August 21, 2006. WARNING. St. George’s Club - Bermuda. Travellers to Bermuda need to be alerted to a serious security problem at this resort. Late in the evening of August 17, 2006, two masked men armed with a machete and a club burst into the bedroom of our cottage at the St. George’s Club. They threatened my wife and me in our bed with their weapons, helped themselves to all of our U.S. cash, and a cell phone, and fled into the night. Thankfully, neither of us suffered any physical harm, but as one would imagine, we were terrified. The following day, we returned, shaken, to Toronto. The security of the property and the accommodation units at the St. George’s Club is virtually non-existent. What appears to be a public road passes through the property, which gives uncontrolled access to the entire resort to absolutely anyone. During the week that we were there, we only once saw a security guard near our unit. There is no security fencing. As an RCI exchange guest we were allocated one of the least desirable and most vulnerable of the units – a ground floor unit within 10 meters of an unlit pathway leading through some trees to the parking lot of the local scooter rental shop. The unit’s ground level sliding glass and screen doors that give directly in to both the bedrooms and sitting rooms of the cottages have no latches, no locks, and can only be secured from inside by a clumsy drop bar. (I was told that this device can be defeated from outside within seconds using nothing more than a piece of Venetian blind slat.) The Bermuda police who investigated this armed robbery indicated that this was a relatively rare case – although ordinary thefts were not all that uncommon – but they also commented on the flimsy security of the accommodations as well as their vulnerability to intruders from outside the resort. Our discomfort was exacerbated by the Club’s Manager who seemed more concerned with keeping things quiet, and seemed to feel that his staff of three security guards was quite adequate – which is manifestly not the case. Visitors should be aware of the risks involved in staying at the St. George’s Club. (The Bermuda Police reference for this armed robbery is case #2006/18499).