Colony Club, a Luxury Collection Resort, Barbados

We have stayed at, and enjoyed, Colony Club a number of times, but this was our first time since the hotel was refurbished. The refurbishment has been a big step forward, but there are still some areas, especially breakfast, where there is still scope to go further to truly warrant the 'Luxury' branding. We stayed for 10 nights in a luxury ocean view room and agree with other guest comments that it is very comfortable with a huge shower. Much improved from previously. That said the design appears to have been undertaken by people who have never stayed in a hotel room and tends towards 'style over substance'. The lack of towel hooks is an issue (management are looking at addressing this) as is storage space - had they extended the dresser unit, the bar, tea & coffee trays could have been put away and provided additional drawer and surface space for guests. The barn door into the bathroom does not run smoothly. In the main restaurant, it is surprising that Marriott did not take the opportunity to extend the self-service breakfast area which remains small and cramped. We only had breakfast in the hotel and the food was average - this is the key area which still falls short of the 'Luxury' branding. We stayed over Easter and did not have an issue getting sunbeds. The beach staff were all friendly and attentive - a special mention to Maradona for bringing his own brand of sunshine and very high level of service to us each day. Indeed all staff went out of their way to chat and were warm, helpful and fun, especially the breakfast team of Ryan, Sandra and Janelle. The cocktail party for Bonvoy Elite guests was a nice touch. In our view you cannot beat the location of the Colony Club. It is an easy 20 minute walk to the centre of Holetown and a wide range of excellent restaurants. Would warrant a '5' rating if the breakfast quality was better. Overall, a really enjoyable stay and we will certainly return.

We spent Christmas 2025 at the Colony Club and had the best time, so much so we decided to return in March 2026 to celebrate my Mum’s birthday. We travelled as a party of 7, 4 adults and 3 children (aged 6 and 7). We stayed in 2 Pool Garden View junior suites which were clean, modern and spacious. We had an issue with the first room we checked into, which at 9pm after a day’s travel is never a great start, but reception apologised and immediately moved us to another room without delay. They even made sure to check in with us the following day to ensure we were happy. The staff are all so welcoming and friendly, a number of them remembered us from Christmas and made a point of coming to say hello, special mentions go to Rosemary who is so kind and caring, looking after us (especially my son when he wasn’t feeling well), Tito who took extra special are of us by the pool, and Maradona who is the happiest, smiliest man I’ve ever met! The pools are well kept and big by Barbados standards plus the beach is idyllic - you do have to be an early riser to get loungers which could be irritating for those who enjoy a lie-in. The food at both restaurants is world-class, every night there is a different menu (as well as an all-day menu which has plenty of options) and every dish is superb, if you like burger-and-chips type dinner then this place isn’t for you, however if you like refined dining with fantastic service you will struggle to find better. We love this gem of a place and have booked to return again already.

