We had originally booked to stay for 2 weeks in Barbados, but decided to cancel after being notified that there was building work going on next door to the hotel, Virgin only informed us of this weeks before; as we did not want to lose our deposit we decided to choose another hotel from the Virgin brochure. Of course most of the hotels were booked by that time so we settled on the Hawksbill. It looked lovely and we were pleased by all the nice reports we had read on the Trip adviser site.
We had been to the Caribbean a few times and had stayed in expensive and less expensive hotels, but never at a Rex Resort, anyway I will get straight to the point, the only redeeming factor at the Hawksbill is the scenery!! The whole place is sad and shabby and in need of a total overhaul, another requisite of your stay that you have to be between the ages of 60 to 95 to stay there, it was like an old people’s retirement home, and as I am only 48 and my husband 51 we did find it a bit strange, I have nothing against the elderly but do not really want to spend a holiday with people old enough to be my parents and my grandparents. If I had wanted a Saga holiday I would have booked one!

The whole place put us in mind of the comedy programme Fawlty Towers, the reception staff were from hell; they could have been GP surgery receptionists in a previous life!! Most of the staff did as they pleased some surly, some very pleasant, We found this quite amusing; good job really, as nothing else there to amuse us but music and dancing a few nights a week, which was mundane, we got fed up sitting at the bar before dinner as they only had about 2 cds and that was what I would call elevator or supermarket music, it drove us crazy by the second week!!

We had a superior beach front bungalow very basic, dirty and depressing; the only thing superior about it was that it was in front of the other bungalows. The beaches are small and narrow and too sloping to sit on, the only nice beach is the nudist beach, and as we have no desire to take all our clothes off, and air our bits to the world we did not go on that one!! Can someone tell us where they hide the 37 acres of land, as we only found about an acre to walk in, in fact we had to escape out of the hotel grounds and walk along the road just to get some exercise and burn off some energy.

The food was incredibly bad, in the evening we found it difficult to make a meal out of anything at the buffet, as none of the food seemed to go together, we just put a bit of everything on our plate and hoped for the best! And as for the authentic Caribbean buffet night, well what a joke, all the food was so cheap, bland and disgusting we didn’t bother we just went hungry till breakfast. The food served at lunch was better but never really varied; we ended up having a burger nearly every day, we don’t eat burgers at home but these were tasty.

We did go around the island, and I can honestly say I don’t know why people go to Antigua, it is not attractive in any way shape or form, and we will certainly never go there again.
And as for all the people who go back to the Hawksbill year after year, some have been going for 30 years!! I just want to ask one question … WHY?

I would just like to say that this is not only our opinion of this hotel but many others that we met while we were there, we would like to thank two special couples, Ann and Jim from Scotland and Nicole and Chris from Lincoln, meeting them was the only good and fun part of our holiday.
Oh, I forgot to say we had an earthquake while we were there; no unfortunately it did not reduce the hotel to rubble, but then again who would notice the difference!

Each year, for the past 5 years, I have done my research and traveled
to a different Carribean island for my yearly February vacation. Of all of the resort locations where I have stayed, the Hawksbill has the best natural setting of them all! I was looking for a place with no road traffic noise, and quiet, non-crowded beaches for walking and relaxing. I found it! The natural beauty of the site was incredible. The web-site photos do not do it justice!

Even though the resort was fully booked, there were more than enough lounge chairs for all, and it never was crowded.

As I did my research, I surmized that the older resorts probably have the best natural sites. It proved true in this case! It was a well-cared for older resort., with the rooms and buildings being open
and breezy. I knew not to expect A/C, and TV. (The soccer fans crowded around the one TV in a communal area for a game, but other than that, I rarely saw anyone in front of the TV, when it was on.) I also welcomed the absence of phones and radios. From any place on the property, you could hear the waves breaking on the rocks and beaches. It was very quiet and calming.

The all-inclusive meals were varied, and mostly British. I never went hungry. Fresh fish on the grill was a daily highlight at lunch.

The staff was excellent and very accomodating! The guided tour of the local flora was very enjoyable.

If you want indoor living, electronics, and a wild bar scene, this is NOT the place for you. If you want a calm, quiet, mostly outdoors relaxing break from technology, this is the place for you!

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!!!