The Sands Barbados All Inclusive

We had the best time at this hotel. The pool was fantastic. Our son spent 8 hours a day in it. The staff were friendly, the rooms were cleaned everyday. Having air conditioning in the living areas of the rooms would be amazing. The hotel itself was just the right size for us. The food was good and appeared as fresh as it could be. I’m not sure water sports are really advertised. This could be promoted a lot more. Staff in the restaurant and bar were so accommodating. Shakira was funny. Thank you for a lovely stay

My initial trip had to be rescheduled because of hurricane Berly that came around July 4th weekend. It took some haggling and The sands would only accommodate a 2 week window to use the credit. Which was very disappointing. I had to pay double on a flight to meet their deadline. Upon getting to the hotel, the staff at the front desk were polite and apologize for the short time frame to use the credit. The rooms were nice, we had a duplex style room. The food was subpar, only ate there twice during my stay. I wouldn’t say it’s truly an all inclusive experience. There was a rude encounter with one of the head staff at the dining area ( actually 2 rude experiences). This incident was reported to upper management and rectified with an apology and a complimentary brunch at NIOR. Beyond this, some training needs to happen to let the staff know it’s not ok to treat people differently because of how “they look” This woman had some level of bias to her tone and approach when dealing with black guests vs non black guests. Let me just say she was more polite to people who did not look like her. #Sad Shout out to Kemar at guest services. He was attentive and approached each guest with respect. He accommodated any request that was asked. I gave it a 4 stars because of the location, and the few friendly staff we encountered.

Note: We originally booked a different hotel where we went on honeymoon (a beautiful 4 star hotel on the beach) however it was damaged during hurricane Beryl and therefore closed - so our travel agent moved us to a "like for like" hotel.. Hotel: Basic facility with basic furniture, A/C , grounds etc. There is one pool and one bar - both quite small and you realise the size on busy days! Our A/C and toilet both broke on more than one occasion. Food and Drink: We had all inclusive. This was misleading. All inclusive meals are very limited, especially if you have food intolerances or specific diets. The selection/options for each meal is very limited, and the food quality was mostly very poor. Portion sizes were tiny and sometimes just unacceptable. Drinks options are very limited to cheap brands and speciality drinks are not included. Dining Area Hygiene: This is a big issue. There were birds everywhere scavenging for food. They jumped from table to table, plate to plate whether anyone was there or not. The dining area which is beach-side, also has hanging lights - often the birds would rest on the hanging lights and poop - landing on people, their plates, the floor etc etc. Not entirely the hotels fault but they didnt really do anything about it. Other hotels in Barbados have resident cats and they dont have any bird dropping issues like this place. Beach: Public beach, small and has a big problem with seaweed during hurricane season. We had 3 days with sand, and then woke up one morning and the whole beach was covered and unusable. It took the hotel a week to have the seaweed removed, but by then all of the customers were fairly deflated. Also, for our first 2 days stay there was a ban on entering the water as a sewage pipe burst during the hurricane and the water was contaminated. Eventually, the beach was re-opened. Gym: This is a converted hotel room with 6 pieces of equipment, a few of which either dont work or are broken. If you enjoy fitness then avoid this hotel, there is a reason they dont have pictures of their fitness facility on their website. Its terrible. Staff: We met some lovely staff members on our trip. Many however are young and inexperienced and for most of our stay there was an obvious lack of leadership in the hotel, restaurant and bar and this was reflected in a mostly poor and sometimes rude attitude by staff towards customers. I dont think there was any malicious intent to this behaviour - just inexperience and a lack of visible leadership to keep people on their toes. To reiterate, we did meet some lovely and hard working staff, but their amazing attitude and efforts were overshadowed by others.

Worst experience!!! We are privileged to travel every 3 months around the world with our kids. This “hotel” has a dirty beach full of smelly seaweed that hasn’t been cleaned for 3 days. Nor have we given an opportunity to go to their sister hotel Mango Bay today. Now we are staying at a hotel that only has a pool, if we knew this, we would have stayed in Toronto, even though we told our kids not to go to the pool a week ago because we were going to enjoy the “beautiful beach” NO SOLUTION has been offered!!!!!!!!! General manager doesn’t show up and has not been helpful in any way to communicate with staff about a real and fair solution. Someone named coffee last night promised to get us in to the shuttle this morning but, then he changed his mind last minute and took it personally. This morning two guests cancelled their shuttle but, they still told us there is no space. We are sad about the situation and regretful for being here. Some people are nice but others have taken this issue personal. Shower curtains in the washroom are full of mold which should be easily cleaned with bleach. If their website advertises customers about the dirty beach we could have at least planned ahead of time. They keep telling us to speak to a supposedly general manager who doesn’t show up to address the situation, doesn’t care about their guests, and In simple words doesn’t have empathy for a couple to came to celebrate their anniversary with their family. I recommend you DO NOT COME HERE. Stay away of this place at all cost.

