The Crane Resort

Decided we wanted to start the year in the best way possible; so of course we came to The Crane. The atmosphere; the supreme-getaway, otherworldly vibe; the food! The property is flipping fantastic! The staff are outstanding! Big shout-outs to Linia(?) from housekeeping and the very engaging and helpful Karen from Front Desk.

Our Hilton Vacation Club is deeded in Barbados. We are also Hilton Diamond members. We are on a cruise that stopped here. Before we left, we spoke to someone about getting a tour. We paid $150 RT to go to the resort. No one from Concierge or Sales said welcome and thank you for being an owner. They ran out of umbrellas and chairs. If you are staying here, you have to pay $25 for 2 chairs and an umbrella at vendor on the beach. And unless you are staying at the resort, you cannot use the bathrooms at the beach. Based upon the reviews we’ve read and our 1 day experience, I will NEVER buy another Hilton vacation club week and we’ll never be back here.

A wonderful resort & experience and we will return! We also explored the natural beauty of the island, a must see are the Harrison's Caves and Animal Flower Cave & Restaurant. My only advise to future guests is that during the festive season make sure you book the restaurants in the resort well in advance as they do become very busy. Thank you for looking after us so well. Please keep up the great work!!!

My fiance and I are staying at the Crane Resort between Christmas and New Year's, and I must say we are very disappointed with our overall experience here thus far. First, the positives: The room is nice. Clean, spacious, and the AC works well. It also includes a bathtub. (For perspective, we are staying in a junior suite) The views of the ocean are beautiful. There are also many banyan trees and other flora that add to the natural beauty of the place. The hotel is close to the airport, which is nice after a long flight; unfortunately, it is in the opposite direction from the airport as every other place on the island worth seeing, making it a long and expensive taxi ride to get anywhere. The staff are friendly and try to be helpful for the most part. HOWEVER, there is one major exception... And this leads me to the negatives: Worst concierge ever. Upon checking in, the concierge desk was less than helpful. When we asked about making dinner reservations for the few days we would be there, she informed us that every restaurant on site was completely booked up for the next week. This is especially frustrating, as we booked this hotel several months ago and have been in frequent contact with them since then, and they never recommended that we make these reservations ahead of time. As it turns out, we have managed to get seats somewhere each time we've asked, and none of the restaurants have seemed too busy. Since that first occasion, the concierge has been somewhat more friendly, though there have still been several errors. An off-site restaurant that we booked through the hotel had to call us the morning of the reservation to get our CC info because they hadn't been able to get in touch with the hotel at all, and they nearly canceled our reservation because of it. As I write this, we also just sat down at a different restaurant that they booked for us, but only after finding out that they had canceled the reservation without our knowledge or permission. Additionally, when we reserved a tennis court on their app for an hour one morning, we arrived to the courts only to discover that they had all been double or triple booked. The real star of the disappointment show that is the Crane, however, is the food service department. The food is mediocre at best, and much too expensive. Most of it seems as if it's prepared by an 8 year old, yet we are paying luxury resort prices for this cheap-tasting and often bland food. It is similar in many ways to the crappy, overpriced food you are forced to pay for at amusement parks and stadiums because you have no other options. Additionally, we've often had to wait 30+ minutes to be waited on, and usually over an hour for our food once we've ordered. We had a decent meal at Zen, but it was even more expensive and still had the same problem with slow service, particularly when it came to clearing our table. Breakfast at L'Azure was also ok. I cannot overstate how atrocious our food experience has been so far at the Crane. I would expect better from them at even half the price they are charging. It has reached the point where my fiance and I are actively looking for ways to avoid eating here, even going so far as taking an hour long taxi ride to another hotel to eat dinner (shout out to Cobblers Cove for an amazing experience). Here I feel compelled to mention that Le Shack, which is right across the street from the Crane, is delicious! Highly recommend. Reservations are a must. The amenities have the potential to be quite nice, but the service is lacking and they seem to be closed or unavailable at the most inopportune times. For example, the pool bar closes at 4pm (REALLY??) and you're lucky to get any towel service or chairs at the pools or beach. From sunset to sunrise, they play "nature" sounds on all the speakers throughout the property which consist of repetitive, loud, annoying chirping sounds. This adds zero impact to the hotel experience. Negative value, in fact. The atmosphere is loud and boisterous with lots of children running around, which isn't the worst thing but does detract from the romantic vibe if that's what you're going for. So if you're looking for a relaxing couple's retreat, look elsewhere. All of this leads me to question if they have effective management in place. Needless to say, I'll be looking elsewhere to stay next time I visit Barbados.

We used a timeshare exchange to stay here. The resort property was expansive. It has a private beach that is accessed by elevator. There is a little town with shops and local artisans selling their goods. We ate at a few of the restaurants on the property and liked everything that we had. The walking paths on property allowed us to experience different aspects of the resort. Each morning, we had breakfast in a large room overlooking the ocean. The food selection for the buffet offered a variety of items. One morning, a local church group was singing during breakfast. One hazard during breakfast was the birds. Small birds would fly in and peck at unattended plates. Our stonework room was large. We had two chaise lounges on an outside shaded patio.