Hilton Grand Vacations Club The Crane Barbados

The setting is beautiful, but the service and attention to detail didn't meet what we expected from a resort with this reputation. This was our second staycation at The Crane Resort in Barbados, and it was disappointing. Our room's pool had sand in it, and there were no staff around the pool to help. The BBQ had no propane tank, and getting one delivered took over 2.5 hours. There were no dishwasher pods, coffee but no machine to make it with, no hand soap, only body lotion, and no oven glove in the kitchen. The team offered on-site credit, but no monetary compensation. With so many problems, that didn't feel sufficient.

We only booked here because our flight arrived the night before our stay at sandals, but I came away really impressed. The room was clean, the staff welcoming, and it felt like being at a proper resort, not just a hotel. It was beyond affordable, too. It's just my wife and me this time, but we'd absolutely book here again when we return with our kids. I wanted to leave some good feedback: Ty.

The place has some beautiful rugged spots, and I liked the morning walk to the beach and the view. Still, I came away with mixed feelings. The shower knob broke, and we had to move everything to another room that was the same, with no upgrade. That wasted our evening. When we requested towels or other things, the front desk would call an hour later to check if we'd received them, sometimes waking us up in the evening. The facilities aren't well maintained or up to top quality, and the staff need training. As a Hilton elite member, I got no upgrade. They said this was a grand vacation, not a true Hilton. If I'd known, I would have booked the Hilton Resort on the weather side, where the waves are calmer for my kid.

The rooms are nice. We had a suite with a bedroom, kitchenette, living room and two bathrooms, and the property and grounds could be beautiful. There's also a private beach reached by an elevator down the cliff. But the grounds needed more frequent cleaning, including picking up towels, and the hotel is about 30-40 minutes from the busy area with bars and restaurants. Seaweed covered the beach throughout our stay. The hotel can't control that, but it could rake the sand daily so guests could enjoy it. They have a tractor, but it wasn't used. Maybe the seaweed piles up quickly and there's nowhere to take it, so they wait for a break in the seaweed. I hope that's the reason. The pools look beautiful, but the main pool complex was extremely cloudy when we arrived. We were told it had an algae problem and had been closed for two days, but was now open. We didn't swim there because we couldn't see our feet and thought that was dangerous, with possible rashes or other issues. It stayed cloudy for the next seven days. The small adult pool wasn't cloudy, but we paid a lot and couldn't use the beach or main pool. A property of this class should have experienced staff keeping up with pool maintenance. If algae does occur, it might take a day or two to fix, but not nine days with no solution in sight. The front desk comped us about one night's stay, but the vacation was a total letdown.