Magdalena Grand Beach & Golf Resort

Very neglected hotel Probably the most neglected hotel I have ever stayed in There appears to be a problem with management here. The decent young staff seem to be bullied by management while older rude staff with bullish attitudes seem to rule the roost, all the while ensuring the hotel slides even further down the scale. This hotel appears to have been neglected for some time From my experience it appears management take what money they can and do not invest in the hotel. If you haven’t booked already I’d advise going elsewhere. Fill in visa online to save time at the airport if coming to Tobago. Check in is an absolute nightmare, the hotel would save themselves a massive amount of time and customers a lot of frustration if they emailed the week before you arrive asking for all the required details/vouchers etc and just got you to sign on arrival Reception staff happy until you complain ….if you report issues nothing gets done about the issue, older staff have a blase attitude in regard to all of the issues at the hotel…. Which are many! And yes the beach is full of seaweed!! So there is no beach to see or use. Furniture in reception is very worn and rooms are not much better Room is a good size. Bath stained with a footprint! Bathroom floor dirty. When it rains water pools inside of the hotel leaving dangerous stairwells. Whole place really needs a refurb. Balcony is a fair size and furniture was adequate (rattan coffee table and 2 rattan armchairs. Probably the nicest furniture in the hotel! No toilet brush in the room, needs addressing. Water as reported by most people is barely tepid, again needs to be addressed as lots of people highlighting this. Reported to receptionist on day 1 and was told they are working on it today. It has not been resolved after 7 days and I’m pretty confident it will not be resolved Buffet very limited choice, pub menu ok but in general service takes at least an hour. Hardly any of the umbrellas around the pool work (wind up mechanism broken so you can’t get any shade) did report this but to no avail Pool bar has limited selection. Lunch service very slow Parasols 80% don’t work, need to buy new ones No hot water anywhere No draft beer… and cans are mostly warm, if you complain you are told to put ice in your beer🙃 Fire doors padlocked, obviously a risk!! No hand towels in reception toilets, have highlighted this several times every day but to no avail, no means of hand drying. Only decent thing here is the young staff, who are for the most part happy and friendly but then inevitably bullied out of a job by older staff. A definite unhealthy pecking order here. As a round up of my stay… I can’t wait to go home… UK travel companies please come and see the reality before you sell this place.

We recently stayed at this hotel for a week. This was a return visit for us, having visited approx 7 years ago. How the hotel has gone down hill .... It looks beautiful on the approach. We were placed in a ground floor room on the south side on the lower floor. It was very small, dark and dingy, not at all what we had had previously. The smell was awful, like sewage. I went to reception and asked for a room change but was told I would have to return in the morning and they would try and change the room then. Our booking entitled us to an upgraded deluxe sea front room. Next morning we were moved to a room on the same level as reception - far better, lovely open bright room with an amazing view and strangely the smell wasn't as strong as on the lower floor. They say it is the seaweed but when we visited previously, there was an issue with seaweed then and we couldn't access the beach, but I don't recall the smell being as strong. There is a problem with seaweed in Barbados at the moment on the Atlantic side but the hotel employ staff to clear the beach. I don't see why this hotel can't do that. The air con is not very efficient and the shower barely got above very luke warm. There is a bath but we didn't use it. The room was cleaned to a good standard. As the hotel was not to full capacity, not all the restaurants and bars were open. They gave you a schedule indicating which would be open on which days but this was subject to change due to the weather affecting one of the outdoor 'speciality' restaurants. Breakfast was buffet style. Started the week good, with a good selection of fruit but by the end of the week it was done to one type of melon and pineapple, whereas earlier in the week there were bananas, apples, different types of melons, and they don't have yoghurt. I always have fruit, cereal and yoghurt for breakfast so this became limited. They have a good omelette/egg station. Lunchtime was generally order from the menu which was very slow. Took approximately an hour to get your food. The Fusion restaurant was very good but again to receive your food was extremely slow but very nicely presented when it came. The waiter with the long ponytail - sorry I have forgotten his name - from America - was very efficient and knowledgeable. We ate in the Robinson Crusoe pub also, the seafood platter was very good. The lady on the bar in an evening was extremely offish. It was like you were asking for a drink and she was giving you out of her own pocket. We used to sit at the bar and she would ignore us when our glasses were empty and we felt when we asked for a drink, that we were putting her out. It says the bar is open to 11pm but every night they started putting things away and doing the stock take. A couple of nights they ran out of house whisky. On the second night they gave my husband Black Label Johnny Walker, which appeared on the bill to sign.... as premium drinks so I went to reception to check that we wouldn't have to pay for these at the end of the week, and we didn't. It was strange that we had to sign for everything we had when we were AI. We were told it was for stock control, but sometimes the bills you signed were not correct anyway. There are some good staff and not so good.... There are plenty of sunbeds and umbrellas around the pool - no issues in getting one. There are two satellite pools but there are no facilities by those pools. I did a couple of trips with Teds Tours, one was an island tour. There were only 5 of us so we were in a people carrier which was good. The other one was the half day boat trip. Be wary with this one, as the bus which takes guests to Pigeon Point goes at 10.30 am and you have to go on this one with the guests, then the driver takes you to where you get the boat after dropping the other guests up, but even though the boat gets back at 2pm, the coach doesn't come to pick you (and the other guests up from the beach) until 5pm!! You have to pay for beds and umbrellas, and also there is an entrance fee for the beach. Just shows how things change.... No Man's Land..... when we went there previously, it was just our boat and our bbq. We could feed the string ray in the shallow water, but there was no chance of doing that this time, as there were about 4 other boats, then one of the loud party boats arrived, blaring the music out and spoiling it for everyone, and also there were about 5 or 6 shacks set up on the beach now selling food and drink. We returned to this hotel as my husband is a keen golfer so took advantage of the location to play golf. It definitely wasn't our best holiday and we wouldn't return, having been to Tobago 3 times now, counting one day off the cruise shop.