We had an excellent All-Inclusive holiday at The Sands in Barbados. We were there for 10 nights mid-September 2024. We arrived late afternoon having travelled nearly 18 hours in total from Scotland. Check in was straight forward and we were offered a rum punch to cool us down in the 32 degree heat when we arrived. You are then shown to your room at which point we discovered that our ocean view room had been upgraded free of charge to one of the penthouse suites - what a brilliant start to our holiday. The suite is very roomy, tastefully decorated and the views from the room and of course the very large balcony are absolutely stunning. Table chairs and sun loungers are on the balcony in case just want a chill out while admiring the ocean. The pool area is well laid out and close to the bar ( although the pool / barman guy made it his life’s work to ensure you never needed to get up for a drink), the beach is a further 10 metres on so everything is nearby. Towels for the pool and beach are provided by the hotel. Breakfast is buffet style which seems to cater for all tastes. On arrival you book both lunch and evening meal at a time of your choice. Generally there are 3 choices for each of the three courses a seafood, a meat or chicken and a veggie for the main course. I found something I liked each mealtime so had no issue with this. We also ate in the Noir restaurant twice and enjoyed it both times. N.b gents must wear covered shoes and long trousers to eat here. Overall the Hotel is quite small and stylish, they were doing some minor refurbishment work while we were there which did not affect us at all - but it is making a difference and it will only get even better. Some minor damage was caused on the beach during the hurricane in June. Lastly what really makes this hotel are the staff !! It would be a shame to single anyone out as we found THEM ALL excellent. Out and about in Barbados, it is clear that the Bajan people appreciate what the tourist industry does for their economy. Nice, helpful people who seem to love life and have a smile on their face all the time. Outside the hotel duty free shopping in Bridgetown and the Cattemeran cruise were both excellent. Loved Barbados and loved The Sands Hotel - would definitely return there.

Great location on the beach. The grounds and beach were well maintained with plenty of sun loungers to go around. The restaurant was nice and had a good selection of food which was mainly served from the menu with occasional buffets some nights. The staff were really friendly and attentive and couldn’t do enough for you. We had a slight hiccup with the room we had been allocated on the first night but give credit where it is due the management sorted it out the very next morning and we were upgraded to a beach front duplex and this room was amazing with stunning views. Thank you Renee and Rebecca for helping , you both delivered on your promises. Overall we thoroughly enjoyed the stay and Barbados and would have no hesitation to recommend this hotel. Thank you The Sands and staff.

Blown away by the intimacy, privacy, friendliness, and cleanliness of the beach. We are well traveled in the Caribbean, and this was such a nice place to visit! We did an island tour and catamaran tour where we were able to see turtles, sting rays etc. only draw back was kids aren’t allowed in the “fine dining restaurant”, however meals were just fine! The coral reefs weren’t as impressive as some of the other Caribbean locations we’ve been, but that’s outta the resorts control. Would def recommend! Had zero beach peddling trying to sell us stuff, felt safe letting 2 kids (7/9) run wild on the beach! It felt like a private beach! The rooms were ice cold (which we love and is uncommon in these type of destinations) Put in on your list of places to visit and enjoy a piece of paradise!

My family and I just came back from a week stay at The Sands. We travelled from July 25-August 1st and needless to say we had an incredible time. When we arrived we had a large family suite (much larger than anticipated) with ground floor access overlooking the pool, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen and family room area. We were really impressed. The beach is outstanding. White sands and turquoise water. There were some waves which my children throughly enjoyed. We only experienced sea **** the last two days of our stay which was uncontrollable. The food was excellent. My family and I have travelled to many Caribbean islands over the years and the food here was the best. Far better than the resort chains. The drinks were delicious too. The staff were friendly and helpful. We were very happy with the service. Some staff were very engaging with the children making sure they got involved with the daily activities (I.e crafts, friendly beach games of soccer, cricket and pool activities). The island felt very safe and my family and I had no problems venturing off riding the bus both government owned and private. The fare was 3.50 Barbadian dollars each way. Some points of interest to visit while at Barbados; Oistins on Friday night for some local food and fun dancing, Carlisle Bay (go to the boat yards to enjoy a day on the beach with a boat ride to snorkel by the sunken ships and sea turtles), Mango Bay (their sister hotel-spend the day there and eat for free, just pay the transportation there and back), St. Lawrence Gap for an evening stroll which is less than a 10 minute walk from the Sands hotel.

We spent lovely holiday at The Sand in March 2023 with our 2.5 years old daughter. While there are no kids activities, the beach and location was fantastic. We had a very big one bedroom apartment with sea view. Food and service was good. There is buffet style lunch/ dinner and ala carte (depending on a day). For the price I highly recommend this hotel