***Winner: TripAdvisor's Best Review with Photos Contest, week of July 7th, 2005***

Grantley Adams airport baggage handlers are apparently all on island time. Either that or they only have a single handler walking 2 bags at a time from plane to carousel! After waiting for what seemed longer than a child's Christmas Eve for our bags, we made our way through customs and into the back of a cab. The ride to the hotel was - in a word - a sauna. (Our cab didn't have air conditioning, the island is very humid). After a 45 minute "sweating", we finally pulled into heaven. On arrival, we were immediately whisked away and given moist wash clothes to freshen up with and a very welcomed rum cocktail. It was the perfect prelude to a magnificent vacation! We had arrived at The Colony Club, Barbados.

Facts:
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* Traveler Ages: 20's/30's
* # Travelers: 2
* Travelers Travel Experience: Moderate to Extensive
* Length of stay: 7 nights
* Room: Luxury Pool (upgraded per great suggestion on TA!)
* Weather: Upper 80's / Lower 90's F . It rained 1 day during early evening hours for 1.5 hours, but only occasional "sunshine" sprinkles/mist otherwise.

Review:
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Our experience at the Colony Club was simply magical. On arrival, you notice the little things: the well-manicured lawn, the smile on each staff member's face, and the sounds of a tropical paradise.

Hotel Grounds and Beach: The Colony Club is nestled in a prime location on the Caribbean (west) side of Barbados. This area tends to be more British than the American south - especially with the new Hilton opening down there - which is very welcome. Every morning we saw multiple landscapers grooming the gardens, trimming the hedges and cleaning the 4 freshwater lagoons that meander through the 96-room resort. These pools feature a swim-up bar, two waterfalls, and a jacuzzi. The beach itself is not terribly deep (resort to ocean) but it is fairly wide and pitched slightly for easy access to the wonderful 6-inch cushioned lounge chairs that line the beach. Trees also dot the beach but don't overshadow it. Unfortunately getting into/out of the water is slight complicated by the 3-5 yards of coral/stones that have washed ashore, but beyond it the ocean floor is complete sand. About 40 yards out in the swimming area, there are two anchored rafts. To the left of the swimming area is where the boats dock and just left of that is another swimming area. **This one is a snorkler's paradise!** We used the complimentary snorkeling gear at least daily and took in the wide variety of sea life literally just yards off shore. The water is deep enough so the coral wall are well-formed. We saw a countless variety of a fish including flounder, puffer, parrot, balyhoo and several others. I actually once glided along with a sea turtle about 35 yards off shore!

Rooms: The rooms at the CC are all very nice. I believe there are three types: Pool and Garden View, Luxury Pool, and Ocean View (and maybe a suite or two). We had originally booked the Pool and Garden rooms, but on a fellow TA's suggestion, we upgraded to the Luxury Pool and I'm glad we did. This type of room had a patio boasting two loungers, palapa with 2 chairs and a bench, and a private entrance to the lagoon (see pictures). The bathrooms were very nice featuring his and her sinks and English-style glass shower, but could have used better ventilation. The bed was heavenly and we had a remote controlled air conditioner. All of there other standard amenities were there: television, phone, iron, safe, etc. and there was an unstocked refrigerator (see Food below). The Pool and Garden rooms were also nice, but didn't have the stone walls we had and were somewhat set back. The Ocean View rooms were a bit bigger, but I would highly recommend the Luxury Pool rooms for the value.

Other Amenities: The hotel featured a nicely air conditioned fitness center (mainly for cardio), tennis courts, and spa, but it was slight pricey. Another very nice feature of this hotel is the watersports that are complimentary including: kayaking, snorkeling, windsurfing, and water skiing. There's also a dive shop, Hightide, that offers a $90 USD resort dive (----) and water aerobics.

Hotel Food: We ate just once at Laguna (our first night) and ordered lunch via room service once. Both times I was pleased with the quality of food and service. It's nothing spectacular, but with all the great dining Barbados has to offer, you probably won't want to eat there much anyway. The included breakfast buffet (offered 7:30 - 9:30 AM daily) is *very* nice. The food provided is the typical fresh fruits and cereals, but also available are eggs benedict and made-to-order omlettes with fresh juice, coffee, and tea.

Other Food: We hung out at the beach most of the time during the day, so what we welcomed was the Super Centre grocery store nearby (a 5-10 minute's walk) or order online at ---- for free delivery and stock your refrigerator in room! A great suggestion from another fellow TAer. As far as restaurants, we ate at Calabazza, the Fish Pot, Daphne's, Olives, the Mews, and Cocomos. I highly recommend Calabazza and the Fish Pot for both setting and food. The Fish Pot is very intimate and tucked away in a cove north of Speightstown whereas the others are all just south of the hotel in Holetown.

