Mango Bay

Arrived back this morning after a wonderful week with our daughter at Mango Bay. I don't recognise the previous negative description of the staff as I would say they are an asset to the hotel. Nothing was ever too much trouble - any variation of the meals of drinks they were always fine with. Everyone we spoke to was having a great time. If bar staff have their backs turned, remember they are doing drinks for people on the beach or having a long meal inside, so they aren't ignoring you, you are just in an invisible queue. Shirlene worked tirelessly at the bar, despite the heat and the sometimes rather rude guests. We found the alcohol to be ok but would agree that sparking wine would be a good addition. A lot of effort went into the food. This was our twelfth time in the Caribbean and the only time that the food had spicy flavours, and so nicely presented. We had two lovely ground floor rooms right next to the pool so no complaints there. You don't need to bring adaptor plugs for phones and tablets as there are usb ports in bottom of the lamps. All of the Caribbean has tired looking rooms, but they are kept spotlessly clean with good showers. My husband and I both had birthdays during the stay and each time we were given an individualised menu and table decorations which was a nice touch. The beach was beautiful. You don't need to go on a snorkelling trip to see the rays and turtle, just wait for the boats coming from other hotels and watch where they deposit the snorkellers and you 'll find them there (because they get fed!). The hotel location is ideal: beautiful sandy beach with plenty of snorkelling, and up the road is a posh mall and a great supermarket in case you forgot something. We had a letter saying that despite management telling people not to put their towels on the sunbeds they will still do this. Couldn't care less: don't they know that sunbathing in that hot sun massively ages your skin?! We were happy just to be in the warmth and stayed in the shade. I can't praise the staff enough, the Barbadian people are so welcoming and hard working, so ignore the kind of recent negative comment, so disrespectful. WE're hpomg to come back later in the year. Read less

Whilst sitting at the airport waiting for the plane I thought I'd give my views. Barbados is a beautiful place with beautiful people and Mango Bay is an amazing place to stay. The food and drinks were excellent. The location on the amazing beach was perfect. The watersports included were great. We had no sunlounger issues, no issues with drink selection and no issues with the noise given from the tree frogs. (That's a bit like saying the waves are noisy when sat next to the beach). If I could give only some areas of development. The WiFi is quite poor, and it says it's fast in the rooms, well it is when it works, it's very intermittent. There is a man made reef in front of the beach where you can snorkel and see all sorts of sea life, unfortunately it's littered with the small plastic straws they give you with each drink. Overall a great experience. Read less

This hotel could be okay but so much needs to improve. We arrived at an empty reception area to be greeted by two receptionists who totally ignored us, sadly this was a theme through out our stay. The staff here with a few exceptions are the worst we have ever encounted, most particularly at the bar where time and again they would keep there backs turned from you even though they knew you were there .. no eye contact and certainly no smiles was the norm. Sevice at lunch and dinner could also be very hit and miss, some were friendly others barely would make eye contact. The place itself is tired as was our room, however every thing in room did work well and was kept very clean.. I would say the cleaning staff were the friendliest. The food and drink quality here was also varied between okay and bad , some cocktails we just couldn't drink at all, some staff had no clue and the red wine way to hot, hardly any quality brands of spirits available, probably the worst experience was at 10.00pm being served a drink in a small plastic cup as they always seem to be without enough glasses of any type. One plus is the beach and location, though getting out of the sea can be challenging as its quite steep. We spoke with other people who found the resort and some staff poor and like us will not return to Mango Bay, as for us, Barbados is well past its sell by date, far too many hotels need refurbishments and the people have definitely lost that nice island vibe I remember. We will not return to Barbados again .. there are so many much better choices. Read less

