Crystal Cove by Elegant Hotels

Went to this hotel with my twin sisters to celebrate their special birthday. On arrival we were met by happy friendly staff who continued to be polite and professional our whole stay. They remembered our names and always attentive with drinks or any of our requests. Food was excellent, I’m gluten free and they had plenty of choice was never left out. Room was very clean and comfortable, cleaned daily. Ambience of hotel was fantastic, really a relaxing place to stay, pools great with lovely swim up bar and. a beautiful beach view and easy beach access. All water sports are free. We could not fault this hotel at all we had a fantastic holiday and this was due to great staff. Special Thankyou too- Delores for making us great drinks. Shantel the head chef for wonderful food. Toni for serving us and being soo happy and bubbly. Darren for our tasty omelettes. Monica for always making sure we had water. Not forgetting keerianne, Debra,Sasha,Tyiesha, Sophia, Hazel, and Rosemarie for serving us daily. What a fantastic team, they all made our stay special so thank you all. A note to management- please don’t change this place too much when you reverb. Read less

Undoubtedly some areas need a renovation, which is due to happen, however it’s still a really lovely place to stay. Staff are great. Food is brilliant. Water sports on offer a great touch. Lovely beach. Rooms need some TLC but not awful. The pools are wonderful and kept very clean. Loads of spots by the pool and beach to catch some rays. All in all a very nice stay. Read less

As many other reviews have noted, this hotel is in dire need of refurbishment. We initially booked a week at Treasure Beach but were relocated to Crystal Cove due to delayed renovation work at Treasure Beach. Passing by Treasure Beach during our stay, it was evident that the refurbishment was significantly behind schedule. My parents visited Crystal Cove every winter for 15 years until 2018 and had nothing but fond memories of the hotel and its staff—my mother still speaks warmly of Kathy and Hazel. Based on their glowing experiences, I felt confident that the switch from Treasure Beach to Crystal Cove would meet, if not exceed, our expectations. Unfortunately, I couldn't have been more wrong. The reception staff made a great first impression on arrival, even though we were initially taken to the wrong room. Once we reached our suite, it appeared promising—spacious, well-located right on the beach, though admittedly a little tired around the edges. But soon, the flaws began to surface. The service at the restaurant and bar was wildly inconsistent. While some staff were unfailingly polite and friendly, others were indifferent or outright rude. Dinner service alternated between chaotic and well-organised, depending on who managed the room (Hazel was excellent in this regard). Unfortunately, the food on buffet nights was a real letdown, more akin to a subpar school canteen than the culinary experience you'd expect for the price. By the third night, we were seriously disillusioned. For the cost of our stay, the overall experience felt more comparable to a budget 3-star all-inclusive package in Spain. And then the rain came. Being woken at night by water dripping onto your head, mattress, and pillow from a leaky roof is a demoralising experience. This happened on three separate nights. When we reported the issue to reception, the staff showed no concern or urgency. We ended up rearranging the furniture ourselves and placing towels all over the floor to manage the leaks. Other details added to the frustration. Fresh beach towels, promised daily, never arrived. The minibar was poorly replenished, offering far less variety than what my parents had enjoyed on their visits. The room lacked basic information about the hotel and amenities, and little guidance, such as meal themes, was frequently inaccurate. It wasn't all bad. We visited the sister hotel Waves for lunch a few times, using the water taxi (or a speedboat provided by the watersports staff when, wait for it, the taxi broke down, which was great fun). The difference was astonishing. Waves offered a bright, welcoming atmosphere, exceptional food, and attentive service—a stark contrast to the dreary, humid gloom of Reflections at Crystal Cove and the grumpy indifference of the Cave Bar staff. There were some bright spots at Crystal Cove, notably Hazel and the staff member serving drinks on the beach, who were fantastic. However, these individual efforts couldn't overcome the hotel's glaring lack of attention to detail. Crystal Cove is scheduled to close in March 2025 for extensive renovations, which I hope will restore its former glory. Whether I'll ever return to see that transformation remains to be seen. Read less

I wanted to write this review to give a huge thank you to Richard, who works at crystal cove as part of the guest relations team. I had planned to propose to my girlfriend at crystal cove. We were actually staying at its sister hotel turtle beach, but decided to go there for the day on their dine around scheme. Richard came up to me in the afternoon just to say hi and took the opportunity and explained the situation and how I could do with some help to orchestrate the proposal to get it on video at the right moment. Richard was so helpful in getting things set up, he was patient and made sure everything went to plan. Because of Richard, we now have memories that will last a lifetime, and we are even considering looking at Barbados for potential wedding venues. Crystal cove is a beautiful place and while we only visited for a day, I would definitely recommend based on the quality of their staff members and the beautiful location. Read less

This review is quite difficult to rate because there were some good elements but unfortunately a lot of bad, so in some aspects a 3 star rating seems really harsh but on the whole it seems too generous! As a lot of the reviews state the hotel is quite run down and in much need of the refurbishment due in the next few months. The price you pay for the holiday should reflect this - but it doesn’t - they still charge you luxury prices and it is far from luxurious! As my partner and I aren’t particularly fussy we could have overlooked the state of the hotel if the staff made up for it. But unfortunately we did not experience this which was truly disappointing from reading the reviews beforehand and talking to people who have been to Barbados who told us that it’s the people who make your holiday because they are so friendly, can’t do enough for you and are very happy. We feel we didn’t get the true Barbados experience (except for one day when we went on the boat cruise that is advertised in the hotel - highly recommend!) I don’t want to blame the staff because it generally felt like they had all received some really bad news - there is usually a reason that causes people to be so unhappy! The restaurant staff were awful on our first couple of days, it was chaos, the tables weren’t set properly, staff were rude and wouldn’t smile back when you smiled at them and everything just seemed really unorganised. We honestly thought we had done something wrong until we spoke to other people who felt the same. The restaurant staff did pick up a little and were a lot more attentive as the week went on, especially when Shantel was working - she was great and actually smiled and was very attentive and helpful! This greatly improved our impression of meal times! The bar staff remained unhappy throughout our stay and to be honest, a bit abrupt and rude. There was, what seemed like muttering under their breath on occasion to other guests and I could not tell that the guests had been rude to them first. In a small hotel like this, you would expect the bar staff to really vibe with you - banter, know your drinks and possibly even your name and certainly smile a lot and be welcoming. But we had none of that! On our last day they played some music for the first time which created a bit of a better vibe. The location of the hotel so close to the beautiful Barbados beach was a positive and the food was very good and we enjoyed lunch and dinner at drifters overlooking the beach very much (when we weren’t rained off!) Reflections restaurant leaks when it rains and although is classed as indoors it is open fronted and therefore there is no air conditioning so it is extremely hot and uncomfortable with the humidity. We stayed in a one bedroom suite so when we first arrived I was really impressed, however, it soon became annoying with the lack of plug sockets and the pathetic water pressure in the taps and shower but on the whole, I wouldn’t have complained about the room - especially if we had a better experience from the whole holiday. Room service was brilliant and we were happy to leave them a tip. The guy who showed us to our room when we first arrived was also great! I wish I had left him and Shantel a tip but due to disorganisation on our final day I forgot! Having said all of this, we still enjoyed our holiday but were left disappointed with our first Caribbean experience and felt that we paid too much for the holiday! You might be closing soon but you still have customers paying top price and they expect top service and facilities or a much reduced rate! Read less