Fairmont Royal Pavilion

Fairmont Royal Pavilion Fantastic location – Rooms all look out over a lovely beach and gorgeous sea. They are recently refurbished although the bathrooms still need updating as well as mini bars and aircon units but generally nice. Hotel looks tired in a lot of places and needs a fair amount of updating that hopefully will be done now that Accor own the Brand as Fairmont’s should be top quality. Staff issues are more serious – there is an attitude prevailing of almost being rude to guests that needs to be addressed with proper training and politeness (even the front desk was bad at times) it is a service industry after all. Food and Beverage – good selection and food of good quality but price point far too high (circa £60+ per head for the themed evening menus and that’s just food from a buffet style serving area!) so a lot of guests eat out trying to find Bajan food which is not easy on the west coast as its inundated with ‘international’ mediocre restaurants like Tides & Daphnes. Beach Club café a joke – expensive and not user friendly and in our view the whole area needs to be upgraded. All in all we had a good holiday but the hotel in our view has to really up its game to carry the Fairmont name and provide customers with seamless service and ‘affordable’ pricing of F&B. Maybe just a four star. Read less

We spent four nights at the Fairmont Royal Pavilion in early July to get out of town for a weekend. The early morning flight on Air Canada arrived just after lunch and we were whisked through customs and immigration and into a waiting taxi, arranged by the hotel when you book a certain category of room. With Fairmont platinum status (what is now Club Accor) we were upgraded to a beautiful ground floor suite which opened onto a patio which was literally right on the beach. The rooms have been done up recently and certainly ours was huge and beautiful- all done in relaxing blue and white, with a huge bathroom with the usual Rose amenities (this is one place that Sofitel outdoes Fairmont- Sofitel in France uses Hermes products and our stay a few weeks ago in Montreal at the Sofitel Golden Mile also used French toiletries, Lanvin). As always with Fairmont there is a welcome drink on arrival, in this instance a very welcome glass (and a second!) of Moet and breakfast was included in our room rate. Breakfast was a glorious affair in the very lovely open air restaurant, replete with all the usual goodies, omelette station, plentiful fruit, yoghurt, chia pudding, smoked salmon and much much better cheese than at our recent stay at a Sofitel in Paris. The chèvre and a truly lovely English stilton were eaten in possibly too large a quantity by both my husband and me. The beach is beautiful, the water just the right temperature, not too hot and not too cold. there was always an umbrella and chairs available directly outside of our room and we spent a lot of the time just reading and enjoying the heat. We did an island tour with a local taxi company, our driver was friendly and knowledgable and drove us around much of the island dropping us off for dinner at Champers which I will review and worth a visit no matter where on the island you are staying. The only negative thing about Barbados is the cost of the taxis which one has to use to get to around in the evening. A five minute taxi ride to Tides restaurant from the hotel in one of the taxi drivers who appears to be on standby at the hotel was $15 each way- it feels a little extortionate. The hotel arranged a turtle swimming tour with a local company which was so much fun- $75 for a three hour tour on a large catamaran with snorkelling and all drinks included. Certainly a highlight of the weekend. Thanks to Fairmont Royal Pavilion for getting everything right- excellent customer service, friendly staff, a "c bechstein" grand piano for my husband to play on (which always makes him love whichever hotel we are in!) and all in all a perfect short break from life and reality. Read less

My husband and I literally walked into this hotel without a reservation after we planned a last minute holiday over the Fourth of July. From the welcome we received, you’d never know they hadn’t been expecting us. Chantal was more than ready to help us get promptly situated in our beautiful room. The hotel has an elegant vibe that isn’t at all stuffy. It’s not like other newer hotels that are hip but somehow seem to be trying a bit too much. The ambiance definitely makes guests feel relaxed and welcomed. The rooms are perfect and have everything you could ever need. It’s great that every room faces the beach, which is literally just steps away from any room. My favorite aspect of this hotel was the personal feel of it. All the staff members made an effort to know you very quickly and greet you by name. This level of personal service seems increasingly rare. Any issue was addressed by a staff member in under ten minutes. I’ve stayed in quite a lot of hotels, so I feel confident in saying Michael is one the best hotel managers I’ve come across. The fact most of the staff stay for decades also speaks to how much pride is taken at the Fairmont. It was nice how the hotel hosted various themed dinner nights plus a cocktail party for guests on our first night. I really enjoyed late night drinks in the bar. Gregory and St Clair were so kind in entertaining all my questions about Bajan food, rum and local music. If you go to Barbados, you can’t go wrong if you book the Fairmont. Read less

This beautiful hotel is set on an amazing beach, and every room has a full beach view, and you can see fabulous sunsets from every balcony. You do feel that you have checked into paradise. Service is excellent, and if you are fortunate to have a room with butler service, you won’t be disappointed, as it is an unobtrusive, or as full on as you want, you choose exactly what you need, and they iron as well. If you can drag yourself from the perfect beach and sun loungers, there is a good sized pool, well maintained gardens, 2 restaurants and a bar. The restaurants serve a mixture of cuisines, but do try the local fish, and the West Indian Buffet, a perfect opportunity to experience new flavours. You won’t be disappointed. The rooms are very well appointed with everything you could need, and the ones on the beach level, are perfect, as you can get up from your bed, and go straight out to the beach, and swim, or sit and drink tea watching the sun rising. Not to be missed, everything is quiet, and you feel as if you are in your own perfect world. The beach never feels crowded, even if as when we were there the hotel is almost full, it never feels busy, and you can spend your day lazing in the sun, or use the complementary water sports, and snorkel. There is a huge variety of amazing fish literally meters from your room, so a snorkelers paradise. Overall, this is a fabulous place to have a luxury holiday. Peaceful, but still plenty to do, not busy, but still good choice of food, and a fun bar area, and most importantly one of the best beaches I have ever had the luck to experience. All this, and a luxury and friendly hotel to stay at, what more could we possibly want? To go back… Read less