Island Inn Hotel All-Inclusive

The description from fellow guests of the hotel was rustic/ quirky. It's a small, intimate hotel that adds to its charm. Staff are so lovely, and those waiting on deserve a special shout out. Elsie, Sharon, Tia, Jeanette, Ann, Doris, to name a few. Sharon on reception was very warm. Terry working in the bar does a lot of extra jobs especially we observed a few days they could have done with more staff in the restuarant. Food is very tasty and nicely presented. We were in room 2, which, when we first arrived, i thought it was quite basic, but after a couple of days, I was satisfied and comfortable having gotten used to it. Towels are changed daily if required. Bed was comfortable and everywhere was clean. The location is perfect right next to Pebbles Beach and a 10 minute stroll to Brown's beach/Carlyle Bay. Both these beaches are great for swimming/snorkelling and seeing turtles, especially Pebbles. We tried the reggae bus twice, which was fun and cheap. We did a tour of the island with Teds tours, which was very good. The use of the sister hotels is a great idea and a different way to spend some time. They, too, were welcoming, supply you with a beach towel, and you are free to make use of their facilities for the day, drinks, lunch, beach beds, etc. Island Inn needs some updates to the rooms, yes, but we still had a lovely relaxing holiday. I forgot to add that the charm of the hotel is the small bar area where we mixed with a lot of other guests immediately, which definitely added to a great 10 days there. We will be back!

We found most of the staff a little cold and unhelpful, with the exception of Tre the bar tender. The food was sub par, we had 1 meal that was so awful no one in the restaurant ate it( lamb shank). |The rooms were tired and a little grubby. |The atmosphere and the camaraderie of the guests was lovely.|the exterior was definitely in need of some loving care. The beach nearby was lovely, and experiencing the race horses in the ocean each morning was a sight not to be missed

This small boutique, oldy worldly hotel is just a few minutes walk from Pebbles beach. Rooms are clean and functional and as others have said old fashioned. We had a junior suite poolside. It was big. Easily fit a family of 4. Bathroom had a large walk in shower, bath with shower over but bath had no taps just the shower head! ||Small bar area with a really friendly vibe, restaurant and reception area with comfortable seating. |Food was a mix of menu each day or buffet. Breakfast was always buffet. ||Pool area is small but mostly people head to the beach so it’s not a problem, ||Whilst we were there some works to the restaurant were needed. This in itself was inconvenient as it meant the seating for the restaurant was crammed into one small area. However the annoying part was we were not advised of the works until the end of day 2! We did raise this with management and hope they will take on board our comments should they need to do this again in the future. ||The staff are the real hero’s of this hotel. If you make the effort to get to know them, and most guests do, they will do all they can for you.

Lovely friendly people. Hotel needs a bit of tlc but it doesn’t matter as it feels like a happy place because of the people that work there. rooms were adequate and comfortable enough for us. They were cleaned every day and we had clean towels daily. Food is ok ish some days better than others, the cocktails are superb. The hotel is close to Pebbles beach and Carlisle Bay is across the road and it’s approx a 20 minute walk to Bridgetown from the hotel. We’ve been 3 times and looking forward to going again next year.

This is a very good hotel and could easily be 4 rather 3 |The staff are fantastic especially Terry who does so many different duties it's amazing. |The rooms are very good and although some reviews mention they require updating not for ne as this would spoil the ambience. |I independence day Nov 30th the hotel put on a lavish meal for lunch as well as extra entertainment. |The hotel has to daily menus week 1 and week2.|The week 2 menu was far more superior to week 1 biggest downfall being hot dogs twice for lunch. |That week we had lunch only 3 times at the hotel.|There was a problem with mosquitoes in the courtyard which should be addressed. |Overall pleasant but not great.

Not a pleasant experience. Not kid friendly especially food wise, late night music right in front of your room. Some staff are trying, but service generally is poor. The best staff member is maintenance guy, who resolved our issue instantly! Room is fine, leaking faucet that drips to the floor can be tolerated. Food is average, breakfast is fine, lunch is below average, we never had dinner here as we wanted to have good food at least once a day. Very limited parking, first come first serve.