Transport: Getting around Barbados is a breeze. Taxi's aren't metered so make sure you negotiate a fair price beforehand. I also recommended hoping one the many yellow buses - they'll honk and stop if they see you within 20 meters of the stop! - and hitting a local rum shack. Because the Colony Club is part of the Elegant Hotels group, the water taxi is nice mode of transportation to take you to the other hotels in the group. Sadly, it doesn't run too late so you'll need to take a cab or drive to Daphne's (located at CC's sister hotel, Tamarind Cove). I would also highly recommend getting a moke (mini jeep, uber golf cart) and checking out the East Coast and other sites. Stoutes (----) and Driva-A-Matic (----) are two great rentals and will drop off and pick up the car from Colony Club.

Activities: Aside from lounging (hey, isn't that what many of us want anyways?) Barbados offers a plethora of activities including golf at the nearby Sandy Lane course, great diving, and interesting sites. We didn't visit, but I heard good things about both Harrison's Caves and Mount Gay Distillery. We also didn't go down to Bridgetown and we heard we didn't miss much so I wouldn't recommend that. The nature reserve was interesting with many caged animals, but the you're not always guaranteed to see the green monkeys. Lucky for you, the Colony Club has its own tribe that routinely visits the grounds (see photos) and we actually saw them twice while only seeing a single monkey from a distance at the reserve!

Overall: I have travelled extensively and been to Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. The Colony Club offers it all. I would also like to mention that we visited in June when the hotel was *at most* 75 percent full. The weather was perfect and we got a great deal (Expedia) so I would suggest going during the "off season" of April - July, if possible.

Important note: I believe the Colony Club will be closed for upgrades (I hear some of the other rooms need it slightly) in a month or two for a couple months. Plan your travel carefully!

Finally, TripAdvisor is a wonderful service, and its continued success depends heavily on the user community participation in general. To that, if anyone has any questions/comment regarding Colony Club or our experience, feel free to email me at: mailmjm@gmail.com.

Enjoy your travels!

Just returned from 10 pampered days at the Colony Club, switched at the last minute from the Almond beach club and spa, sooooo glad I did !!.
Arrived at the Colony Club to be greeted with rum punch and cool towels,
check-in was relaxed and the staff were very attentive.
Room was cool, clean, and welcoming.
I have travelled quite extensively, and I can honestly say I have never been treated so well ! , all the staff without exception were friendly and only too willing to please, and those extra little touches mean so much, fresh fruit, ice water, cool towels, all delivered (free of charge) to your sunbed with a smile.
And the turndown service with free bottles of iced mineral water beside your bed each night, so lovely.
The dining was excellent, freshly prepared, and cooked precisley to your order, if you wanted to chop and change things, nooo problem!
The rest of the hotel fascilities were also outstanding.
The Bajans have to be the friendliest people I have met, anywhere we went on the island, they all said hello and had a smile on their faces, we could learn a lot from them !
I could bore you to death about how much we enjoyed our stay but anyway...
Just go!!!

Just got back from a week's stay at Colony Club--it was a a wonderful trip. We booked through tradewindtours, which i suggest ANYONE who is looking for a hotel in Barbados check with before they book--they had the best prices on the internet for ALL of the hotels they represent. It was a totally stress free process. (Now, if you are booking a hotel/air deal, I am not sure if this is still true, but it is for just hotels...).

First: you turn off of the main road at a Coral Limestone Gate onto a tree lined avenue.... and then towards the end you come to the entrance of the Colony Club, which is breathtaking--a white painted courtyard around a koi filled pond with palm trees coming out! They lead you around the pond to a comfy seat in the lounge and bring you a drink, and suddnely, here's your key, a bit of paper work, and you're registered! Soooo easy.

NExt: you enter the gardens to find your room. They meander throught the property following a string of lagoon style pools. The frangipani trees are gorgeous and fragrant, and then above you see coconuts nestled in their trees... Mahogany trees, pride of India... all beautiful... Immaculately kept. The pools are lined with coral, so they appear to be part of the natural landscape as well. There is a stirring in the bushes and you see a green monkey pop out to climb a tree.

Now, the rooms: we are 23 and 25 year old friends from college, and weren't out for a luxury romance vacation so we took the cheap room! Definitely go for a pool front room if you're WITH someone... But, the room itself was lovely. Just as pictured on Expedia.com's virtual tour--except ours didn't have the option of adjoining rooms, and they have little white cotton rag rugs to wipe the sand off before you get in bed. Definitely shoot for a ground floor room if you get this type of room because you get two loungers and this cute little table underneath an umbrella thingy... very nice for 5:00 (or, it's 5:00 somewhere....) Cocktails... Fride, electric kettle, and various glasses and mugs tucked away in a mirrored cabinet... Also, can't hear other guests... Mattress was comfy, pillows were nice, and sheets were surprisingly soft. Maid service twice daily. Plenty of towels. Turn down at night and a fresh bottle of water.

