Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa Review: Why You’ll Love This Resort
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A few months ago, I took a friend to visit the Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa in Montego Bay, Jamaica. This was my 10th visit to Jamaica overall, which I am constantly told makes me a “Jamerican.”
Either way, I love Jamaica, so I was excited to try out this family-friendly all-inclusive resort. I spent four nights at the property for a total of $1,062, which works out to $265 per night.
I guess that’s the first benefit of the Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa you should know about. This property is pretty darn affordable, especially when you consider the fact that your lodging, food, drinks, and fun are all included in one nightly rate.
If you’re in trip-planning mode and are considering Jamaica, there is a lot more to love about this all-inclusive resort. Keep reading to learn what I liked and didn’t like about this Hilton property, why I think it’s a good value overall, and some of the best ways you can save money if you decide to go.
Hilton Rose Hall: First Impressions and My Room
First off, one big benefit of the Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa is the fact that this property is only 15 minutes from the Montego Bay Airport (MBJ). This means you can land at the airport by 2:00 p.m., get out of the airport within a half hour or less, then be at your resort with a rum punch in hand by 2:45 p.m. I know because I have done this before!
Also note that the MBJ airport has a VIP service called Club Mobay. With Club Mobay, you pay a flat fee for the privilege of getting to skip all the crowded airport security lines. There will even be somebody waiting at your gate holding a sign with your name on it. After you skip past the lines and the crowds, you can wait for your airport transportation in a cozy lounge with drinks and food. Club Mobay is pretty swank, and it’s not that expensive, either. Learn more about Club Mobay here.
Anyway, I was happy to arrive at my hotel and check in, and I was looking forward to the potential for an upgrade since I have Hilton Diamond status through my Hilton Aspire Credit Card from American Express.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get an upgrade since the hotel was sold out over my travel dates. I did get an “okay” room with an ocean view though, albeit at a distance and over the world’s ugliest blue roof!
In all seriousness, my room was okay and I was glad to have a balcony and a clean place to lay my head!
The Beaches and Pools
I really loved the beach setup at the Hilton Rose Hall. Like a lot of other resorts in the Montego Bay area, this property had several sections of beach that were used for different purposes. They had a large swimming beach with sectioned off areas where you could swim or relax in the water with little to no waves, but they also had expanses of beach with a rocky front that were better for beautiful ocean views and relaxation.
The pools at Hilton Rose Hall were also superb, and especially good for kids. They had a large main pool that was centrally located off the back of the property behind the lobby, but they also had an expansive pool for families with a swim-up bar, a lazy river, and several really nice slides.
I didn’t take my kids on this particular trip, but I would definitely bring them back based on the pools and the beach setup alone. This hotel was practically made for families that want to play in the water and have some fun.
Food and Drinks
The cool thing about all-inclusive resorts like this one is the fact that all your food and your drinks (including alcohol) are included. This makes it easy to budget for an all-inclusive trip, and of course to eat and drink as much as you want.
One huge plus for this resort is that the food was very, very good. I have to say, I have been to all-inclusive resorts all over the Caribbean and on almost every island. I have been to high-end all-inclusive resorts and really cheap ones, and I honestly believe the Hilton Rose Hall had some of the best all-inclusive food of all other resorts I’ve visited.
We only ate at a specialty restaurant one night, and we chose Three Palms, which is a Jamaican restaurant. Not only was this restaurant beautiful and truly unique, but the food was excellent! It was one of the best meals I have ever had in the Caribbean, which says a lot!
We ate at the buffet other than that, and I found the selections to be sufficient. I mostly only eat vegetarian, but I do eat some seafood when we travel. I had some excellent fish dishes, but the buffet also had lots of fruits and vegetables, cheeses, and healthy snacks. I was fine eating at the buffet every night, mostly due to the quality of the food, the excellent seasonings they used, and the fact they included a lot of variety every day.
Other restaurants you can dine at here include:
- Sugar Mill Falls Swim-up Bar (snacks)
- Seaside Grill (seafood for lunch and dinner)
- Moonstone (pizza for lunch)
- Mangoes (waterfront lunch place)
- Luna di Mare (Italian dinner place)
- Jerk Hut (jerk chicken and pork)
- Smokehouse Barbecue (barbecue dinner joint)
Is the Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa a Good Value?
In my opinion, the Hilton Rose Hall is an excellent value. I paid $265 per night for a room with double occupancy, but I’ve seen rates go significantly lower than that before. Also note that you won’t necessarily pay a lot more to bring kids along on your trip.
Better yet, this property can be booked entirely with rewards points from the Hilton Honors program. This option comes into play if you have a credit card like the Hilton Aspire or the Hilton Surpass from American Express.
Searching some random dates, I was able to find rooms in October of 2020 for $265 per night or 56,000 points per night for a family of four with two kids. That’s pretty crazy when you consider that all your food, drinks, and alcohol are included, along with nightly shows, pools and waterslides, and planned resort activities!
Another benefit of the Hilton Honors program is that you get your 5th night free when you book with points. You can also pool your points with other people, or have other family members gift you their points without having to pay an annual fee. That’s not a feature you’ll find with other hotel loyalty programs, so that’s pretty cool.
You absolutely can pay for this resort in cash, but hotel points can make the process considerably less expensive. Make sure to check out all the top hotel credit cards to see which ones would work best for your next getaway.
A Final Note
If you decide to visit the Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa, please consider hiring my friend Lyndon from Purpose Driven Tours for your airport pickup and drop off. He also does tours and day trips.
I recommend Lyndon all the time and I hire him every time I go to Jamaica! You can find him online on his Facebook page, and he responds super fast to online private messages.
When you hire Lyndon, the money you pay goes directly to a small business owner and not a big corporation. Lyndon’s company, Purpose Driven Tours, is also licensed as a taxi driver in Jamaica just like anyone else you would hire.
Have you been to the Hilton Rose Hall Resort? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!
Don’t forget that they charge a supplemental fee for children 6 and over. A family with two kids 6 and 8 would need to pay $150/night for the kids according to the message on the hotel’s website.
They may have in the past but they don’t do this anymore.
That’s great! Now they just need to update their website. It still says:
This is an All-Inclusive Resort. Children under 5 stay and eat free, ages 6 – 14 incur an additional $75/night/child (paid at check-in), ages 15 and older will be charged an adult rate. Children 15 and older should be registered as adults. Otherwise, $99/night/child will be added to your account at check-in. Hilton Honors Redemptions will incur the same charges as indicated above.
Yeah, it probably just hasn’t been updated in a while. I was at this resort in December and I specifically asked about this.
I just hired Lyndon for airport transport from the airport to the Hilton on your suggestion. It took almost 2 hours to get through security and he waited for us the whole time. He was so great that we booked a tour with him to Duns River Falls and he did an amazing job.