We have been to Island Inn Hotel twice before for Christmas and had a fabulous time. Unfortunately, not this Christmas. Both Barbados and Island Inn Hotel have changed. Sadly, we will not return to either. ||The Hotel is small and still very pretty with fairy lights in the courtyard. It still has this lovely ambiance. However, the staff and lack of communication spoilt it for us. Only Elsie had a smile and donned a Christmas hat. The rest of the staff just didn't look as though they wanted to be there. This wasn't the case when we stayed before. All the staff were jolly and smiling and it felt just like a family.||Communication and management was really poor. We didn't know what was going on and we only only found out from other quests that there are now two sister hotels, Mango Bay and Sands. It appears that we could have visited these but we were never told that and only found out when we got home. We also think that there might have been a managers evening but no note, as we had before, to invite us, so we missed that and never did meet the manager. When we stayed last time, the manageress was always present and even personally delivered the Hotel's Christmas present to us. Just left on the bed this time by housekeeping. There are only 24 rooms. A personal touch wouldn't hurt. Lots of sheets of paper to read left under glass top tables but no Hotel information file anymore.||When we stayed before, it was hightlighted that we could have a picnic if we were going out for the day. Nothing mentioned or stated on the room literature so we assumed not. On returning home, it looks like that might have been an option from other reviewers. Just lack of communication again.||We always chose this hotel because it was reknowned for it's food. It was the best place to eat on the Island. Vanessa, the previous chef, was brilliant and every dish was excellent. This time we had one really good dish during the 10 days we were there and they could cook eggs at breakfast. The deserts, however, are dire. So much so, that most quests asked for ice cream. The snacks for afternoon tea never varied and the rock cakes were only fit for the birds. Island Inn desperately needs a pastry chef.||Housekeeping failed to leave tea bags in our room, so one day we decided to take two bags back with us from breakfast for the next morning. We were both told off in no uncertain manner by Bernadette and had to put them back. You don't talk to paying quests like that.||Terry, the barman, knew his stuff but Tre was a nightmare. There isn't enough staff on a busy day. Christmas Day, Tre was stroppy, kept disappearring, obviously didn't want to be there, kept clock watching and refused to serve a quest a drink at 11 p.m. when the bar closed. The quest had been waiting for him to return. Tre was bloshy and it was rubbing off on one of the young lads who waited tables. Tre also took backhanders from other quests who wanted him to look after them, he drunk with his friend at the bar which I suspect wasn't paid for and when he didn't know how to make a cocktail he couldn't be bothered to find out. We also discovered that non residents from the nearby Radisson Hotel were drinking free at Island Inn under his watch. Some quests had to buy their own tonic as Island Inn ran out.||Rooms are nice, although being in the Carribbean, you would hope for something more colourful than brown and green. We had to buy our own plug for the sink as the pop up had broken and the mattress was hard and tired. ||We booked 11 months previously and asked for a sunny aspect room in the newer South block. We were told, although not guaranteed, it wouldn't be a problem. We were allocated a shady room in the old building but it was large and nice enough. People did tend to sit under our window though and make video calls back home. One at 6.30 in the morning! There was a cafe table under our window where smokers congregated, so smoke filtered into our room which wasn't pleasant early morning.||The staff never put the chairs in the courtyard back in the morning so it looked scruffy and, when it rained, all the cushions were just left out so you couldn't sit there until they had dried off in the sun. When we stayed before, the cushions were put away and then brought back out.||When we checked in, we were given an invoice for the bed tax which had increased by 1/3rd since we last visited 5 years ago, but I suppose that's to be expected. However, when we checked out, the bill was a little higher. No explanation until I asked. I was told it was a levy, for what I don't know. Then I was told it was optional! ||Finally, I agree with another reviewer, that it was very clicky. Certain groups were corralling the seating in the courtyard which led to a very noisy environment and ordering numerous drinks to the detriment of other quests. Unfortunately, like all 'all inclusive' establishments, when the word gets out, it does lead to abuse.||Shame, it was a really lovely gem of a hotel in the past but has gone downhill and, regretfully, we will look elsewhere for something more to our taste.

The positives first:|- Sharon is an absolute asset to this hotel. Friendly, knowledgeable and couldn’t do enough for us|- Same for most of the housekeeping and kitchen staff|- Air conditioning was excellent|- TV allowed streaming including Netflix/Amazon|- The bed was really comfortable |- The entertainment was lots of fun|- Being able to visit the Sister hotels was a real luxury!|- The location was fabulous for what we wanted to do and see||The not so good:|- Terry and Tre were the most unapproachable bar staff. We either caught them on a terrible 10 days, or they prioritised people who tipped better. So much so we ended up buying wine/alcohol from elsewhere rather than go anywhere near the bar|- The bathroom needs some real TLC. The shower spun around when trying to use it, and the service hatch on the side was shoddy to name a couple of issues|- The hotel in general needs a good upgrade|- Some delicious food some days, some not so good others|- Cliquey! Returning guests seemed to get priority treatment|- The pool area was smaller than the photos, and the loungers could do with some upgrading||I get people love this hotel because of its “charm” but when you compare Mango Bay to Island Inn it’s like a different company and it shouldn’t be as it’s the same group. The staff, the food, the experience - had we had longer to stay we would’ve asked to move hotels as Mango Bay was something else. It shouldn’t be good, but unfortunately our experience wasn’t what we expected from the reviews we’d read.