Beach/Pool: They have wooden loungers with thick comfy pads out at the beach and by the pool. Plenty of large towels, though you must go to the beach to get them. Twice daily "cool off" services: chilled fruit in the mornings and popsicles in the afternoon. Waiters offering drinks. The beach is very nice to layout on, but if you are going to swim the beach right out in front isn't as good as the otherone over to the right if you are looking at the sea--both areas are sectioned off. As for the pools, the front pool, by the bar, is more social/has more kids. The lagoons outside of teh pool front were used only by the people who stayed in those rooms, although anyone "could" have used them. LOVED the back pool. These pool s are nice because their are many nooks and crannies where you can have privacy if you want it--one little cove beneath two frangipanis, one with a bench and jacuzzi jets, one with a pretty coral waterfall.

I only didn't like two things: food on the beach, which I ate because it was convenient, DID NOT IMPRESS.

Also, THE BATHROOM. Granted, i did not see any other room type's bathrooms, but you can't find pictures of them anywhere. Coincidence? I think not. First of all, horrible light fixture: flourescent tubing behind a dirty looking metal grill thing. Aesthetically:ew. Practically: try putting on make up under flourescent lighting. Go on. Try. Also: my cold water didn't work. At all. Nice shower head, but the faucets were improperly installed, so it was hard to regulate temperature. Also, normally, I would give them the benefit of the doubt and say that the tile was just a bad design choice, but it was also very poorly installed. Toilet barely worked. In fact, it was really weird that the bathroom was so bad when everything else was attended to with such care.

That said, it wasn't unlivable. But I may have given this property an excellent rating if it weren't for the bathroom. All in all though, it was a great experience. The staff is EXCELLENT, friendly, and accomodating.

Just got back yesterday- it was beautiful. We had a swim-up gardenview room- at this hotel (and many in Barbados) you don't necessarily need an oceanview for a great view. Bathrooms had his/hers sinks- very clean- marble and tile- the typical British/BWI showers with half glass door- so not great for friends sharing a room, but classy looking. Minibar and fridge, two large pine closets (really, they had a wonderful pine aroma that kept your clothes from getting warm musty)- and the rooms were so classy- dark wicker, plenty of room, and sliding glass doors out to the very large patio (upstairs is a balcony, with steps down to the first floor- patio has two lounge chairs, plus a patio table with palapa and two free chairs, plus a bench. From the patio there is direct access to a small freeform coral-lined pool- this pool is specifically for the 10 rooms in the block, and there are 2 blocks with this feature. The upstairs rooms feature stairs down to the 1st floor patio, right at the pool. Literally right off the patio you can step into the pool, which is surrounded by tropical flowers- it was truly a tropical paradise. Small beach that on some days gets a little rocky with the coral that washes up (particularly after a storm) but comfy beach chairs, and a swim up bar close to the beach, which is along side the main pool, also freeform and lined with coral. Dinner was amazing- the lobster was out of this world. They have a lunch/appetizer menu as well, and you can eat from it pretty much from noon thru dinner. The swim up bar has happy hour from 5-6 with free plaintain chips (YUM!) during this time.
Incredibly friendly staff as well- they were so accomodating. We needed an extra towel, and housekeeping was there in less than 5 minutes with 4 new towels, still warm. Turndown service was also a nice touch. They replaced your towels if used, added a pillow and turned down the bed sheets, and left a bottle of water each. Barbados water is so pure- it was delicious!
Also suprising was the wake up call. The front desk staff took the message, and then called you themselves right on time and greeted us with a friendly morning message- a lot nicer than "THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL...THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL"- i never realized how much those little touches could add to a vacation. Colony Club is located near Holetown, a small area, but it is at least 25 minutes to Bridgetown, and about 30-35 to St Lawrence Gap- perfect for couples who want to feel like they are in a private, intimate setting, but close enough to enjoy the fabulous dining throughout the island (I recommend Daphnes!), and families with very young children. I've been to a lot of islands and stayed at some amazing hotels, some 5 star (where the top rating is 5 stars by the agency)- and Colony Club had the most tropical feel- I felt so immersed in paradise- I really didn't want to leave! Definitly one of my favorite resorts I've ever stayed at! BUT- DEFINITLY get the swim up room- all the rooms are nice, but if you are in a deluxe gardenview, or even an oceanview, you will be very jealous of the swim up rooms- they were amazing! You could take a dip first thing in the morning without having to pack up a towel, or even putting on sandals! or another dip at night to soothe your sunburn! I loved it. Amazing