We returned to Magnelena Grand after not travelling to Tobago for a Few years. We found the property as beautiful as ever, the staff very professional,prompt and accommodating to our requests.We had breakfast which was excellent as ever with wide variety. The ambience of the hotel was delightful. Though the property itself was great the beach no longer exist and at this time there was sargassum but this did not distract from an enjoyable vacation as there are so many other beaches to enjoy. We will definitely recommend this property and look forward to future visits.

Had a wonderful stay at the Magdalena Grand with only a couple of slight down points. Food; ranged from very good to excellent. The fish dishes were top class. The buffet always had a good selection and the fine dining restaurants did not disappoint. Room: big , well appointed and lovely balcony. Our a/c was ineffective even after we changed rooms but it did not spoil our trip. Beach: well there isn’t one on site due to seaweed which is beyond the control of the hotel. Pool: excellent with ample sun beds. Drinks: good quality and always served with a chat and a smile. Staff: polite, helpful and informative. Diamond was a lovely waitress. Overall: thank you very much. Thing to look at: the slippery floors and stairs after rain. Maybe some non slip mats.

This resort has potential but they really missed the mark. Myself and my sister took my cousin here to celebrate her 50th birthday. When we drove into the property, it was beautiful, lawn/golf course well maintained and we got excited. As we approached the entry to the actual hotel and lowered our window to advise the gate staff we were staying there we were slapped in the face by the worse smell ever, I almost threw up immediately. It was the seaweed. The stench was so bad, you could taste it when trying to breath through your mouth instead of your nose. When we inquired with the staff (not the front desk) they to were upset about it and said it had been like that for that for the last 2 months. We couldn't enjoy the pool, nor the hotel. We spent most of stay off the resort and when we were at the resort, we were confined to our room. At night our door area was swarmed with the flies/nits from the seaweed, I had to call twice to get them to spray the area, as the flies would enter the room when we opened our door. We went to the Robert Caruso restaurant, another disappointment. There was no air condition. They had a fan at the front of the restaurant but we were seated in the back and there was no moving air. It was Happy Hour which we were not advised of. We were asked to give 2 options for drinks as they didn't have a lot of the ingredients to make the drinks, like mint etc. We were so hot so we decided to order a few appetizers instead of meals, the Accra came out raw, the shrimp "platter" had at most 8 shrimp. For the 3 of us, the bill came up to almost $200.00 for very little value. I will not be going back. The Spa - my sister and I went to the spa, I had a great experience, the lady I had was from Nigeria and she was strong and one of the best massages I have had. My sister on the other hand did not have the same experience, her therapist ended 10 mins early. When my sister told her, she said that she had a very busy day and was tired, and she wasn't going to continue as the spa was closed at 6 and she wanted to go home... Housekeeping, they cleaned our room and left our door ajar all day. When I let the front desk know, they simply said " okay, we will advise housekeeping to be more alert next time". They didn't ask if anything was taken or even say sorry. As i mentioned before, hotel has potential but the staff are not happy there, so in turn they don't care when complaints are made. Do better, as it has a lot of potential. I am going back to Tobago in September, and I wont be staying at the Magdalena again.

