The Crane Resort

Some of the reviews made my family and I a little nervous.. The Crane is AMAZING. Everything you could ever want is located right on the resort and anything else you may need or want to do can be arranged. The employees are excellent at helping you with anything you need. We were also nervous due to the predicted forecast for our stay, but after a few rainstorms it was beautiful! We stayed in the new, just-opened 2 bedrooms and they were incredible! I would recommend this resort to anyone I came across and I think its worth it.

We did not stay at the Crane but went there for lunch one afternoon. That was the BEST Roti I have ever had, and it was HUGE!. The drinks were good the atmosphere was wonderful and we truly enjoyed our visit there. The staff knew we were not staying there, but were lovely anyway. Our waitress was great and told us to feel free to wander the resort and use the beach if we wished. The resort is beautiful, but due to there not being anything around the area I don't know if I would stay there. I wasn't too impressed with the beach though. But would recommend anyone to visit for lunch.

CONCLUSION: The Crane Resort is a beautiful resort located in a pristine and private area of Barbados, and has two or three excellent dining choices...but you are out of your mind if you book there. It is the worst hotel/resort experience we have ever been through in over 25 years of regular travel. Fundamentally, it is a self-serve resort (more on this below), despite any attempt to claim otherwise. We stayed there the first week of July, and the experience was ridiculous from start to finish. BOOKING AND CHECK-IN: We booked a plunge pool ocean suite and second garden view room. Both rooms were clean and beautiful. After booking, I received a promotion from Amex offering a special rate if you book using your Platinum Card. Although we did not use this promotion - because we got a better price booking with the hotel directly - upon check in we were told the resort does not accept Amex (they do at the restaurants, but not at the front desk!). They also demand payment in full on arrival, as well as your Passport #. Curiously, they also require your email address for wifi access...after all this place is all about upselling time shares and I haven't had a day go by where I haven't received at least one email from The Crane. During a subsequent face to face meeting with the manager, I was informed that the hotel WON'T (not CAN'T) accept Amex because previous guests had disputed the Amex charge and it takes too long for the resort to collect and this directive "comes from top". I made sure to send an email to an executive at Amex with whom I am familiar. He wasn't thrilled to hear of this. GENERAL SERVICE (OR LACK THEREOF): (i) four flights of stairs up the side of a cliff from the beach because the beach access elevator did not work for all but a few hours of our stay; (ii) made two restaurant reservations through the concierge, one on-site and one a 30 minute taxi ride away. The hotel never bothered to make either reservation, and we were not able to eat at the off-site restaurant as they had no room for us without a reservation. Not fun looking for a good restaurant in a new location late at night; (iii) staff at pools is non-existent. Want a chaize? A towel? A side table? A drink? You have to get your own. Only at the beach does the service approach a standard befitting the resort's boastfulness. Best part, though, is you can't get a towel without leaving a "towel card" which you only get back if you return the towels yourself. One day, when we returned our towels, we were told they had no towel cards left to give us so we would have to get new towel cards from the front desk in order to get more towels. No real loss though, as the adult pool had no towels available - not even one. CHECK-OUT: At check-out time we called for a bellman to fetch our luggage only to be told there were no bellman available...my response was that I would be enjoying the sweltering heat in my room until such time as they could find someone to fetch the luggage. About 15 minutes later someone showed up. Upon exiting the resort we were taken by a different route out of the property, one that we had not previously seen or noticed even when leaving the property previous days. The driver told us that he is required to drive us by the gigantic "bungalow" sign heralding the newest additions to the "residential resort" (i.e. trying to upsell us on time shares). I told the driver not to bother even slowing down. AIR CONDITIONING: The biggest complaint deserves its own special section, as it is a fundamental flaw with the resort: although there is air conditioning on site, most of the people we spoke to on the property shared our complaint that the air conditioning was wholly inadequate. Our room was sweltering day and night, even with the air conditioning maxed out on the coolest setting at the highest fan level. This continued even AFTER having a technician check the air conditioning on the day we arrived. During my face to face with the manager the only thing he told me was that the "chiller" was working. How wonderful for the chiller. We know for a fact that other guests were offered portable air conditioning units and some even received a 50% discount on their room bill. We were offered neither. My favorite moment of the trip was when on the last day, I walked into the main lobby to get to the airport taxi, and the concierge had no less than three fans turned on full sitting inches away from her. No fans for guests, I guess. Have a photo of it, but not sure how to upload to this site. Upon returning home, as noted above, emails from The Crane arrived, including an online survey, which I was very happy to fill out as honestly as I could. Have you ever seen a survey question from a hotel/resort asking you to specifically describe the air conditioning? Clearly, this is an ongoing and chronic problem. What happened next was pure The Crane Resort hospitality: I received an email from someone saying that the general manager wanted to speak to me about my "less than stellar" visit and asked when I would be available for a telephone call. I replied...and followed up with a second reply...and a voice mail message on the general manager's own voice mail...but have never heard another word from them. Par for The Crane course... Heed my advice and stay away, or go at your own peril. What I can tell you is that this is the worst service I have ever experienced at any hotel anywhere ever.

This is my second visit to the Crane. The rooms need a bit of polish but are very comfortable. The spa tub was amazing and the bed was comfortable. My husband and I enjoyed the coy and duck pond outside our building. It was so relaxing to watch and feed them. Our building supervisor, Sandra Cumberbatch, was very pleasant and helpful. The only complaints we had are: (1) all the pools were not working for the time we were there, (2) construction was going on outside our building which we were not told about and which stopped us from napping during the day, and (3) the lighting in the rooms need to be improved. It can be very dark. All in all, however, we will be coming back.

We loved the Crane Resort! We were greeted by very friendly staff as the taxi stopped at the reception. Cold hand towels with eucalyptus oil were given to us, a wonderful gesture which was very much appreciated after a long journey. Instead of standing in lines to check in you are invited to sit in a comfortable sitting area. A very welcome rum punch was given to us while the staff took our information. This set the mood for our stay. Relaxed. We felt everything we needed was at the Crane. Left the resort only twice. Our day was the beach. Lounge chairs, umbrellas set up. Towels plentiful. The grill, bar and restrooms only steps away. Being truly spoilt😀we just needed to put a flag up by our chair and staff brought drinks or food right to us. Yes the sea weed was there, but for us the view, sunshine and ocean breeze was just what we wanted. We also found that July was a great time to visit, it seemed to rain at night with only a few sprinkles during the day. It was far hotter and wetter back in our home state of PA.