This hotel has a great location and the water sports on offer are just the best and come as part of the deal. The hotel is quiet at night but to some this can be just what is wanted. Holetown is a short taxi ride away at night if you want a more noise! The melon in the morning as well as the cold refreshing towels and the ice cold fruit sticks- all served with a smile- are just some of the little touches that make this place very special. When you get back to your room at night there are bottles of water by your bedside table. The bell boys are always there to help you as well as all of the other staff. The sunsets will stay with you for ever! The habit of towels on the sunbeds (with a matrass to die for) though appears to have been imported from Europe!! Sad

My boyfriend and I took our 1st trip to Barbados in October. Neither of us have been and had no idea what to expect. I researched and researched hotels. Its difficult to get a true visual from the photos b/c obviously,they all post their BEST pics. Its like going on a match date! Excpet with a trip, you're investing money. After much trepidation, we decided to go with the Colony Club. We were not disappointed. Keep in mind, we're in our late 20's and gravitate towards excitement. The room was not lavish but it was presentable and roomy. The bathroom was spacious and we had the most adorable lagoon pool right out of our doorstep. Literally! Be sure to ask for a luxury pool room. You step right into it from your 1st floor balcony. Its so romantic at night. The hotel is next door to the luxurious Sandy Lane and we were about a 5 min cab ride from nightlife. The beach was not huge but just enough to keep us happy w/water sports and lounge chairs. Loved the pool and swim up bar! We definitely recommend the world renown Cliff restaurant. It is delicious w/the most incredible view either of us have ever seen. If you are unsure and taking a 1st trip out to Barbados, you won't go wrong with the Colony Club. :)

We have just returned from 9 days at the Colony Club and had a fantastic holiday. The level of service from staff was great and there were lots of nice touches such as fresh fruit being handed out on the beach each morning and bottles of water being left by your bedside at night. The food served at the Pool bar at lunchtime was excellent and reasonably priced, as were the cocktails (particularly during Happy Hour). The hotel was only let down by the fact that the rooms and some of the communal areas could do with a bit of maintenance considering the amount you pay to stay there. The rooms were clean and functional but we certainly felt that we were paying for luxury that we didn't get. It was also very quiet after dinner - whenever we returned from a restuarant looking for a quick drink before bedtime, whilst there were bar staff on duty there were no guests to be found anywhere. We did like the hotel's laid-back atmosphere though and found its location to be ideal (an easy 10 minute walk into Holetown). We would definitely go back.

There was a gentile air of tranquility about the Colony Club. On check-in you are installed in a comfortable chair - given a rum punch and cool minted face cloth. We were shown straight away to a beautiful garden view Junior Suite. The room was very spacious and had a huge bathroom. The view from the balcony was of the hotel pools and you could get a glimpse of the sea. Although the hotel was full it seemed very quiet and peaceful. Children inder 12 are not allowed to stay here so the pools were usually empty. The staff were very friendly and helpful and would come by on the beach handing out fruit and wet cloths.
Colony Club is the only hotel that has tee times on Royal Westmoreland - a superb Robert Trent Jones golf course.
I would definitely make colony Club my first choice in Barbados - we also stayed at The House which was very disappointing in comparison.

We stayed at the Colony Club in September 2004. It wasn't quite like the pictures I had seen, but it was really beautiful. Most of the Hotel staff were very friendly and the room was very clean and very comfortable. The only problem I had was the birds. They seem to be completely over-run with them. They were constantly landing on the tables, flying over your head in the restaurant and landing on open bottles of drinks in the pool side bar. The restaurant also did leak quite a bit in the heavy rain we had on a couple of days. All in all though, we had a great time and would return. The water sports were great and the guys very friendly - make sure you get out to see the giant Sea Turtles!

I spent the holiday with my 14 year old son and expected the usual non stop, no replaxation week - however, due to the excellent water sports facilities at the hotel I actually managed to have a holiday myself. Everyone, from the restaurant, bar, reception, room service and water sports staff were so friendly and made my son feel totally at home to wander around the club perfectly safely having at chat to everyone and enjoying the facilities. The water sports instructers were fantastic and within two days had my son proficiently skiing around the bay, sailing et.c. etc. etc. in a totally safe and friendly environment We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the holiday - tropical storms included. The situation is ideal to walk along the beach to the local town or enjoy lunch at a beach restaurant. In the evenings you can enjoy and excellent meal in the hotel restaurant or sample one of endless excellent local restaurants. We both had a wonderful holiday and really did not want to leave - our only worry was how quickly we could return.