 7 you are literally waiting around for stuff to get going. For a long, long time. And then when the shows start they are looooooooonnnnnnnnggggg.....like really, really long. Some of the shows were good, but some of the singing sounded like drunken karaoke at a wedding reception. When they had one dude come up and sing Purple Rain, I expected the purple one to rise from his grave only to come hang himself in protest....yikes! The over long stage performances (over an hour each night) were just too long for us. It didn't set the mood and it didn't really have the production value to justify the length. They do like their fire machine effect, but other than that I didn't really see a need for a show to go on twice as long as it needed to.

Following that there were several options. You could go up to the lawn where they had a pseudo dance-floor along with chairs to hang out. On the perimeter of the lawn was the piano bar (which has no piano...just more karaoke) and the wine bar (nice concept and nice atmosphere). The disco is down on the beach level and has a bar in a separate room and then the dance floor. When we were there the dance floor had 5 people on it. Bar was empty. Majority of the people were on the lawn or at the piano bar.

Around midnight the nude beach pool got going with hot tub, pool, etc. I did like that they had a staff member or two organizing everything up there as sort of a playmaker after dark kind of thing.

Overall: Comparing to Pearl, there are a lot more options of things to do at Hedo, but when we were there there was almost no organization, etc. The disco was empty. The shows were really long and people eventually just left and disappeared. Pearl has a far small and condensed experience, but when people bail on the show or the disco, you know they are pretty much heading to the hot tub. Hedo is so much bigger with so many more options that the dissipations lead to a ghost town of sorts. Entirely possible it was the crowd (and in full disclosure the resort was only around 75% capacity). Again, we're familiar with Pearl and know the routine, but I do like that the shows and schedule are executed on a rigid schedule which makes for a better flow. I liked Hedo's options, but the execution was just subpar. As far as the quality of the shows goes, I feel that Pearl makes the most of their space whereas Hedo simply has too much (both geography and time).


THE CONCEPT

So they are both lifestyle/sex/couples/etc reports, right? Even so there's a much different vibe that we picked up on. During the day Desire is constantly attempting to build the sexiness/seduction aspect up. Hedo tries to go straight up raunchy more than a build up. We were told and the online reviews always discuss that the nude side is where the party is. So we stayed there to see. After three-plus days, we came away wondering when the party was going to start. There's the playmaking staff trying to get things going but it's just a bunch of staffers twerking and making jokes attempting to be hardcore. Kind of boring and fell flat for us. The whole nude pool area is oddly laid out with it being a decent size but also being three pools pushed against one another and everyone congregating (if that's your thing) down near the swim-up bar. The playmakers are on a small(ish) stage doing whatever they do there. At Desire there's actually more space which results in more of a sexy than raunchy build to the day because the attempt at raunchy was just not done well. Again, could have been the crowd.

The playroom at Hedo was interesting. It's the courtyard of the spa where there's an open air courtyard (look up at the stars while..you know) with a couple of rooms off to the side where you can find their dungeon complete with a swing, a St.Andrews cross, and a glory hole box). There are three different cold pools in the courtyard which are terrific for cooling off before/during/after. The weirdest part is the playroom attendants who make sure that anyone coming in isn't just coming to leer/watch/stare but who also show up at odd moments to provide you a fresh towel, etc. It's kind of a bizarre scene.

Overall: We wish Pearl would stress the concept a little more here and there. A lot of it has to do with the crowd during your stay, but I will say that for all the reputation of being the wilder option, Hedo's party getting started ...never happened. I thought it was tame as all get out and, really, not all that much of a turn-on. The playroom option at Hedo is much better than Desire's as is their location. The playroom is a destination whereas at Pearl it's a closet off the disco or within the mansion. Making it a destination really fuels the concept which is something I think Desire could do a lot better. As far as the overall concept, I like Desire's approach which is to build a sexiness/seduction vibe instead of just going straight raunchy. Different strokes for different folks, however.


OVERALL SUMMARY

I think the major difference I noticed between the two resorts was the logistics. Desire is very well thought out and very efficient in the way they do things. Hedo has more space and more options, but they don't maximize them. At Desire the staff is more attentive and there's a more welcoming/genuine vibe. The Hedo feel was different and, again, familiarity plays a real role here, but even as first timers at Desire we felt better there. More comfortable. We were veterans of this kind of concept resort when we came to Hedo and were disappointed in the vibe, the feel, and the overall experience. The crowd at Hedo was like a cat chasing a laser pointer because there was no natural flow or schedule. I do note the average crowd was at least 10 years younger than your average Pearl crowd which could have made for some great energy but...didn't. Again, so many factors to consider.

Ultimately, we're in a committed relationship with Desire with a membership contract, familiarity, and a calendar full of trips which no doubt colors our collective opinion(s). Even so, I feel the logistics, management, and execution is better at Desire than it was at Hedo and I don't think that is an influenced decision. For how we travel, where we stay, and what we expect for our travel dollars, Desire is a far better value proposition than Hedo and if you're comparing the top experiences from the resort, it's a heavy lean toward Pearl over Hedo. But, as noted, if you've got a good crowd, perhaps you can overlook the number of superiorities Desire possesses over Hedo and no doubt have a great time.

[Turk7]

That’s the whole idea of their membership you’re paying for a vacation in advance and they know you will be coming back. They want to limit your choice to them and they have a guarantee you will be back.

[eddieandjojo]

tj - thanks for the review. Curious why you didn't consider using Timair for a quick flight from Montego Bay airport right to Negril instead of the long transport? We did, was only 13 minutes wheels up to wheels down and the air strip in Negril is literally right across the street from H2! Anyway, for us, Hedo is not an option, regardless of who might there...just not our vibe!

Again, thanks for your thorough review.

[tj71903]

I wanted to. But we booked on a Tuesday and flew out 48 hours later. They weren’t available so we did the car. It was fine. On the way back it was an hour because we left at 6.

[nokidclub]

One major difference is that Hedo has a no tipping policy. Perhaps as a result, we found that the staff at Hedo was not nearly as friendly, genuine, or responsive as the staff at Desire.

[tj71903]

One major difference is that Hedo has a no tipping policy. Perhaps as a result, we found that the staff at Hedo was not nearly as friendly, genuine, or responsive as the staff at Desire.

There was definitely a difference in the staff attentiveness and overall demeanor. We tipped the bellman because it seemed expected. Outside of that we didn't tip anyone. Staff was friendly enough when you spoke with them, but my feeling was that they would get to the floor of interactivity rather than the ceiling/going above and beyond. Could be a cultural thing as well.