Barbados - worth the cost?

[youngsyr]

The OH and I will be in the States in November (NYC) and would like to tag a beach holiday on to our trip. The Carribean seems like the obvious choice and I always thought Barbados was a good destination from the little I'd read about it.

However, reading the reviews of hotels on Tripadvisor, even the most expensive hotels on the island have some worrying comments. The general theme seems to be that what are claimed to be 5* luxury resorts are in reality 3*+ at best and the lower down the price table you go, the worse it gets.

Now that would be fine if you weren't paying 5* prices (£200-£300 per room per night) to stay there, but for that kind of money it will ruin our trip if we aren't wowed by the hotel or at least happy that we're getting what we've paid for.

Can anyone who has stayed on the island please provide some pointers as to which hotels were good (equivalent to at least UK 4* in quality of premises, facilities and food) or at least good value for money?

Thanks in avance.

[Zod]

Look on tripadvisor at the best hotel you've ever been to. I guarantee there will be worrying comments. There are people who write reviews on there who are obviously neurotic.

I've only ever stayed at two places there:

Villa Nova, which was in the hills on the East Coast and was wonderful, but expensive and went bust; and

Sandy Lane, which is expensive for what it is. The restaurant is overpriced compared with all the fantastic restaurants nearby and it feels too much like an american hotel. Compared with Indian Ocean luxury it's just not special enough.

I really like Barbados, but I prefer St Lucia. There are good hotels on Antigua too.

Edited by Zod on Wednesday 7th September 10:17

[youngsyr]

Zod said:

Look on tripadvisor at the best hotel you've ever been to. I guarantee there will be worrying comments. There are people who write reviews on there who are obviously neurotic.

I've used Tripadvisor for our overseas trips for years to all sorts of places, including South Africa, and although there were bad reviews for all of them, they were easily dismissed as neurotic or unreasonable. In short, none of the reviews troubled me at all.

However, Barbados seems to be a different story. Some examples: a review for one of the most expensive hotels on the island claims that the couple's room was broken into whilst they were asleep in it and they were robbed.

Another claimed that a person had been shot dead on the hotel's beach in the past year.

Those were the extremes, but there were also a significant amount that claimed that the hotels simply weren't up to the price tag and that the numerous good reviews were from people who hadn't spent much time in 5* hotels in other countries (i.e. were on a one-off honeymoon "luxury" holiday).

I'm in the fortunate position to have spent quite a bit of time in decent hotels (mainly on other people's money through work trips), so spending that kind of money for myself on a hotel which isn't up to scratch will really put a downer on the trip.

I guess what I'm looking for is for people who have been to give me a bit of reassurance about the quality of the hotels there.

Don't get me wrong - I'm more than happy with 3* hotels, I spend a lot of my personal trips away in that type of accomodation, but if I'm paying 5* money I expect a 5* hotel.

Edited by youngsyr on Wednesday 7th September 10:24

[arfur]

How about renting your own villa for a week ? Unless you really need the hotel culture you'll get more bang for your buck renting privately.

If you are looking to use a hote, the avoid the Crane .. used to be fabulous, now it's a mess and a building site.

Treasure Beach hotel is not 5*, but a really nice little hotel

If you fancy a villa, PM me

[Fat Audi 80]

We stayed at in a "4*" ( http://www.almondresorts.com/the-resorts/almond-be... ) Hotel in Barbados a number of years ago and thought it was very average, a 3* at the most. Having since been to a coupld of 5* hotels elsewhere, I can assure you it leaved a lot to be desired. I personally would not bother with Barbados again. There are far nicer hotels and resorts IMO

[getitupya]

I stayed at the Tamarind in June, very nice, not quite 5 star, more 4. At £200 a night for an ocean front suite, it was quite expensive for what you actually get. If its your thing you could easily get All inclusive somewhere for the same price.

Staff at the Tamarind were excellent, Chris the barman (who is into drifting in his 500bhp supra) offered to take me and the Mrs to the Barbados Rally that was on at the time.

There are a lot of boutique hotels that seem to offer value for money.

Most of the Caribean is expensive as it caters mostly for rich Americans, although Barbados does have more brits than most of the other islands.

[Soovy]

Sugar Cane Spa.

Google it. Lovely.

We stayed there when it reopened after being refurbished.

Remember that it is not legal for any hotel etc to have their own beach - they are ALL open to EVERYONE. So you can stay anywhere and spend all day on the beach with Simon Cowell and Mariah Carey at Sandy Lane.


Say hello to Grantley the barman for me. He loves the cricket.

Edited by Soovy on Thursday 8th September 16:18

[sussexjob]

Barbados is overpriced hype, lots of nicer places Turks for instance.

[ChasW]

I have been to Barbados a number of times, from cricket tour, honeymoon, family holidays and even on business over a period of nearly 30 years. They don't do luxury in the way that you might get in Dubai or the sea/sand destinations that people have mentioned. The upper end restaurants and hotels are over-priced. However lower your sights a notch or two and it's decent value. The major determinant is exchange rate. Last time we went on a family holiday we were changing sterling locally at 1:4 which meant it was very reasonable. I kick myself for not buying decent watches while I was there. I imagine there are good deals on other islands. Last time I went was on business which was around November time and I stayed in a decent hotel, Amaryllis beach, for about £75 a night (via Expedia I think).

[youngsyr]

Thanks for all the replies, it seems that the reviews on tripadvisor are pretty accurate after all.

I may have lined up a reasonable discount at one of the holiday companies which means we can lower our expectations and hopefully enjoy our stay there.

What are people's experiences of safety on the island? Are there any particular precautions we need to take?

[Soovy]

youngsyr said:

Thanks for all the replies, it seems that the reviews on tripadvisor are pretty accurate after all.

I may have lined up a reasonable discount at one of the holiday companies which means we can lower our expectations and hopefully enjoy our stay there.

What are people's experiences of safety on the island? Are there any particular precautions we need to take?

The odd nutter and crim aside it's very safe.

[arfur]

Soovy said:

youngsyr said:

Thanks for all the replies, it seems that the reviews on tripadvisor are pretty accurate after all.

I may have lined up a reasonable discount at one of the holiday companies which means we can lower our expectations and hopefully enjoy our stay there.

What are people's experiences of safety on the island? Are there any particular precautions we need to take?

The odd nutter and crim aside it's very safe.

Friday night drink-driving is the most dangerous it gets ... Trust me, reversing around a roundabout to get back to the right turn-off was entertaining to watch