Arrived here after 5 nights at Sugar Bay. Good points pool and beach and good and our room is pleasant with good air con. Reasons we wouldn’t return, main one the drinks. No sparkling wine included which seems strange as a popular drink. The wines are not nice at all. Cocktails good but once a margarita was served to me in an ice cream bowl and they also like to use these mini plastic cups which one barely hold any drink and two are not eco friendly at all. The bottle of fizz given in the room once opened didn’t ‘pop’ which was a bad sign and then when poured had black things floating in it, I can only assume it’s extremely old so be careful. They offered to replace but we feared it would be the same issue. The food is pretty basic, nice enough but not very exciting and the staff are 50/50 some lovely, some look like they rather be anywhere else and verging on rude. The grounds are tired and the whole place could do with a refurb. For the same money we much preferred Sugar Bay. Read less

My honest review of The Mango Bay hotel without silly comments about tree frogs (don’t go to Barbados go to Spain the tree frogs were there long before you!!) Having just spent nearly two weeks there I feel that we had really good value for money. Okay so it’s not The Sandy Lane Hotel or The Fairmont etc but nor do they charge extortionate prices. It’s a fully inclusive hotel with an exceptional location right on a beautiful beach on the platinum coast. It’s in the middle of Holetown so no car needed although we had one as it’s lovely to get out and about. The reception area is beautiful, check in is was good and welcoming. We got handed a fair amount of paperwork to fill in but there was no pressure to do it there and then. We had booked a standard room facing the carpark. We had a car and managed to find a space everyday to park. Our first night was a Sunday and the one love bar across the street have a karaoke and it’s is extremely loud!! they literally could of been at the bottom of our bed. However the next morning I was told that it’s only on a Sunday and sure enough it was peaceful the rest of the week apart from Friday but that wasn’t singing just chatting. Had the karaoke of carried on we would of asked to be moved but it didn’t so we stayed put not wanting to spend our holiday moving around etc and complaining. I do think though that the noise levels should be stated more clearly on their website over the weekends so people can make a fair choice on what they’re booking, they describe it as a lovely fun atmosphere but it’s not quite so fun at 1.AM in the morning after travelling 24 hours to get there with jet lag. The block with standard rooms has no lift so worth noting as there’s two flights of stairs. The room was perfectly fine for us as we weren’t in it much, however the bathroom was getting ready for a facelift. It was cleaned daily to a high standard and the air con was very good. The pool area is lovely and very well maintained and clean, even the toilets around the pool were spotless. We went to the Crane hotel one night , which is 5 star, for cocktails and their toilets were a disgrace!!. The bar is open all day and all drinks were included apart from fizz and special wines. The restaurant is right on the beach which is really lovely and the service is overall good. Some times drinks at the table were a little slow or totally forgotten but not often and it’s a very busy hotel so understandable. The waitresses and waiters were all very kind and helpful and they literally never stop working in the intense heat. There is a dress code for evening which is nice and a cover up code for swimwear for rest of the day which is also good. The foods is varied and of a good standard for a fully inclusive hotel and table service not buffet other than breakfast. The beach is lovely and is very clean and a beautiful mango tree sits on the beach filled with gorgeous birds - oh and tree frogs- the sound of Barbados. The sunsets over the sea facing the beach and is literally breathtaking. Didn’t go on the free Catamaran trip as we could see people were getting very burnt on it and we had already struggled with the intense heat this year. However it looked fun and well organised and free!!!! My main criticism would be the subbed situation… they give you a letter on arrival saying that sunbed reservations have been stopped but it’s not the case and they should either stop saying it has or stop it happening. Due to time adjusting I was up at 6.30 a lot during the first week and so many beds were taken already with towels on. No people, just towels. It’s very unfair and really puts the pressure on to rush downstairs to try and get a place on the beach. We saw it everyday, same people, same beds front row on the beach. Aaaaagggghhhh!! They even put the towels and the beds and then went off on the boat trip or just go and sit in the bar waiting for breakfast. It’s large family groups also so taking 6-8 beds. The management really need to stop this as they will lose repeat custom and it really does down grade the hotel as it’s what you would expect from a cheap hotel in Europe. Big shout out to Damian (we named him Sox) he’s such a sweet man and he is a huge credit to the team and there is another beach waiter but can’t remember his name(sorry) who is also very warm and lovely and likes a little dance like Damian, also a big credit. Overall we had a lovely holiday and felt we made a good choice with the Mango Bay Hotel. Read less