Waves Hotel & Spa by Elegant Hotels

My husband and I have recently returned from 12 nights at Waves Hotel and Spa and on the way home asked ourselves what we would write in a review. We both felt it was a holiday with two sides so I’ll explain. We enjoyed the majority of our stay mainly due to the wonderful staff who greeted us warmly and looked after us throughout our stay, with ONE exception (more of that later) which spoilt our last day. Our room was an ocean front balcony and the sun was just setting as we arrived into the room giving us the most spectacular view of the sunset framed beautifully by palm trees. The hotel has just been painted on the outside so looks fresh and we liked the décor of our room and the communal areas. The plus points: 1. The food was good quality and varied even though the Asian Restaurant was closed. 2. It was great to be able to go to Kyma the coffee shop for a salad, wrap or cake and coffee. 3. The adults only pool is only just over the road and is peaceful with a good size pool. 4. The complimentary treatments in the Spa were amazing. Thank you to Tonya and Riah for fantastic facials and massages. 5. The drinks are plentiful and readily available with good quality spirits. Just the wine could be improved. 6. I was made to feel special on my birthday with a card, wine and a song at dinner! Areas to be addressed/improved on: 1. The shower in our room would have benefited from being changed, difficult to wash my hair as very poor pressure and certainly not like the shower in the garden rooms which was excellent. 2. Sunbeds are reserved by guests by 7.30am. The hotel says this is not allowed but it certainly happened when we were there. Could have been because the hotel was very full due to guests being placed in Waves from other hotels which had closed for refurbishment since those guests made their bookings. 3. The sunbeds on the beach are very close to one another. If this area was tidied up they could be spaced a little more. They were so close it was hard to walk between them. 4. Air con unit is required in the food buffet area as so very hot when selecting breakfast and felt for any staff having to work in this area. 5. Pastries were of poor quality. I enjoy a coffee and croissant for breakfast but these were very small and hard so didn’t try them again. 6. On four nights we were woken at approximately 12.30 am by loud noises from the refuse collection that went on for 20 minutes each time. On our last day we asked if it possible to have a late check out as we were not leaving until 4.15pm. Initially this was agreed if we paid 50 US dollars (which we are still waiting to be refunded) but then we were informed our room had been promised to someone else to move into, a mistake but these things can be handled two ways. We were approached by Tamisha (from Reception) and a security guard and told we had 35 minutes to remove our things. This was at 12.55 pm. I found this embarrassing and heavy handed. My husband and I had to pack our things, check out from the room, wait around for another room to become available for us to shower before heading to the airport. The Operation Manager (Ryan) did ask us if everything was ok and we told him how we felt this had not been handled well and would like the refund of the late check out fee credited back to our credit card. Tamisha had also displayed a complete lack of customer service earlier in our holiday when we politely asked for 4 towels to take to the adult pool and were told we could only have 2. Reception staff were lovely with the exception of Tamisha, it appears she is not happy in this role. I could go on but will stop there. To end on a positive note we would like to thank Sabrina, Valerie and the rest of the team for making us welcome and especially Pamela at the pool for making those amazing cocktails. In conclusion we decided that although we enjoyed visiting Barbados we would not return to Waves unless we knew the improvements and a change at reception had occurred. Read less

I can not give a balanced review nor comment on the stay as after arriving yesterday 12/11 we were told we had been double booked. We really couldn’t believe how uncaring and disingenuous the staff member was who just shrugged and said you will have to go to turtle bay, which we haven’t. My point is how can a booking which was made over 6 months ago be double booked? Read less

We had a lovely 10 days staying at Waves. What really makes the resort is the friendly staff who go out of their way to chat and make sure everyone is smiling. Food was delicious and varied and the endless supply of delicious cocktails was always accompanied with great service. The hotel was very clean and staff were always happy to assist with enquires. Entertainment was simple but well organised and all we needed. It was a shame that only one of the other Elegant hotels in the group was open when we were there so we couldn't visit multiple others like we had expected, but Waves did have everything we needed. The free watersports which included water skiing and other motorised activities was a real bonus. The only real negative would be the family pool which is tiny and in an area with little sunshine in the afternoon. Across the road is a giant adults only pool which at best had 4 people around it and I never saw anyone in it. Would make more sense to swap this giant pool to the family one and have the smaller one as adult only. Whilst I can't remember everyone's names, the staff who stick out as having made our stay extra special include Tamika, Derek, Valerie, Antoine, Shenise, Tracey, Daron, Akell from the beach bar and Paul from the security team. Lovely hotel - would recommend. Read less

Third visit to this hotel, the first since Covid. We stayed for 12 nights end of July to start of August in an Ocean view room on the top floor. Top-class service from all staff in the resort whether on front desk, the restaurants, and housekeeping. A really great team, led by Kim. Everyone was friendly and helpful and took a personal interest. Special shout-out to the YellowFin watersports team based at the hotel who were really helpful in providing kayaks, paddleboards and Hobie-cat lessons which were great fun. Read less