The House by Elegant Hotels

If I could rate this place 10 out of 10, I would! Service is impeccable. The grounds are gorgeous and the service couldn’t be more Caribbean friendly! Rico, Agnes and Fiona have treated us like family.

LOCATION The adults-only, ~36 room Elegant by Marriott is a boutique hotel on the southwest side of Barbados thus calmer water. There are several other Elegant hotels by Marriott on Barbados. A couple are under renovation. Colony Club with 90+ rooms is very nice; we stayed there before. Treasure Beach and Waves are nearby, but we preferred the atmosphere and food at The House. The hotel is about 30-45 minutes from the airport depending on your route and day/time. A rental car is about $550 for the week with Go Rentals, an efficient no-wait company. ENTRANCE Across from the Roti Den, there is a security house and about 5 parking spaces due to the beach bar construction. Designed with hibiscus and palm trees, the entrance is very pretty and nicely lit at night. TIP - Beware of the LARGE hole in the grate when driving and exiting the property. CHECK IN Anthony and Kaitlyn made the process effortless with a refreshing ginger drink and cool towel. Housekeeping works efficiently to get the check outs cleaned for the check ins to avoid a wait to get in the room. TIP - Ask for the wifi password ROOM Positives: beautiful second and third floor room views of ocean, spacious bedroom, balcony: table, 2 chairs, sofa, comfortable seating and bed, large, pivotable ~20-channel flat screen TV, consistent A/C, storage: 7 drawers, many closet hangars, robes, slippers, safe, umbrella (pop-up rains here), iron/board, turndown almost every night, 95% clean, coffee, tea kettle upon request, stocked fridge with water, beer and beverages. For your electronics, there are 2 USB-A and 2 USB-C charging ports and 110 outlets. Otherwise, bring and adaptor. TIP - If you have a standard schedule, consider arranging a daily room-service time with housekeeping. TIP - Wedge the Service/Privacy sign in the exterior door jamb as it tends to fly off with the winds BATHROOM Positives: water pressure, water temperature, shower and wand, automatic night light for motion, large mirror, smaller make up mirror, hairdryer, amenities: Apotheke shampoo, conditioner, and body wash Know: There was quite a bit of mold in the shower edges and corners. The Apotheke product line has an undesirable smell. RESTAURANT/BAR Positives: Andrew, Nadia, Chantal, and Devere were among the staff members who made our stay most enjoyable. Their conversations and personal touch to service and attention to detail were delightful. The bar is well-stocked and has 8 stools. The staff does recommend that you set a dinner reservation for each night even if you decide to dine elsewhere on occasion. The restaurant offers a daily breakfast buffet with a made-to-order egg station. The lunch and dinner menus provide varied fish, beef, and poultry preparations every day. We loved every meal. Our favorites: rib eye, tuna poke, and marlin. We did miss the weekly Thursday Caribbean buffet. Know: Despite the staff's efforts, there can be black flies in the morning. And check the chairs before sitting, many have stains and need cleaning. TIP - Bug lotion and After Bite came in handy at times. TIP - Sister hotel recommendation: Colony Club is very good for food; however, Colony Club meals are NOT included in The Hotel's all-inclusive program. Yet, there is a 30% discount off menu and bar items at the Colony Club. Nearby Waves and Treasure Beach sister hotels ARE included with the all-inclusive program. The food selections do not compare to The Hotel. PUBLIC AREAS - POOL & BEACH The areas are cozy, well-manicured. There are courtyard gardens and a coy pond. As for the pool and beach, this would be the reason that we would NOT return to this hotel. With ~30 pool lounge chairs, the pool area is usually 'towel-reserved' by guests by 7 am. Many chairs sit empty and remain vacant for hours despite the management's 30-minute towel removal policy/notice. The pool staff does not enforce this policy. However, we were able to find chairs near the two small round attached pools on 2 of our 7 day stay here. If all else fails, there are several chairs on the beach. The beach has about 20 beach lounge chairs. The chairs are on a strange slope. These chairs ALSO fill up quickly. There will probably be more chairs once the beach bar is complete. The beach is short with coral and a drop off upon entering. We did not feel comfortable entering the water based on the coral and rock. The walk along the beach is quite quick as well. TIP - Take the free northbound water taxi from The Hotel's beach and go to the sister hotel Colony Club. The water taxi goes between the sister hotels most of the day. The beach is longer, has less of a drop off, less coral, good snorkeling and a picturesque pool are with MANY unreserved lounge chairs. SPA Closed Sundays, the spa appears to have 2 employees: Stacy and Shakiria. The spa offers a free 30-minute jet-lag massage. Nice facials, relaxing massages, and energizing body scrubs TIP - Reserve EARLY with the front desk concierge during your stay in order to get time slots