Beautiful 80 room hotel on the Platinum Coast north of Bridgetown about an hour from the airport. The hotel is in a quiet location with the land to the north occupied by the Bamford Mansion and estate (JCB digger fame) and to the south by the Coral Beach Hotel with the overall site bounded by the road to the east and the beach to the west. The beach itself is exactly what you imagine a perfect Caribbean beach being and from cruising up the coast it looks to be possibly the nicest on Barbados, with the exception perhaps of the Sandy Lane beach. The pools are all lovely and a perfect temperature matching the ocean. There are four in total, the main lagoon pool near the beach, two serving the swim-up rooms and another at the rear. Rooms are always difficult to interpret from Hotel websites but here no rooms are likely to offer direct front views of the sea or beach as the hotel is angled in two wings both at 90 degrees to the beach. As a family of three we chose two adjacent swim-up rooms to stay in and I’m very happy we did so. There are ten such rooms clustered in two buildings each with its own lagoon pool shared between 5 rooms. This pool can only be accessed from the rooms via their large patios, although other guests could theoretically jump off a rock if they wanted to join in! The front 5 (we were in 136 and 137) have a nice view over the pool and onto the main colonial style hotel building with its lounge and the restaurant beyond with triple-height vaulted ceilings. The room’s patio was an excellent place for an early morning cup of tea or chilling at any time accompanied by occasional humming birds, thieving bananaquit birds and small lizards. The second group of 5 rooms are positioned a bit further back from the beach. Our Swim Up rooms where spotlessly clean and contained a large bathroom with walk in shower and twin sinks, a safe, a fridge, 4 bottles of water which where replenished daily, and a very welcome bottle of Prosecco and fruit basket in each room. The large 4 poster bed was very comfortable, the air-con was silent and no outside noise disturbed us at night apart from the tiny but noisy whistling frogs. The hotel provide insect repellent in the rooms but there didn’t appear to be too many mosquitoes around in March and we survived the holiday with only a couple of nips between us. The large patio leading to the pool contained a comfy settee/lounger plus a patio table and umbrella with curved bench and two chairs. Live music is played at the lounge every night until 10 pm except Sunday when a steel band accompanies their Sunday Buffet Lunch. (Popular with locals) There are also rooms located above the swim up rooms with a balcony and stair leading down into the pool. I think these are classed as Luxury Pool View? The ocean view categories seem like they might be slightly disingenuous as all appear to offer only sideways views. The ground floor option, while having nice patios also appear to look more onto the beach/pool bar decking and umbrellas than the ocean. They all look very nice though and appear larger and are in very close proximity to the beach, main lagoon pool and pool bar. The final group of rooms are set further back toward the tennis court and road but still only seconds from the beach and surround the fourth pool on the property, I presume these must be the pool and garden view category rooms. The beach was spotless and the beach beds clean and plentiful although it did get a bit busy at the weekend. There is regular beach service with complimentary treats on offer and the usual “piña colada” bar service and most people moved the five yards up onto the decked beach bar for lunch. This was also always a popular place to sit and watch the sun go down while enjoying the 2 for 1 cocktails during happy hour between 5 and 6 pm. The beach itself was all soft sand and ideal for safe swimming and a comprehensive array of complimentary water sports are on offer including snorkelling, kayaking, short speed boat rides up the coast, sailing dinghies and more… They are also able to help with arranging glass bottom boat trips and turtle viewing trips, jet skis, water skiing etc. and a taxi boat runs throughout the day to the hotel’s four sister properties down the coast. Breakfast at the hotel was excellent with the usual buffet and omelette chef to make your fresh omelettes, eggs or pancakes. All the waiting staff where very friendly and efficient. English tea with milk was the default serving although you did have to ask for white sugar if you don’t fancy brown in your tea. All the staff in the hotel, at front desk, in the restaurant, on the beach, at the bar and housekeeping were all very friendly, helpful and generally just good at their job. Evening meals had a different theme each night with the menu on show at breakfast. There was also a simple all day menu which was useful for lunch at the beach bar. The concierge Chanelle was very helpful with organising trips out and local restaurants. She can also help with car hire and currency exchange at BBD $2 to US $1. We had the hotel car (Range Rover, helpful on the pot holed roads!) with driver Tristan take us on a half day tour of the north of the island including a visit to the wild monkeys at the Barbados Wildlife Reserve. It costs BBD $140 (About £55) per hour but makes life very simple. They can also taxi you to local restaurants or even the infamous Oistins Fish Fry if required. Uber is also now available on the Island but is limited so you may have a long wait. We didn’t use it. Local restaurants we went to included Paul Owens, which was very good, friendly, nice atmosphere and original cooking. We also went to The Lone Star, similar price at about BBD $850 for 3 but we felt it a bit pretentious and targeting more the expat community (Shepherd’s Pie on the menu!) and celebrity clientele (Rihanna, Simon Cowell apparently?) Just outside the hotel entrance are a few venues including The SeaCat, local food and very good and at a good price and next door the Horny Ram Pub, similar but a bit more noisy with live music and bar.

