This place is dirty, dingy, damp, disgusting. Do not even think of coming here. However, if you're up for an all inclusive, football-hooligan lads holiday then it will be right up your street.

The only saving grace of this place: the bellboy and the staff on the front desk are lovely. All the other staff are horrendous. We tried to eat in the more 'upmarket' restaurant (where you actually have to wear clothes) and we couldn't get in, (fair enough), but then the waiting staff proceeded to have a screaming argument with eachother in front of us. Nice.

Avoid like the plague.

I have stayed in Sonesta Maho all inclusive from dec. 21 - 27.
Having stayed on all inclusive hotels in different Carribean destinations, I cannot but to compare them with my latest experince.
I will start with positive points first
1- Hotel very accessible, 5min drive from airport
2- Great location for those who like to c planes landing
and taking off
3- Great place for those who like to go to casino, just
across the street
4- Gardens r well maintained.
5- some of the restaurant staff go out of their way and they keep an eye on your table to
provide you the service you paid for.
6- The point restaurant offers a very fine cuisine. the best on the resort.

Negative points observed:

1- The hotel is being renovated, so some rooms r very
acceptable while others r not even supposed to be in service.

2- Restaurants cleanliness, the hotel management still has a long way to go, especially the
"beach restaurant" tables/chairs r dirty, floor r greasy; cutlery, utensils / cups still show
residues of previous meals
3- Service in general is toooo slow; something we learnt that we'll have to go with the
island's time. I had to wait for my meal for more than one hour even though the restaurant
was not busy; Waitresses work on their own pace that's all.
4- Food @ the open buffet was very acceptable, yet it needs more variety, and they would
certainly need more space and tables to be added.
5- The beach is practically inexistent or very small and too dangerous to swim in with the
strong currents, which leaves no choice but using the swimming pools or go out of the
resort to a nearby beach (mullet bay) a 15min. walk behind the hotel. There, u can rent
ur beach chair and umbrella and pay for ur drinks.......
6- The in pool bar is located in the kids section of the pool. So, expect to hear children
screaming and to have pool water in ur drink from kids playing around u and having fun.
It would have been alot nicer and would have made more sense if the bar was built on the
other side of the pool where the cascade is located.

7- Room service: very poor. we checked in the floor was sticky and sandy

8- We were 2 adults - 2 children in the room with 3 towel only; When asked for another
towel, the answer was "when I have sufficient towels I'll put more"
9- Went to the front desk to ask for another bed, they called to have it arranged. It took
them 3hours and 25 min. and more than 4 additional calls to finally I could get the
additional bed for the kid to go to sleep @ 11:15pm.
10- Drinks/coktails are undrinkable. I am not a heavy drinker, but I haven’t gotten any drink
that was prepared properly.
11- In hotel excursions: expect to ask every detail of the excursion you intend to book. Lots
of untold details, you will discover a surprise on every step of the way.

I share my personal experience: Anguilla island - Shoal bay/swimm with the dolphins @
“dolphin discovery”.
- Price given by (Olivier) was unbelievably overpriced. the excursion was supposed to
include:
Transportation to and from Anguilla island, the drive to shoal bay + lunch on the beach with 2 drinks + the swim with dolphins. I have been charged about 650$ for 2 adults and 2 children.

Reality:

Transportation from and to the hotel was not included. You need to go meet the other vacationers in a McDonald near the port to take the boat @ ur own expense.
Once on the boat going to our destination we were told we have the right for one drink and one small bottle of water. Getting to the beach u discover that you need to pay for your umbrella 5$ and the bottle of water shrinks to xtra small. No restaurant on the beach, just a shabby old and dirty place that offers a very cheap hamburger or a plate of old chicken. Service is zero….
Dolphins: once there, we discovered that there r 2 packages. Regular = touching the dolphins and see the mediocre show, or you can upgrade to the premium to have a swim with the dolphin for an additional 45$/person on top to what has been already paid at the hotel.
Another surprise: you are not allowed to take any pictures since there is an onsite photographer hired by the delphinarium who will take pictures of all participants and then sell u the picture for 30$ or the totality of your pictures saved on a CD. for 120$. I have negotiated with the guy to have the CD. for 50$, he agreed for 90$ then reduced it to 70$.
Port fees 5$/person is payable upon ur return to the boat that was not included in the package neither.

Oliver (and Yvetta), the tour responsibles claim he was considerate and gave us good price for the excursion – reality, none of those who took the tour paid the same price/person as other participants.

This excursion was very deceiving and a total rip off. I guess Sonesta’s management must look into controlling these excursions.

I would rate this hotel as 3 stars hotel not more. Not allot of hotels offer all inclusive packages @ that part of the island as I understood. My opinion is that the island is very beautiful, but for an all inclusive, you can get more value for your money in other Caribbean destinations.

My husband and I visited St. Maarten in December 2012 the week before Christmas. St. Maarten is truly a caribbean jem!! Absolutely loved the island!
We stayed at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort. The rooms were quite nice and we were lucky to stay in one of the renovated ones. Very clean, no musty smells. Had a couple of issues though. Difficult to get towels some days. Wifi you had to pay for and we were told it was included. (Go the Sunset Bar and Grill...theirs is free!) The meals were not so good. Breakfast was good..same though. We had a couple of meals at the Palms Grill and it was just ok. Don't waste your time with the "fine" dining...The Point restaurant. It was not good! Service wasn't very good anywhere here. Like other reviews have said there is no food or drinks past 10:00pm. Any meals that we had elsewhere on the island were great! Service was always excellent! There is no beach at the resort. The grounds very nice. We did go to Orient Beach , Philipsburg (actually a few times) and Mullet Beach. Take the tour offered at the hotel of the island. Got some great pictures and souveniers. I don't remember her name, but she was great and didn't drive like a maniac. We did go the Maho Beach to see the planes land and take-off. Must see this. There is no other place where you can be that close to a jet. Had great time at the Sunset Bar and Grill. Service and food was excellent. We will definately be going back to St. Maarten but will not stay at the Sonesta Maho Resort. We paid way too much money for what we got!

The resort was absolutely beautiful & the staff made our experience as great as it was. Every morning we were serenaded as "The Coffee Man" made us our delicious coffee cocktails with his unique concoctions & adorable charm. We looked forward to hearing his cart roll into the breakfast dining area as we ate our breakfast ocean front each day. It's little things like this that keep us coming back...