Whenever we go on holiday we always try to make the best of it, even if everything is not perfect. We knew in advance that their were certain issues here, but to be honest we overcame those and thoroughly enjoyed our two week holiday(we originally booked for eleven days but BA rescheduled flights and decided on two weeks rather than one). On arriving at the airport it was like some UK regional places, being small and a little chaotic. BA didn't help as they did not have enough landing cards and these had to be filled in after collection in the terminal. A new terminal is due to be opened in July, which looks much more 21st century and should mean that checking in on departure will be easier and more comfortable. Currently it is chaotic and queuing in hot humid weather is a bit challenging. Our transfer worked out perfectly and o arriving at Tobago Plantations you certainly got a wow factor with a huge spectacular golf course and grounds, all very well tendered. Arriving at the hotel at dusk we couldn't really see everything. Our check in went well, various aspects of the hotel were explained and we were taken to our room(which we gad to change after a few days because of a faulty lock: the new room was identical). We were happy with our room. It was large, had an excellent sea view and was very comfortable with better Wi-Fi than back home. It was serviced every day and was always thoroughly cleaned with the necessary top ups always made eg. toilet rolls, coffee, etc. There was always a good choice at breakfast and had no complaints about service and the choices available. When open, the buffet dinner also offered plenty of choice with the same excellent service. We also ate four times at the Kalina Restaurant where there was again a reasonable number of choices. The food here was of a good quality and on the whole the service was fine, albeit a little slow on one occasion due to a problem in the kitchen. We also ate here twice from the Salaka Grill venue, as eating outside was not possible due to weather conditions. Again, a good choice and good quality. The other meals we had were in the Robinson Crusoe pub. A bit like UK pub fare, but again a good choice, large portions and excellent service. On the downside some parts of the hotel are tired and the pool area is one of these. At least half of the sunbeds were at least partially broken and thus made it difficult to find one sometimes. As the hotel had very few quests this us something that the hotel should have addressed. The pool area was always clean and having a drink at the pool bar was pleasant, most of the time. A huge issue here, out of the hotel's control of course, is Sargassum seaweed. Depending on wind speed and direction and hiw rough the sea is it can deliver a very pungent smell and an infestation of flies. Fortunately the latter only happened twice and the former on two or three days. Choosing he right spot in the pool area does negate the smell. One good thing, no mosquitoes. We went to Pigeon Point on four occasions in total. The hotel provides a packed lunch and free transport. Well worth a visit with a lovely beach. Whilst some may not like paying for sunbeds and an umbrella it is well worth it and not overtly expensive. There is an entrance fee because it is a Heritage Park and this is for the upkeep. With no entertainment, except at the buffet on Friday evening, the Robinson Crusoe was the place to be evenings. A reasonable choice of drinks with friendly service; thank you Ariel and Aleisha. It has a proper pub type atmosphere. If you're looking for an all singing/ all dancing Caribbean holiday you won't get it here. Tobago as a whole is laid back and not really very touristy like most of the other islands. The local people are very friendly and seem really happy. We would happily recommend the island, but for the hotel to flourish there needs to be some work done, though as said before we enjoyed our time there.

The Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf resort firstly should have its name changed to The Magdalena Golf resort as there was certainly no fine white sandy beach to be seen! On arrival we were checked in pretty quickly and shown to our room. The air conditioning system would not get below 23 degrees- even though we’d cranked it down to 16 degrees and no hot water for the fortnight we were there. Room was spacious with balcony overlooking the Atlantic and was cleaned daily with change of bedding and fresh towels. There was a fridge in the room which you had to stock yourself so make sure you take a backpack to collect your bottled water, cans of pop and beer! Was woken up 2 mornings at 7.15a.m. by a man delivering a towel bundle! Pool was fine but the sun loungers need replacing with the majority not being fit for purpose. Everything looks like it could do with a really good clean. As previous reviews mention- the smell from the immense amount of seaweed was some days sickening- depending on which way the wind was blowing. Smelled like something was decomposing and made us gag on a number of occasions. The sea was really rough and kept throwing more of the stinking seaweed 6 feet high onto the rocks in front of the pool area. Pool bar was closed for a couple of days due to a fly problem. The hotel is in need of major refurbishment. Everything looks very tired. Decking boards need screwing down in places. Furniture needs replacing. Paint peeling off everything. Corrosion all over the place. RESTAURANTS- The Pembois buffet restaurant was okay but the food was not hot - almost cold some days. We found that on a lunch time it was better as you ordered from a menu- even though you had to wait approximately an hour for your food to arrive. A few of the staff were really miserable but others were very friendly and helpful. A special mention to Diamond who was hard working & cheerful. The Salaka restaurant was nearly always closed mainly due to it being positioned on a corner and being battered by wind and sea spray. We ate dinner in there one night and practically had to hold on to the table cloth to stop it from blowing off. The Kalina restaurant was fully air conditioned and the food was sometimes excellent but on a couple of occasions they ran out of certain things & on our last night we ended up walking out as we’d waited an hour for a bowl of ice cream. Some staff were really professional and attentive where others obviously did not want to be there. The Robinson Crusoe Pub and restaurant we found to be good. Menu was never changed so got a little repetitive after 2 weeks but drinks and cocktails were excellent and got served really quickly if you were sat in the right place! Special mention to Aerial who was always smiling. The hotel lacks any form of entertainment apart from a pool table in the above mentioned pub. We’ve never had so many quiet, early nights on a holiday before! There is a gym which was okay but no water and no working air con. Played golf a few times which was really good & the course was immaculate with a variety of challenges. Even saw a couple of Caimans in a couple of the lakes on our trip round. Word of warning though…. were attacked numerous times by birds on our way around the course - obviously defending their territory or were nesting-almost coming to within an inch of us- sometimes 4 or 5 at a time. We survived though 🤣. The Magdalena is certainly not a 5 star hotel. It perhaps had been in its day but now needs a lot of money - & I mean a lot!!! spending on it to get it back up to it’s 5 star status. 2 weeks was too long for us and by the end we were longing for home and a bit of fresh air.

