We arrived in Antigua on a hot sunny day and were taken to the hotel in a mini bus. On arrival the reception area from the outside didn`t look particularly impressive. We had a warm welcome and after dealing with the administration you always get on arrival somewhere, we were taken to our beach front bungalows. They are not very modern but they are large and very clean which is what you would hope for. The shower was also of a good size and did it`s job very well. Clean towels every day and rooms cleaned daily. All the rooms had a ceiling fan and air con which worked well and our experience for the week was no bugs, lizards etc. Whilst we were there I didn`t see one tarantula spider

The location of the rooms and the outlook was fantastic. Excellent view from your seating area out to a wonderful warm blue sea. Without being fancy the rooms were fine. The food was perfectly acceptable as was the local beer served at the bars. The staff were very helpful, warm and friendly, no complaints at all.

We have always tended to travel east for our holidays, this was our first visit to the Caribbean, it was a fantastic holiday and I would go again without hesitation. I have to say however I would have reservations if I wasn`t staying in one of the beach front bungalows, the other rooms didn`t look very good, they did appear very much in need of work doing on them to bring them up to an acceptable standard.

There are also a number of honeymoon bungalows, they did look fine but can`t say how they were on the inside that said I never heard any complaints from any of the couples staying in them.

We were heading to St Kitts, but thought we'd spend four nights in Antigua as well. Checked the reviews on Tripadvisor around August 2007, and booked the Hawksbill in Antigua, and Timothy Beach Resort in St Kitts. Guys how did you get the Hawksbill so wrong!!

Let me start by saying that the location and staff are really great – it goes downhill from here. First we had a superior ocean view bungalow - the ceiling fan was so high up you couldn't feel a thing, so you roast in your room even with all the slats open. The mesh over the windows to keep out the mosquitoes would work if they fitted the windows - the gaps are big enough for the lizards, so trust me the mosquitoes have no problems getting in. However if they fixed this, everything would just get in through the gaps in the door. The kettle looked untouchable, and the fridge was rusty on the outside and looked like it had been used for years on the inside. The coffee sachets supplied were out of date – would have rung reception/housekeeping but phones are not supplied in the basic rooms. The shower was so small and the curtain so short that they were better off with a wet room, as no water stayed within the shower cubicle.

We then spent one night in a sea grapes suite and felt that this should be the standard of the basic rooms - it was nothing great, everything was just right.

How can you spoil such a great location with such cheap knocked up rooms (bungalows). The reason so many reviews state to upgrade, is because the basic rooms are a very poor standard for a Rex hotel in the Caribbean - they seem to want to make it so uncomfortable that you do upgrade, rather than going for the "well if the basic is so nice, what's the upgrade like...shall we". For the money you pay you should be able to stay in a basic room, and splash out on an upgrade if you want to, not because you have to.

The food is okay – nothing to write home about – lunch and dinner are best. Not sure I could put up with it for a full week, a couple of times it was quite bland and there was never any good desserts. I would however suggest giving tea a miss, as I would have been grateful for some cucumber or tomato in my white-bread cheese sandwich just to give it some much needed moisture. Breakfast you eat with the birds, lunch and tea you eat with the flies!! Which also invade the bars. We thought this was the norm, until we went into town and drank at the Beehive – which serves food and drink in the open with no fly problems. We didn’t have anything to eat at the Beehive, but it all looked really clean, our drinks were made well and the staff were very pleasant. The hotel supplies an early morning shuttle-bus into town leaves 0900 picks up 1245.

Now I’m not sure what people saw in this hotel – The location is great, and the staff are wonderful, but that is about it. It really isn’t worth the money staying here, you are out of the way so it’s added cost to move around. There is one TV (first there gets control) and no internet access other than in the manager’s office. Don’t be fooled by the beach story either – they have 365 on the island, because whether it’s a footsteps width or the width of two buses, if there’s sand it’s a beach. It is your money, but I really would suggest you spend it somewhere else – you will end up upgrading, so why not just look for another hotel worth that kind of money. If you decide to keep to the basic, why not opt for a guest house, just make sure it has a generator as the electricity is turned off in Antigua on a regular basis!!

I will be leaving a review about the Timothy Beach Resort, St Kitts – which was a pleasure to stay at.

When we got to the resort after a long flight served with champers
and oj and everything felt better. Everything about the resort was top notch the accom, the staff, the food all great.The only thing was when we first got there thought the pool was a little small but the sea was so warm nobody seamed to bother with the pool.

I would say if poss get a room with air con. We were ok but some friends of ours just had ceiling fans and had to upgrade, but this was no probs for the very helpfull staff. It is very hot even in the evening and you do need air con.

Got home on the Tuesday XL went bang on the Thursday and thats who we went with very close shave for us.

First impressions we're not good. It wasn't the hotel's fault that the flight arrived during a rainstorm that caused the pilot to abort his final approach (he couldn't see the runway!) but the taxi journey from the airportto the hotel was very dark and wet. An over officious front desk clerk needed the guiding hand of the General Manager to hand out registration cards to all guests so they could be completed while drinks we're being served rather than in turn at the desk. Tired guests need to see their rooms and it would have been a nice touch to make registration more informal, perhaps exchanging passports for blank cards with the suggestion that they could be swapped back at dinner.

The rooms in the Main House are large and with balconies that evoke a colonial style. We were initially allocated one on the ground floor but this was readily changed to an upstairs room with better views of the sea. Don't bother about Royal Palm, Sea Grape or Honeymoon Cove rooms unless you really can't live without air conditioning. The ceiling fan above the beds and the shutters with fly screens back and front of the room make for perfectly adequate sleeping temperatures and they also allow sounds of the sea. The location is closer to the Sea Grape daytime bar, lunch location, pool, and water sports, and that beach is best of the four for swimming.

Early morning and sunset walks on the long 'nudist' beach were great. This was deserted (i.e. no people at all) and with signs of turtles that had struggled ashore to lay eggs.

In early September, Hawksbill was just the place for some pampering and a complete 'chill-out'. The staff are all friendly and attentive and give a 'family' impression of the place. We were looked after very well.