The Crane

We stayed at the Crane from 15 August to 30 August. A family of 6 (2 adults and 4 children aged between 11 and 2) on a full board meal plan. Overall we had a good holiday. We were delighted to be able to come to Barbados have a “proper holiday” and not have to staycation in the UK, despite the extra levels of stress and effort with all of the covid testing and requirements. However, there were a number of areas that we felt the Crane was not up to par and certainly not delivering on the premium, luxury experience they purport to offer. However, let’s start with the positives: 1. We stayed in a 3 bedroom, contemporary suite which was great! Really spacious and contemporary, lovely lay out, nice decor and great amenities: As a family of 6 having a utility room with a washing machine and dryer is a total blessing and game changer (especially in a resort that provides full catering). No mountains of washing to return home with which normally only serves to compound the post holiday blues! The kitchen was well equipped with microwave, dishwasher, fridge freezer with water and ice dispenser, cooker, toaster, kettle, coffee maker etc. 2. Covid testing on site is a bonus and the process was efficient, we literally took 10 minutes away from lazying by the pool to get our pre-departure covid tests done. 3. Food was of a good standard throughout the resort. Service was sometimes a bit slow but always cheerful and polite. We particularly liked The Carriage house for lunch and Zen and Donofrios for the evening. (Azure’s breakfasts were delicious but the environment there needs a complete rethink as the indoor area is dark, and dingey and the whole area is dated and needs a good clean (especially the windows which mask the amazing views). As a result we only had dinner at Azure once, on our first night, and didn’t return for dinner again there.) 4. The WiFi throughout the resort was good. Often at some of the best 5 star resorts we have stayed at this is often a let down but not at the Crane 5. Early on in our stay we noted that the water temperature in our room was not very warm at all. We let reception know and this was resolved swiftly. (The water pressure isn’t great but I don’t think much can be done about that). 6. There are some wonderful staff at the resort. The manager at Donofrios was amazing and always reserved us the same great table. Many of the staff in and around the resort have a lovely friendly, gentle manner, even the construction workers would politely greet you as they passed. I think this is testament to the lovely temperament of the Bajan people. 7. The resort has a lot of potential. It’s location and views are great, the gardens look lovely and the natural friendly and gentle manner of the staff and Bajans in general is very welcoming and endearing. Now for the not so good: It is worth noting that by day 4 of our two week stay we had built up a number of points of concern so I thought the best course of action (rather than just grumble to ourselves) was to chat these through with management. I took the chance after breakfast to go to reception and I discussed all of my points in detail with the On Duty Manager Tamisha on 18 August. She had a very nice manner and I felt we had a good, positive discussion and she made notes as we went through my feedback. I was therefore a bit disappointed not to hear back from her at all for the rest of the holiday as I hoped she might follow up with me on the points we had discussed and what, if any, action she had/would be taking. Problem areas: 1. Reception is unimpressive, unwelcoming and dirty: the windows haven’t been cleaned in forever, dead flies in the light fittings, always long queues, no AC and we weren’t offered arrival drinks although we saw some others were. The counter behind the reception desk hasn’t been dusted in a long time. 2. The resort needs a good power wash and lick of paint. It feels unloved and slowly decaying. Property maintenance is generally poor apart from the gardens. Windows just aren’t cleaned (check out Azure, reception and the same in our apartment) which means it spoils the beautiful views. 3. Our apartment was beautiful but not properly cleaned. Eg visible brown dirt when I wiped down a shelf before putting my daughter’s toys on there; balcony table with glass marks still on it from previous guests’ drinks; unidentified brown splats on the walls of the toilet; the top of the rainforest shower heads have clearly not been cleaned since the apartment was constructed. (I only noticed this because I had to angle the shower head to stop the water escaping out of the shower); and windows dirty, as already mentioned. Thankfully, I am happy to roll my sleeves up and clean. So, with my dettol spray and wipes in hand, I dealt with these cleaning issues myself. 4. Azure (the breakfast buffet serving area) is dated and dingey and needs a complete refurb. The white room where you can sit to eat breakfast and evening meals are served needs a good clean, especially the yellowing white windows. After our first evening meal we never ate there again, other than for breakfast. 5. There was significant construction work next to our apartment block which we weren’t made aware of at the time of booking or check in. In order to avoid the inconvenience of moving rooms after a few days, having unpacked and settled in, we decided to put up with the construction views and kept the shutters closed on the windows in rooms overlooking the construction site the whole time. Thankfully the construction work wasn’t too noisy. 6. All swimming pools apart from the adults only pool (which was crystal clear) were extremely cloudy for our whole stay. You could not see your feet or any objects that fell to the bottom. We reported this several times and saw others reporting it too at reception but nothing was done. My children reported strange feeling unidentifiable things at the bottom of the pool and one picked up a used plaster from the bottom of the pool one day! My daughter was particularly perturbed by the cloudiness. My husband tripped up on some steps in the pool because the pool was so clouded he didn’t see them. Clearly a safety hazard. 