I think the experience sits somewhere between the two extremes of reviews. The hotel certainly isn't as advertised and it doesn't have 5* service. Watersports and gym etc didn't exist. There was 1 yoga session and 1 pilates session a week and the beach isn't long enough for a proper walk, so if you love exercise it's not the best. Certainly didn't have paddle boards. The water taxi was patchy at best. The food was average too and we ended up eating out a lot... I suspect there may have been a change in chef as earlier reviews are great. Some staff are amazing... some outright rude. There was a great little espresso machine in the room - but no pods for the whole stay. The rooms however were big and stunning and the location is excellent. We met some brilliant people but there was a feeling amongst all guests that the hotel didn't live up to its promise. Saying all this I would stay again if they just lifted standards.

Having just returned from our long awaited, retirement present to ourselves, a holiday, we feel that we must place on record our dissatisfaction of The House. We booked The House, in Barbados, (all inclusive), advertised by BA Holidays as a 4.5 star with many benefits such as 24-hour ambassador service, complimentary jet lag massage, afternoon tea, fitness centre, rain fall showers, yoga, pilates etc. None of these were available nor have been for many months, in some cases never, according to the management who we complained to. This is not a 5 star resort, in fact it is advertised as a 4.5 star, in our opinion its struggling at 4 star at best. Even the senior managers, at the resort confirmed to us that it’s not a 4.5 star but a premium resort hotel, ie 4 star. The food at the hotel was average at best, we ended up eating out on several occasions as the choice and quality of The House food was poor including undercooked chicken on barbeque for lunch, and a special Thanksgiving meal that no Americans would have enjoyed! On the positive side, the rooms were clean and comfortable as was the bed. We did in fact have 1 very good evening meal during the week, and several of the staff really did go out of their way to serve, but not the majority. The manager, Bob, was approachable, listened and took the feedback and thanked us for sharing before we left the hotel. Over promised, under delivered and at a great cost. There are better alternatives on the island We paid for an upgraded ocean view room, no rainfall showers, no 24 hour ambassador service, the jet lag massage was only available 2 days from departure, (and not upon arrival), no afternoon teas served, no cushioned sun loungers, fitness centre is another hotel 10 mins walk away. There was no notice of what was on where, including the yoga / pilates class, so maybe a suggestion that the group of hotels in the Autograph collection should all get their heads together and start getting smarter for updating their guests? As The House is part of the Marriott chain we were able to use facilities at other nearby resorts which proved good, although our only comment here was that some of the resorts were complimentary as they treated us as part of the all inclusive package as we were at The House but others charged us, minus a 30% discount, confusing and unnecessary in our opinion.

I’ve stayed at many all-inclusive resorts, and this was by far the most disappointing. Nearly everything advertised on the website was either unavailable or simply untrue. Do not waste your vacation money! I have many complaints but here are the highlights of why you should not stay here! What they claim: An intimate and exclusive escape in a chic resort hideaway with room service, hot tub, minibar, fitness center with “top fitness machines” and yoga/Pilates classes, daily activities, night club, couples spa treatments, 24-hour ambassador service to “tend to your every wish and desire”, off-site excursion planning, and an afternoon tea with clotted cream, pastries, and scones. Reality: None of this existed. Food: No room service, small portions, dinner (with exactly one roll) takes 2 hours in the heat (no indoor dining options), afternoon tea never happened, no snacks were offered outside of the three meals other than an on request “all-day menu” which is just a burger or club. Breakfast is a standard hotel continental setup other than an omelette bar. We asked for minbar chips multiple times and never got them. We bought snacks from a gas station across the street to not stay hungry. Service: 24-hour ambassador service was nonexistent. A few pleasant employees with more blatantly rude employees. We had to request coffee pods daily and still didn’t get them 3 of 5 days. Our minibar was never restocked despite four requests. Spa only has one person so there are no couples treatments. The welcome massage was a one-handed back rub (other hand on her phone). Amenities: No fitness center. No classes. No wellness. Only 2 bath towels per room and no toiletry restocking without a request. Lots of rocks and glass on the beach (water shoes required), and no fresh-water rinse…just a communal bowl of standing fungus water to be avoided. Beach/Pool: Pool chairs never available. Beach is short, steep, and uncomfortable. This resort is NOT AT ALL what it advertises and absolutely not worth your points or hard earned money! We save all year for vacation and this was a costly bait-and-switch. Save yourself the frustration and disappointment and choose another property!