My wife and I have been visitors for over 20 years! We love Antigua and Antiguans. We have supported Hawksbill through all it,s highs and lows! Regretably It has now come to and end!!
It seems that since Rex Resorts took over from Kuoni, the primary concern is just "MILK IT". Little or no visible investment has been made, especially in the food and beverage area. The food and service is now totally unacceptable,( through no fault of the staff)! They are trying to produce and serve an acceptable product without the required equipment, expertise or staffing levels, unfortunately line staff take the heat from guests(unfairly)!
The kitchens are in a deploreable condition! we estimate that Hawksbill achieves aproximately a 30% repeat guest rate, many of which we know, ALL agree with us? We feel that the only way to get the situation improved is to stop going! As previously stated, We love the staff and the location, we will miss it dearly!
OUR COMMENTS SHOULD HAVE NO REFLECTIONS ON THE STAFF!!! Some of the staff even visit our home in Canada.
Our suggestion is that an Experienced, strong chef/F&B manager should be employed to experdite hands on.on job trainning, and that Rex Resorts provide the equipment neccesary. WE WANT TO GO BACK!! PLEASE! PLEASE! improve things! please contact us for further information!

We were in need of a tranquil, peaceful and most of all, relaxing vacation and that is exactly what we got from our stay at Hawksville. I will say here up front that the reviewers that observed the occasional "surly" or non-smiling staff member are absolutely correct and we think it should not be that way. In one instance, I asked the bar maid if there was a problem because she mumbled something when my girlfriend was trying to order a drink. The barmaid said "no sir, there is no problem", made the drink and that was that. I think between my tone, facial expression and my question, she got the point, maybe. We observed 2 staff members with that type of attitude but honestly, it was certainly not the norm and it was their problem, not ours and did not affect the 95% positives of this place. There were some positively wonderful and charming staff – that was more the norm.

Yeah, okay, the towels were a bit old but they dried my body and were clean. We had a king bed and found it to be very comfortable and linens in good shape and clean. By the way, there were flower pedals on the bed when we arrived. Nice touch.

If you are looking for a 5 star atmosphere, go elsewhere. The food is decent, certainly not bad but not the quality that you would go out for when home. The fish is all good and anything barbequed at lunch was good. There was a salad bar which girlfriend rated very good, (she is a salad bar connoisseur). Breakfast buffet is greasy but lots of fruit and cereals if you so choose. You can get eggs to order. Dinner buffet was okay. The sit down dinner that we experienced was a joke as far as I was concerned. I ordered the pork chop. It was the size of a large spare rib however, tasted good.
The beaches,(4 of them) at the resort are fantastic, beautiful, clean, gorgeous and one of the main reasons that we would go back there. We had a 20 second walk from the terrace off our room to the main beach. None of the beaches were ever crowded while we were there. We almost felt like it was our own private area. Even so, we could get up off our butts, walk a short distance and get a burger, grilled fish sandwich and / or,(another) pina colada, rum punch or a Wadadli,(the local beer – quite good).

Hawksbill resort is, all in all a wonderful spot to go and leave it all behind – truly. If you want to PARTY, PARTY PARTY, do not go there. If you want to be alone with the one you love and have an occasional dance in the evening in a very beautiful and peaceful setting, go to Hawksbill. You will meet some friendly, relaxed people there as well – mostly Brits.

Oh yeah, here’s a tip, if you rent a car, rent a small SUV instead. Our old Toyota couldn’t even get over some of the “sleeping policemen” without scrapping the bottom.
Have a great trip!!!

Wonderful place, staff superb, food superb and at times amazing, especially New Years Eve.. the Beef Wellington wow!!
Agree with some of the other reviews, could do with a lick of paint but hey, its hot, wet and windy what do you expect, besides with the leasing problems you can understand it, yea my other half went on the history talk!! Its certainly not a place for children, its tranquil and charming. The garden tour with Sylvia is a must, what a lady. We met some lovely people and had great fun, the crab racing was brilliant, even though not very well advertised considering it was for charity. The whole experience was so good we have even booked to go next year... oops this year.

My wife and I have just returned from a week at the Hawksbill resort on Antigua. The resort itself was very pleasant with beautiful and well kept grounds and an abundance of birds and wildlife. We had a beachfront room which was - just as advertised - very clean and comfortable. You should be warned though when considering these rooms that the sound of the sea can be very obtrusive at night as the waves really do crash onto the shore. No problem for me but my wife - who is a light sleeper - found it disturbed her sleep.

Unfortunately the overall effect of what must be admitted to be a pleasant holday was marred by two factors.

First the standard of housekeeping was quite lax. We were given towels so thin and frayed that one almost tore when we tried to use it and some of the bed linen was also on the point of fraying into holes. When we pointed this out it was addressed but it was not something we expected to happen in a carefully run operation. Similarly panels fell off of the window shutters and were ignored (ie left lying where they fell) by various members of staff.

The major issue however was in the quality of 'customer facing staff' from reception through to bar-staff and dining room staff. It did seem like the resort was being run for the benefit of the staff and not the guests. Many - of the staff - seemed surly, did not communicate clearly and were simply inept. Reception in particular always seemed to have something more important to do than pay attention to you - the paying guest. Getting any sort of service - a drink, meal service - became a trial and the quality of the end product delivered was often questionable. A final frustration was being kept waiting 30 minutes beyond the advertised time for the garden tour which we had heard so much about. There was no apology - and while I accept that lack of promptness is a feature of the Caribbean lifestyle and I should learn to chill out - this trait had ceased by this time to be endearing and after all it was my time that was being wasted and I had made the effort to be timely.