7. There are no parasols at all by the pools. There are 3 cabanas which can probably seat up to 20 guests in total. Very occasionally we were able to find space in a cabana but more often not which meant we were sat out in the blazing sun with no shade. I took to taking my umbrella with me and using that as a parasol by the pool and my children would often cover their heads with beach towels for shade in the blazing heat whilst they ate their poolside lunch. Irritatingly we observed lots of holes in the ground for parasols to go into but NO parasols. A staff member told me that they used to have parasols but they got damaged by the wind when guests forgot to put the parasols down. I would have thought it should have been one of the duties of staff to ensure parasols are closed each day rather than relying on guests?? I think it’s a health risk to provide so little shade in a climate like this, especially for families with children. 8. Initially there was a lack of sun-loungers too but this was addressed when we asked and pointed out a big stack of sun-loungers sitting by the beach lift. 9. Beach towels were also in short supply. We wanted to go for a swim one afternoon at around 4pm. There were no beach towels and we were told if we waited there might be some arriving from the laundry at 5pm which was too late for us. There were then a few mornings (late morning) after that when there were no beach towels available and my husband had to go on a scuba-diving trip one morning with no towel at all! In the end we decided to keep a set of towels in our room which we would swap for clean towels at the towel hut at the end of each day. If there were no clean towels available we would take our used ones back to our apartment and I would launder and dry them in our washing machine and dryer myself. Clearly it’s not satisfactory that we had to resort to this but at least it ensured we had some clean towels. All of the points above were discussed on day 4 of our holiday with Tamisha the duty manager. Only the sun-lounger issue was resolved during our stay. It’s also worth noting that the kids club was closed for the whole duration of our stay. No explanation was given or noted on the door. It was of no consequence for us as we didn’t plan to make use of it. Since our return we have discovered that 3 separate charges totalling around 200 Bajan dollars have been charged to my husband’s credit card. Whilst we stayed at the Crane we were on a full board meal plan and we settled our bill in full on departure. The bill system at the Crane appears inadequate as it is the responsibility of the guest to request that the bill is spilt into food and drinks separately so that the drinks can then be charged to our room. This should not be the responsibility of the guest, however we went along with it. However, since we returned home we assume that some accounting reconciliations have been performed and that probably some drinks or other charges were missed off our bill, because of this inadequate system. We would be ok with one additional charge being made after our departure, encompassing all errors or omissions in our bill, especially if it is accompanied with an email explanation from the hotel as to what the extra charge is. We have received no explanation despite my husband requesting this by email and two further charges have also subsequently been made to his credit card, also with no explanation. My husband has emailed explaining that he will contact his credit card fraud department if he doesn’t receive an explanation of these charges and we are still waiting….This then reminded me that 3 weeks before our holiday I emailed to clarify what type of electric plug sockets are in use in the apartment so I could bring the right adapters and I am still awaiting a reply…. Overall we did still manage to have a great family holiday. After a few days we chose to not focus on the issues above. The Crane does have great potential - it’s just not living up to it at the moment and so we won’t be returning. If you are a stickler for cleanliness with an eye for detail and aesthetics and pool amenities are important to you then the Crane is probably not for you. If you are not bothered by these things then I’m sure you will have a great time there. We met plenty of guests having the best time there. I will definitely miss having a washing machine and dryer on our next holiday!! Read less

The reviews are very mixed on The Crane Resort, and in my experience, pretty much all experienced at some point by my family during our stay. A few experiences we had are summarised in this review. We checked in 1 day later than booked and the room wasn't ready!? Allowed the keys at 7pm after much pacing around a sweltering reception but did thankfully get allocated the room we had booked. The restaurants are very warm with only the natural breeze cooling the eating areas rather than air con, with the exception of Zen. The air con in our room was a little temperamental. Daily housekeeping happened after day 5 of our fortnight stay, and only then after twice daily calls to reception to ask for such simple items such as dry towels and toilet paper. The pool towel hut is open hours no one can fathom, and not necessarily when you need it to be. The on site Covid Lab makes life simpler - but only as long as they are able to send emails with results and don't experience too many technical issues. We experienced bill issues a number of times, which can't ever seem to be sorted immediately by reception staff. The guests receiving poorer service than we encountered don't seem to be able to speak to anyone with authority to resolve them - so reception is often an unpleasant place to be with angry guests. The general level of maintenance is in need of improvement. The grounds were being extensively pruned and heavily staffed whilst we were staying, but yet almost every handle on the windows/doors in L'Azure are falling off, the ceiling canopies need replacing as are tatty and dirty in appearance and it needs repainting as is extensively stained. Some positives though, the food was mostly pretty good; the Pentouse Room we had was a fantastic space and the rooftop enjoyed full sun almost all day, but pool could have been cleaned more frequently; there was a courtesy bus to Carlisle Bay when The Crane Beach suffered too much from the Seaweed (but go to The Boatyard for a more enjoyable day out not the drop off point of Harbour Lights). However, most disappointingly, having been back home for 4 weeks, a charge by The Crane Resorts has been made to my credit Card, without my knowledge or authority. Not even the courtesy of an explanation so far to any emails (sent to front desk and to reservations). Hopefully this review may prompt an acknowledgement, but in the meantime keep a watch out if you are returning from a stay here. Read less