Colony Club, a Luxury Collection Resort, Barbados

We stayed at colony club in November 2022, when our daughter was eight months old. Whilst we enjoyed our last stay, it was noticeable that the resort had become tired. We have had a second child, and decided to return to see the changes that had been made.||I will start with some disappointing niggles highlighted during our stay.||1) arranging taxis with Colony club direct is extortionate. We asked for an airport transfer on arrival, and was astonished when settling our invoice that they had charged us 410 BBD, the same journey returning to the airport arranged privately was quoted and charged at 190 BBD. This suggests that the hotel is ripping customers off and/or making a margin in fayres with their preferred taxi operators as this is unexplainable. If you attend colony club arrange your own taxis, or download one of the Taxi apps as it is much cheaper.||2) colony club have started adding mandatory 10% gratuity to all items, whether that be a latte at breakfast, room service, or going to sit at the poolside bar to order a drink. I do not agree with gratuity being imposed on customers, this should be discretionary, and it makes you wonder what you are actually paying £0000’s for in the first place? ||2) the food menus, particularly the all day menus are pretty boring and lack any imagination. You can get pizza, burgers, chicken wraps and salad anywhere in the world. It would be nice if there were some more bajan options. ||With the negative aspects dealt with, our stay was otherwise enjoyable. We stayed in the same suite that we stayed in three years ago, so the refurbishment works was noticeable to us. The pool which was closed when we last attended, is now fully re-opened. The staff around colony club are very helpful, and it is nice to see that there are still familiar faces from the last time we attended.

This hotel is absolutely gorgeous. Marriott has completely renovated it and worthy to be called luxurious. The most outstanding part of this hotel is the staff. Each and everyone of the staff was incredibly accommodating to our every need and want. Heather, Linda Monica Nicole Bryan Wendell Michael Kianna Mathew Jamal Carole all gave excellent service. The food is incredible the head chef Wayne makes the most amazing dishes and each and every one of his dishes was excellent. The beach is beautiful but a little rocky . The food in the restaurant is expensive but lunch prices are more reason able than dinner and the food is excellent. It was N incredible experience and I can’t wait to return.

We had such a nice stay at the colony club in this month ! We went in a group with a baby and toddler and the staff could not have been more friendly and helpful whilst we were there. It was so nice to have so many lovely people around us to help us all enjoy our holiday. Our room was clean and had everything we needed, our housekeeper, Debra, was lovely and thought of everything for us and our toddler loved her ! The food was so tasty, lots of variety, we were all inclusive and were really happy with what they had to offer, lots of options, cooking on the grill in front of you for some buffet nights and other nights a menu to choose from. The restaurant staff were accomodating, I can’t remember all the names but Thankyou to Carol ! All the team from reception to gardening staff work so hard to keep the hotel looking amazing. We would love to go back again and will be recommending to all our family and friends. Thankyou

Hotel has a elegant, quiet, relaxed, feel to it. I would recommend getting an upgraded room by the pool. You can sit outside and kind of have a private pool and patio area which is really nice. The alcoholic drinks are rather chizy and expensive. the food is pretty good but wouldn’t compare with a great five star restaurant.

Mist beautiful hotel ever. I came here in a mixed couples/business trip and we found it incredibile pretty, full of lush green vegetation, water falla and the most ora e fui beautiful beach. The hotel is recently renivated and everything is new and the decir is very tastefull and classy. Staff is very nice and attentive. I don’t give them the 5 starà because some of the new gadgets in the room don’t work well, i guess because they have never been tried before. Also because is very hard to find other food options besides the hotel and the food is quite expensive

Here’s a tidied-up version of your review:||---||I visited the Colony Club over 15 years ago for dinner and enjoyed the best mojito. More recently, we stayed for a week after the refurbishment and absolutely loved our experience!||The staff were helpful and friendly, particularly attentive to young families. One guest in a wheelchair struggled with mobility, but the staff treated them with dignity and support, assisting them to the beach and restaurant.||Our room was beautiful, and the gardens and pool were well-maintained. ||My only minor concern was that you need to get up early (around 6:30 AM) to secure a lounger on the beach, and there was a bit of hassle from individuals offering trips. Breakfast was good, but the buffet area was relatively small and could get chaotic when busy, especially near the omelette and hot food stations. Nevertheless, the restaurant staff were super attentive. I also found the all-day menu could use more creativity.||As a Bonvoy member, I didn’t feel we were treated any differently or offered an upgrade (which we would have paid for), but we were satisfied with our garden view room.||We were fortunate to be there on Independence Day and enjoyed Bajan-inspired options and an incredible steel band.||Thank you to the amazing staff; we look forward to visiting again!||--- ||Feel free to let me know if you would like any more

Last time in Barbados we stayed at Fairmont which I thought was a lovely hotel but we wanted to try something different for this trip. Colony Club used to be independent, they closed for renovations and reopened in September as Luxury Collection brand but to be honest it's more in-between Autograph and LC, in other words they are not yet at luxury level. Some features are luxury such as the quality of the room but they messed it up with a split air conditioning unit. The hotel common areas are nice and look luxury. Some parts of the service are indeed better than at Fairmont, for example the General Manager came to greet us when we were feeding fish with children and he offered to take our family picture. But some other aspects fall short. For example there is no a la carte menu for breakfast and a very small cramped area for the buffet. Breakfast ends at 10am which is way too early for a resort of this nature and some items ran out at 9:30am and not replenished. Some staff are inadequately trained, I appreciated the bottle of champagne as welcome gift but they did not serve it in an ice bucket. So we had a warm bottle and it had been recently significantly shaken because as soon as I half untwisted the metal cord, the cork exploded. This ain't a bottle of red wine folks... ||But for me the biggest drawback was the upgrade as Bonvoy Ambassador Elite. The resort is built in the opposite direction of Fairmont in the sense that at Fairmont all rooms face the ocean and the hotel is built on a long waterfront property, but at Colony Club most rooms are inland and only a handful are at the far end of the resort and close to the water. Due to scarcity, they decided that their highest room category are the rooms near the ocean, ahead of suites inland. This is what they upgraded us to: we had second closest room to the ocean so very close but the view was still partially blocked by trees and nowhere near as good as Fairmont, where even standard rooms are so close to the water, in fact the closest to the water line as I have ever seen of any hotel in the world, it's quite unique. At Colony Club I cannot see any kind of upgrade which would make me feel I have a better room than anything I could have at Fairmont regardless if I get an upgrade there or not. It's that extreme.

We last stayed here four years ago and it was very tired but still had charm and lovely staff. Post refurbishment it has been beautifully and tastefully modernised, whilst keeping the charm and traditional touches. Our pool access room was gorgeous with a huge four poster bed - the most comfortable I think I’ve ever slept in. Brand new furniture, a freestanding double shower and a lovely terrace overlooking one of the pools and the garden area: Staff are still wonderful - attentive and friendly - and the gym has had a welcome upgrade which we made full use of. The food was very good and they still make the best Mai Tai I’ve ever tasted! | I wouldn’t stay anywhere else in Barbados and thank you Marriott for not making it all inclusive.