Guest reviews Coral Reef Club

by aaV3397HU

A trip back in time - you won't regret staying here

We travel all the time and the Coral Reef Club is unlike any other place we've stayed. Its design and gardens are impeccable and really worth seeing. The hotel is owned by the O'Haras and they are constantly on site, making sure everything is running smoothly. We stayed here in the first two weeks of December 2020, just at the end of one of the UK lockdowns. We stayed in the Anthurium room, which directly overlooks the beach and is spectacular. Ask for Anthurium if it’s available. The quarantine and COVID testing procedures were run extremely smoothly. The doctors / nurses come to your room and sort you out and the hotel has thoughtfully reserved parts of the resort for those awaiting their COVID test results. The planning and execution of this was very impressive. During a time when social interactions are few and far between, the O'Haras are still hosting their weekly managers' cocktail where they serve hors d'oeuvres and free-flowing drinks from the bar. The real star of the resort is the beach. The stretch that is immediately in front of the property does have some rocks and coral, for those who like snorkelling. But if you walk a mere 200 yards to the right of the hotel, you will find the most perfect beach imaginable. We could see at least 10 feet down the perfectly white sand and some tropical fish swimming around the jetty. The beach butlers are very attentive and will rush to adjust your umbrella as soon as they notice you are no longer in the shade. The salon is also excellent. The proprietress, Nina, is incredible and a lovely person. She was able to lighten my hair perfectly, when I’d had 3 unsuccessful attempts at a very high-end salon in London. The bar staff was extremely friendly and talented. We call out Kerry, in particular. He is a young guy who has worked here for more than 20 years, climbing his way up the ladder to barman. He is good for a laugh and long conversation. We had many enjoyable breakfasts on our beautiful balcony overlooking the beach. This is a service provided at no extra charge. We especially loved the Bajan flying fish with Bajan hot sauce. Not what we'd normally have as breakfast, but it was excellent. The omelets were also great. We must say that we weren't huge fans of the restaurant for lunch or dinner, because it focuses on European / continental cuisine and we prefer eating the local food. But no worries, there are two great local restaurants only 20 yards from the entrance to the hotel: Seacat and the Horny Ram. However, our stay was perfection and we would rate this a 6 if we could. This is a very elegant, old-style hotel. We appreciate something like this can still exist in the current environment... Signed Beach bum Bonanza

by rowleya2015 St Ives, United Kingdom

Beware of quarantine

The hotel is very nice but having been locked in our room for a week because of the inability locally to process Covid tests in a timely manner think carefully before you visit Barbados. We are not thx only ones locked in with no idea when we will be cleared.

by 840katharineb London, United Kingdom

A little paradise

We had a wonderful week here recently. It was everything a hotel/resort should be, welcoming, beautiful, in a great location (the beach is simply perfect), with good food and good service. It is not cheap but we felt that it was reasonably priced given the immaculately maintained gardens and rooms as well as the high ratio of staff to guests. Mrs O'Hara and her sons were very 'onto it', making everyone feel welcome and establishing high standards all round. Nigel and the reception team were really helpful and a great source of good advice on where to go and what to do.

by katzathome London, United Kingdom

Don’t bring your children or expect consistent service!

We were recommended to the Coral Reef Club by good friends and were delighted on arrival to find an attractive room on a beautiful stretch of beach. Unfortunately, children are not really welcome in the restaurant and are forbidden from watching the evening music shows. The hotel are perfectly happy to charge over $2,000 per night for a family cottage but that’s were the welcome ends. The elderly proprietor, Cynthia, seems completely out of touch with how to deal with a young family and opted to rudely ruin our otherwise pleasant evening by asking us to leave when we were quietly watching the singer perform after supper. We expected when she came over to our table it was to apologise for the poor service we had received with our waiter bringing the wrong food order on 3 occasions in the same meal (a complaint we have had to make on several other occasions in our stay so far). Her complete lack of grace has left a sour taste in our mouth and we will certainly not be coming back to this hotel or recommending it to others. It is a real shame, particularly in the current environment, that the mantra of the customer always being right, falls far short in this establishment.

by allison49 Southend on Sea, UK

Just lovely!

We have just returned from the Coral Reef during these Covid times so thought a bit of info may be helpful for other guests: - Barbados is a great place to go to at the moment. There is no community transmission of Covid on the island, just a few cases of tourists being positive. However they are firm about masks, sanitising hands and temperature taking in Restaurants, bars, taxis etc which is all fair enough - hotel organised our second test in our hotel room and we had the results in 24 hours. There are a few designated areas in the hotel that you can use in the first 48 hours, including a pool area, garden area and section of the restaurant, which worked just fine - with regards to the Hotel itself it is a very attractive, colonial style hotel, in the most fab location on the beach. The coral reef is largely dead but has great snorkelling with lots of fish just by the hotel. The beach boys and water sports is very well run and service excellent - there were a number of things not on as the hotel was so empty - BBQ/buffet - but on the plus side we got into every restaurant we wanted to go to no problem. There was some evening entertainment, but I think atmosphere is tricky when the UK is in lockdown and there are so few guests - we thought the service was fine in the restaurant, and the quality of the food was excellent. I think face masks don’t help the staff as it is difficult to communicate at times, and you don’t get that lovely Caribbean smile All in all we had a lovely time, very relaxing, high quality accommodation and grounds, and just grateful to be on holiday