Sugar Bay Barbados

After a long flight, we arrived at the hotel on the 2nd Jan at around 6pm, we were told to go straight to our room to fill out some forms and that we must wait for the bellboy to come and collect our forms. We waited for an hour and no one came, we called reception to tell them we were hungry but we were told that the kitchen closes at 7 pm and there was no food (no apology), they advised us we had water in our fridge to drink and they would send us a croissant up to our room. The second-night things did get better for a short time as we were then able to use the quarantine facility of the small pool but this stopped after 1 day and for the rest of the time we were not allowed to leave our room due to an announcement from the ministry of health. Our first room was dirty and loud and our bedding smelt damp and fusty so after complaining they kindly upgraded us to a sea view room which was really nice and clean and I would recommend choosing a beachfront room if quarantining as you might be there a while. We were lucky and our private tests at the hotel came back after 50 hours but a lot of other people's did not. We had emailed in advance to ask about the private covid test special offer that they were advertising as half price if staying 7 nights or more and we were told we needed to book this at the reception when we arrived at the hotel which of course when we arrived they said we were not eligible and gave some excuse saying that we got the room at a reduced rate, I advised them that we used Tripadvisor comparison tool and booked the best rate and they said that made us not eligible. Everything at this hotel closes at 7 pm. You cannot get drinks or food after 7 pm, they advised this was due to the island curfew of 9 pm. The pool bar is closed, the two speciality restaurants are closed so there is only a very small limited buffet. In quarantine, food was delivered to our room but this was usually cold by the time it arrived. Once we got out of quarantine we did think the food and cocktails were of good quality for an all-inclusive. The beach here is very nice and we liked the look of the resort, we could imagine that it might be a nice resort to visit in different times. The restaurant and bar staff were very nice and friendly as was one of the women on reception who worked the evening shift. On the last day, our flight was not until 7 pm so we asked the resort if they would allow us to keep the room until 5 pm so that we could enjoy our last day on the beach, especially as we did not get dinner on the first evening and we had paid for all inclusive but was only given a croissant and water on the first night. We were told 'no' very firmly, that we would have to pay extra and they would only let us have the room until 3 pm. The hotel was empty so it would have been nice if they would have done this as a gesture given that we had a reduced service the entire holiday so we had to cut our final day short to go back and get showered at 2 pm, we sat by the pool looking up to our room and no one came to clean it so the hotel could have done a nice thing for us but they chose not to and this is what I believe lets them down. I had believed it was a family-run boutique hotel but this is not the case and some of the reception staff do not seem pleased to be working there and would certainly benefit from some customer service training. In all, we did manage to have a nice time even though some of the reception staff were rude and spiteful, the hotel looks very pretty and if it wasn't for the way that we were treated by some of the reception staff then I would have returned again but I think I will choose a friendlier hotel next time.

My first impression of lobby areas upon arrival was okay but disappointment began once we got to our room. We booked the Oceanfront Deluxe Room. The views were amazing even through old yellowed vinyl French doors with loosly attached door knobs. Oceanfront rooms are built very close to the ocean and you could hear the waves even with doors shut. Balcony was a decent size and it was a good place to watch the sunset or have room service. Room itself was a major let down for us. Our room was not cleaned properly and hair, food, and other debris from previous guests were found. They advertise their hotel as newly renovated. However, this was not the case. It seemed to me that hotel was very poorly renovated a while ago that I could not help noticing poor finishings and materials. The bathroom door was painted over numerous times and was unclean with stains from previous guest and shower tile grout was dirty not cleaned properly. We were very disappointed with the housekeeping and accomodation standards in general. We got to the hotel at 4PM and having had no food served all day on the flight due to Covid, we were starving. After we dropped off our luggage, we immediate asked reception where we could get food. We were shocked to find out there was nowhere to get food until 6:30PM in this All Inclusive resort. No room service, no snacks, no food at all. We patiently waited until 6:30PM and got to the designated restaurant for quarantine guests. Guests were just sitting in the dark outdoor space with some tables scattered with no proper light lit, waiting for someone to show. At 7 PM, one waitress showed up and started writing the menu items on a chalkboard to start taking orders from everyone. There were over 20 guests there, and you can guess what time everyone could have their dinner. Quarantine meals and room service meals were poor. Once you order from the selected menu, the waitress would walk over to the buffet restaurant and get food from the buffet. If we were lucky, they bring half of the items we chose on the plate, and it was always cold when delivered to us to quarantine restaurant or to the room. I noticed there was a serious shortage of staff to efficiently take orders and deliver to quarantine guests. Our days got better after we got Covid test results. We were there end of December and it took us less than 24 hours to get Covid results. Although it was a smaller buffet, their buffet food was excellent when had in the restaurant. They always had great choices of meat, veg and dessert with local flavours. Food was good quality for All Inclusive and always flavourful. Bar service was good, and staff were always friendly, polite and genuine. We tried both sushi and steak restaurants and both were excellent. We were only able to book one reservation per restaurant. Beach area was never crowded during Christmas week. There are waves and rocks when going in the water. Water was calmer early morning and late afternoon with low tides. I saw turtles swimming over the rocky areas couple of times and snorkeling with good overall. They had nightly entertainment except for a couple of nights per week. It lasted a couple of hours and was enjoyable. You can take a local bus to go to Bridgetown. It was at least 15 min away by bus. I would not have been able to walk all the way in the heat. I did not find much to do in town though. Overall, having traveled to several islands in the Caribbean, we found Bajan people very hospitable and food on the island was always good. However, we were disappointed with poor housekeeping standard, and outdated rooms were not comfortable to stay in.

We stayed at Sugar Bay following a dreadful experience at The Crane and it was the best decision we???ve made. We cannot fault Sugar Bay, everything was perfect - location, food, staff, cleanliness, pools, beach, everything was amazing. Lots of hand sanitiser everywhere and all staff/guests adhered to the social distancing / face masks. We stayed over New Year and the staff went to extreme lengths to ensure a great time was had by all, cocktails, delicious food and great entertainment. If I had to find a small criticism, our room was quite small but it didn???t matter as we spent very little time in it! It was clean with a good shower and lots of fresh towels and water daily. We will definitely be returning.