Coral Reef Club

We have stayed in 7 of the hotels on the island and this has been our favourite. More suited to older clientele which suite us being in our 50’s. This is tranquil , relaxing and upmarket. Very high level of repeat clientele . Outstanding service and staff. Not for large groups of people . Rooms are beautiful and colonial . Predominately older couples which have been coming here for years. We have booked to return this November and hope to revisit yearly. Food was consistently good every evening . Some themed buffet nights which we loved. Other formal evenings which we enjoyed. Walked into holetown a couple of evenings and attended the st James parish church for Sunday service.

As always a wonderful Hotel and holiday , The staff are always happy and helpful, the bedrooms and hotel perfect. A special thanks to Carlos on the beach and Lennie at the water sports . Will definitely return And thankyou to the O’Hara’s for welcoming my mother and family back again .

Coral reef is a fantastic hotel. The staff are incredible and attentive, the grounds are stunning and the food and drinks were all delicious. We loved every minute of our honeymoon. I’d read reviews that the hotel seems tired and it was mainly older couples. We found this wasn’t the case. Having stayed at other hotels in Barbados, this is by far the best and most the guests were families with teenagers. There was a nice range of guests. The beach is lovely but get there early to get the best spot (I think this is the case with all Barbados hotels). There’s also a cocktail party on Monday evenings which was lovely! Thanks to the whole team for a wonderful stay!

This hotel fitted our preference for a quiet, family run boutique hotel. It’s biggest asset is the owner and amazing staff. From our reservation right up to our departure, everyone was so welcoming, attentive and helpful. The O’Hara family live on site and regularly socialising with guests in the bar and restaurant, as well as hosting a weekly cocktail party in their home. There is a good range of accommodations scattered around the well-maintained tropical sea-front gardens. We stayed in a spacious and comfy Luxury Junior Suite with a large covered double balcony (one of the few with a full sea view). We asked for a tea tray, which was very handy. We ate in the hotel for all our meals with the exception of a few lunches. The menus were a bit basic and would get repetitive over a longer stay. The buffet breakfast included cold and hot selections, with a separate station for cooked to order eggs, crepes, and waffles. Each week, there are two sumptuous special buffets (BBQ and International-Bajan), featuring prawns, filleted fish, steaks, chicken breasts, chops, burgers, curries, stir-fries, and plenty of yummy desserts. While the Restaurant is not all pretentious, the dinner dress code may be too formal for some. There was a good variety of live evening entertainment. There were plenty of sunbeds, although we a bit surprised and disappointed that there was quite a bit of ‘bed-bagging’, beginning at 7am (if you want quiet and space, ask the beach butler to set you up on grass behind the main sunbathing area). Reception organised some customised excursions for us and our driver-guide Roger was absolutely brilliant (a very personable and careful driver with a spotless car, who happily accommodated some last-minute changes to our itinerary and offered lots of interesting insights into the places we passed). We also booked our own private boat with the awesome Captain Dwayne - Livity Cruises (see separate review). So why the less than perfect score? The beach is short and narrow at high tide, and the entry into the water shelves steeply, with shifting shingle and rocks. The outdoor pool was too chilly for me. The number of returning guests asking for their regular rooms reduces the availability of certain rooms for ‘newbies’, which is not ideal if you have walking difficulties or other requirements or special requests (advise the hotel in advance and hope for the best).

We just spent 5 wonderful nights at the Coral Reef Club to celebrate our anniversary. It was truly a pampering experience. The grounds are absolutely gorgeous and the service was fantastic. The food was great - they had an extensive breakfast buffet every morning, and we also had one lunch and one dinner there during our stay (we like to check out restaurants all over the island). We heard that the bbq buffet night is really nice but we already had plans that night. The beach in front of the resort is beautiful, and if you walk 5 minutes north along the coast you will find what might be the most spectacular beach for swimming in Barbados (we visited quite a few different beaches during our stay). The fitness center was also fairly well equipped. They gave us a lovely surprise for our anniversary, which we really appreciated. We met some other guests that visit the Coral Reef Club every year, and we certainly understand why - the place is an oasis. Overall we had a fantastic stay and look forward to our next visit.