Fairmont Royal Pavilion

My wife and I stayed at the Fairmont Royal Pavillon for 2 weeks around Xmas 2020. We had never before been to Barbados, but it was one of the few easily accessible destinations from the UK during this time and felt safe because of the country???s relatively strict Covid protocols - so we picked a hotel based on the online reviews and the Fairmont got great reviews We???ve stayed in some expensive places from time to time, but they charged probably the most I???ve ever paid for a hotel so our expectations were high. The hotel did not live up to those expectations. The biggest letdown was the service - which was generally poor and inconsistent, and definitely not commensurate with a 5* hotel that charges upwards of US$1,000 per night. I don???t think I am exaggerating if I say that 2/3rds of our service requests (which were nothing unusual or exceptional) resulted in some kind of issue. Nothing huge but it is just amazing how they can so consistently get basic things wrong Requests for coffee are met with tea, requests for no toast are met with extra toast, room service wouldn???t show up or would not bring what we ordered, you might or might not be able to get service at the beach etc etc. Also the property is in need of some maintenance. Even though it reportedly had a full overhaul in 2017, the age of the buildings is showing (and not in a good way - given it???s not exactly a heritage property...) and also the inside of the room could do with some touch-ups e.g. furnishings were fraying at the edges and the alarm clock display was completely faded out If this were a 4* hotel charging less than half what they charge, that would be forgivable but not at the rates they charge. They lack the attention to detail that is needed to have a great 5* property, and much of the staff are just going through the motions. I felt this pretty much from day 1 I know that the hotel closed for a number of months due to Covid, and it felt to me like all the staff were laid off during that time and new staff were brought on board who lacked experience and a sense of ???ownership??? for their jobs and for the place overall. That may not be the case, but that???s definitely how it came across to me. We???ve since moved to another property nearby where we are getting proper 5* service for half the rate that the Fairmont was charging us. I would urge discerning travellers to think twice before booking here. It???s not all negative though as the hotel does have a great beachside location with every room overlooking a beautiful beach. If that???s important to you (it was a factor for us), then this is potentially still a good place. The ground in which the hotel is set are also nice. And also their Covid safety protocol is very good. Newly arrived travellers were required to stay in their rooms until their local Covid test has come back negative with security guards posted outside to ensure compliance. That???s obviously a nuisance when you are a newly arrived travellers, but it???s reassuring for everyone else. This protocol was not implemented in most other hotels where people awaiting their test results just had to keep a safe distance from other guests. However, as of today the Barbados govt has changed its position on this and now all hotels are forced required to enforce this stricter protocol so this is no longer a differentiator. I really wanted to like this hotel but instead I just felt continuously frustrated with their inability to provide good service for the entire duration of our stay.

The Fairmont is a beautiful hotel in a perfect setting on St James beach. We arrived after staying at The House hotel with our negative results from our second covid test which is just as well because people were quite rightly restricted to their rooms & balconies while awaiting their test & results at the Fairmont. Security guards were on every floor to make sure the isolating guests stayed in their rooms. Before we arrived I made contact with Jason Young at Front Desk who arranged fast track arrival at the airport for us and copied me in on the email he sent to the company at the airport who arranged this, which was just as well because they didn???t have us on the list. They were happy to oblige when I gave them a copy of the email. There was a really nice bottle of wine in our room thanks to Jason as I mentioned it was my husband???s 60th birthday the day we arrived. Jason is the most efficient member of staff at the hotel who I interacted with, and such a nice person. The rooms are very nice with a large balcony, I think we also got an upgrade because we were on the top floor. The hotel looks bigger than it is because it is on a large plot and spread out so it feels spacious. The food quality is high class but the service so slow. Breakfast would take an hour and a half, we would wait an hour after ordering before the food would arrive. This was definitely an issue experienced by all the guests. I mentioned it to the general manager who was aware of the problem. They must have been understaffed in the kitchen but they need to get this right for the type of hotel this is. We had better service at other hotels we stayed at in Barbados during this period. We had lunch at the hotel the first day we arrived and they got my order wrong so I had to wait for my meal to be cooked again. We decided to extend our holiday so I spoke to the manager and asked if he could give us a price to stay 5 nights more. He said they had availability but we would have to book with British Airways as our original booking was with them. There was no availability with British Airways online which I mentioned the next day. He told us to call them which we did and they said they had no availability. We passed this information onto the manager and he said he would release rooms to them but this didn???t happen. It was at this point we decided to stay somewhere else. Such a shame it didn???t make sense but we got fed up trying. They gave us a complimentary taxi to the hotel we moved onto which was a nice touch. We did enjoy our stay at the hotel, the position is fantastic and the hotel itself very classy but we were very disappointed with the service.