We had a beautiful stay at The Colony Club. Having moved hotels after our previously booked Marriott hotel was not going to be renovated in time - we were able to be moved over to Colony Club. We were sceptical going to a newly renovated hotel that we hadn’t stayed at previously but they exceeded our expectations. Firstly the hotel rooms are stunning and we had two queen beds which were made everyday and bathroom was stocked and very clean. The outside garden area was lovely too. The ladies at turn down were so lovely aswell. The food throughout our stay was amazing especially the lunch options where there was so much choice between both the all day menu and the lunch menu that changed everyday. We also tried out the Sunday buffet lunch menu which was fab - so much choice. We loved the breakfast with the omelettes available. Although the breakfast seems small - it’s actually perfect for the amount you need. Also, one day we missed the end time of the lunch service when we wanted to order desserts and both our lovely waitress and the chef on the kitchen made two desserts especially even though we were too late which was so lovely. We enjoyed both the pool and beach areas. The sun beds around pool are super comfy - one note to improve would be to take the covers off everyday as they did get a lot of marks on them from the birds and the trees above - it would just make them feel more high end as the striped detail is a nice touch. They always stacked the beach sunbeds each day so would make sense to put the pool bed covers away too I would hope. We didn’t make use of the spa but it’s a shame this isn’t marketed very well and is in a slightly odd location which is the car park and staff area at the back of the hotel. If you are a frequent spa visitor, you would hope for it to be better marketed to guests and luxurious for the price of treatments and the property itself. Alongside this, the tennis and padel courts are nearby which are done really nicely, we really liked them - however they could provide better padel rackets as they were the right ones and gave tennis balls instead of padel balls. Just a tip to improve for fitness goers! We did the 8-9am classes with Jamal every morning which was so fun - mixture of dancercise, fitness, Pilates and water aerobics etc! A fab way to start the morning before breakfast. Some standout staff were as follows: Maradona at the pool bar! He was the loveliest and most attentive staff member and a real asset to The Colony Club. He made us laugh and always delivered drinks with a smile. We hope to see him again if we return. Tito at the pool bar & restaurant! We actually met Tito at The Tamarind hotel which we have stayed before and he remembered us. He is so lovely and chatty, providing fabulous service and drinks. Rafiq at the Hotel Reception! Most days we went to reception regarding dinner reservations or general enquiries and he was just fab! Even when we asked him to call about five different restaurants in a panic, he was so calm and helpful. Sydney at the pool bar! Providing delicious cocktails at happy hour and a smile always. Overall a wonderful stay at The Colony Club. If there was any other improvements to add - I would say that the fitness centre is quite small and was always quite busy so not easy to get in. They should advertise both the spa and classes better to get more people to sign up.

Having previously stayed at the Tamarind some 10 years’ ago this was our first trip to the Colony Club and it surpassed our expectations in every way. We travelled as two families with adult children. What we loved… excellent location, not requiring much travel to get to restaurants, towns etc; beautiful room and maintained daily to v high standards; all staff were excellent and incredibly attentive (this included front of house, cleaners, chefs, waiting staff, management- everyone!); water-sports facilities and staff also excellent. Loved the morning fitness activities which were different every day. The teacher was great as was the dance class guy, who we loved! Great fun. Think you could publicise this more as I’m sure there would be more people interested in the classes. That said we loved the small classes! Food was also exceptional- breakfast, lunch and dinner. The small negatives…. Lack of usable equipment for padel, tennis etc. We would have enjoyed using this more but there wasn’t the equipment to use. No padel balls, hence racquets were broken from using tennis balls; tennis racquets very old and not very usable. Spa was small and out of the way, and you couldn’t just go in. I found that a bit disappointing as I would have liked to go in to browse, talked to staff and then probably booked a treatment or two. All in all a wonderful stay and too many stand out members of staff to personally mention. Thank you to everyone!