To sell this hotel as a beach resort is a total fib as there is no beach at all,its all been taken over by seaweed to which the hotel takes no care in trying to clear in anyway.being positioned on the Atlantic side, the hotel has the rough seas battering the rocks and throwing the seaweed in the air. There is a rotting smell but i did't find it that bad. The pool is kept clean and tidy by the staff.Sunbeds are few and a mixture of broken or ones that need replacing through age.Rooms are kept tidy but have issues like lukewarm/cold water for showering, uncontrollable aircon, patio doors stiff, brown water from bath taps.The Kallina restaurant was a nice place to eat.The same menu came out again and again in the buffet area and also in the English pub. The Salaka outdoor seated area only opened a couple of times for lunch menu and not in the evening due to the weather during our stay. Entertainment Saturdays is Karaoke and on our first Sunday, The locals Mothers day where some random woman did a lot of shouting over music she was playing,oh and she played musical chairs.Seemed she was just brought in for the locals and not the holiday makers. There is a free bus from the hotel to Pidgeon point but as its been said before, you have a entrance fee and hire a sunbed and brolly. The golf course looks very manicured. I found the staff mostly friendly but others seemed to be incovenienced by customers.Sometimes a burger and chips could take an hour to arrive to the table from ordering.OR they wouldn't have items on the menu not in stock....cheese/pork/cheese cake/coca cola to name a few. When we booked the holiday the pictures deceived the look of the hotel of today run down and tired without the beach. Drinks were good with Carib and Stag beer and a nice cocktail menu. A room extention was given for free of charge on our last day, but the wristbands were cut at 2.40 on the day of leaving as we sat in reception waitng for our transport at 4pm. We had a nice relaxing and enjoyable holiday but the hotel didn't live up to it's star rating.

This hotel is not 4 star more like a 2 star hotel. The overall condition of the resort is tired, dated and extremely dirty in some parts. It is probably the worst hotel I have stayed in. The smell from the seaweed although not the hotels fault is disgusting. I would imagine back in day this would have been a wonderful resort but I believe even a renovation could save this building now. Food not particularly good, staff very friendly and helpful but overall I am very disappointed. I would not be recommending to anyone. Glad I only booked a week

This is no 4 star resort, may have been when it was built. Couldn't use the beach , roped off due to the toxic seaweed / smell of sewage sometimes less smell depending on wind direction. So did get free transfer to nearest beach 20 mins away and pay for sunbeds. Pool area tired, beds / umbrellas, pool bar nice depending if it was closed due to the flies Room air con could not be adjusted only 20deg when on, No hot water for the bath, just warm enough to shower if you stood close to the shower head. Crack in sink, struggle to open patio doors, safe replaced after 3 repairs. All these probs were told to reception staff. Food very average, a couple of good meals in the specialty restaurants,to say service was slow is an understatement. generally staff were good and did try to help although it felt like their hands were tied and following strict orders. There were few bad apples with attitude problems that spoilt it for the others. I could go on and on with what’s wrong with this place and the numerous issues we had nearly every day. Even if it was sold as a 2 star it’s still not good. Would not go back even for free!!!! Do not waste your money on this worn out excuse for a hotel. Please believe me this place is nothing like it seems in the photo, wait till you get close up. This is no Fake review!!