Colony Club, a Luxury Collection Resort, Barbados

There’s a lot to love about Colony Club. The setting is lush and tropical, the rooms are gorgeous. The beds are comfortable, the beach where you can lay your weary head is perfect. The pools and tennis courts on the property are great. The concierge and front desk are helpful. The beach attendant setting up beach beds each morning is very friendly. The food and hospitality however, are waaaaayyyyyyy below par. I don’t understand how you can nail every other aspect of this resort except for the food and food service. I’ll start with the first meal we had, dinner. An incredibly unenthused waitress delivered what were quite literally, 2 of the worst pizzas we’ve ever had the displeasure of consuming. What looked to me a supermarket base, topped with a thin overcooked layer of scattered cheese. The other had some pineapple and ham chucked on. Reminded me of my student days, mustering up whatever I could in a studio apartment kitchen. This as well as a sloppy, milky, kids pasta and a very sad cobb salad, plus a couple glasses of wine set us back almost £250. Yep. Breakfast is average at BEST. For the price we were paying I was expecting much, much better. The servers are painfully slow and miserable. It’s difficult enjoying your time in this environment. The quality of produce is low, the hash browns/sausages etc are drenched in oil. The fruit is scarce and not at all reflective of the environment. It felt more like tinned and packeted food, than the fresh abundance the brochures and websites promise. The coffee … well. Lunch was even worse. It started with my 10 yro daughter asking me why everyone looked so sad. Total bummer. My exotic, couscous salad described on the menu, arrived as follows: a bowl of warm cooked pasta couscous (not the grain as most would assume) topped with 3 squirts of runny guacamole and over cooked, boiled cauliflower. That’s it. That set me back about £30. My daughter’s tropical smoothie arrived as a sickly, sweet strawberry milkshake obviously infused with cheap strawberry yoghurt and milk. How is it possible that a resort in Barbados of all places cannot nail a tropical smoothie?! What hope is there? The good news is that During our 6 night stay, we did not return to the restaurant at all, instead we were pointed in the direction of local restaurants which absolutely assured us that the quality and service elsewhere were top notch. Some incredible restaurants in Barbados, unfortunately The Colony Club are not in any way included in this. This is a Marriot Hotel chain? Cmon dudes! For the price, I would definitely not return and I would hope that reviews such as this would at least inspire some improvement for further guests.

We have just returned from 12 nights at The Colony Club our first visit to this hotel but have stayed at Tamarind and The House. The welcome from Rafiq on reception was very warm. We were surprised with a room upgrade to a fabulous room overlooking the beach. The room was spotless with a fabulous shower. Excellent bed and bedding. Breakfasts were excellent with great choice, omelettes made to order. Pools were great and beach staff had ample beds ready. A lot of inflatables in the pool. Special mention to Marradona he runs that beach service and is really missed on his days off. Staff are helpful but some are very quiet. Name badges are very hard to read but I would like to mention the following Matthew Bar,Kiana,Sherfilia,,Sherise, Sandy in Bar, DerekWater Taxi, Michelle and Emma fabulous housekeeping All lunches we had were excellent. We did not have dinner. There is not much atmosphere in the evening which didn’t bother us but might others . Very easy to walk to Holetown on the beach or road. Management were mostly invisible apart from at Breakfast. Very unusual

We had a great week at the colony clubs, it’s been very tastefully upgraded, the decor is lovely, the restaurant is very attractive and overall it’s a very pretty resort! The location is amazing, beautiful beach with a short walk down to holetown ether along the beach or road, short taxi journey to all the nice restaurants although taxis are expensive. The staff are most welcoming, everyone greets you with good morning and a extra mention to Marradonna round the pool for his upbeat friendly service and Nicole at breakfast who is a good laugh! There were a few minor negatives experienced personally but worth mentioning. The hotel and grounds are beautifully decorated but there are 2 pool / garden rooms right at the back of the resort that are ground floor and seperate to the rest of the hotel blocks they are bigger than the standard garden view rooms but they do not have the nicest of views and smell damp, unfortunately we had one of these and although we voiced our disappointment reception were not quick to accommodate any changes, our second room was first floor pool / garden view however we do not believe these rooms are big enough for more than 2 adults, we were 2 adults and 1 child, with a put up bed in these rooms there is not enough room for a weeks stay! They should not be avallible as family rooms. The pools are lovely, lagoons throughout the resort and cleaned everyday due to the debris from the surrounding trees, however round the pool could do with a little more attention to details when cleaning, there were often dirty glasses and rubbish / toys left from the day before under sunbeds ect nothing off putting it just needed a little more attention. In summary it’s a lovely resort, perfect location and we would certainly return.

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.

Hotel is in a lovely location and room was excellent. Staff were mainly great and super helpful. Really enjoyed our stay and would definitely return.

Some of the staff especially at breakfast were quite grumpy and the spa was more like a modest beauty salon rather than a spa.