I stayed at this hotel February-March of '07 just after the multiple room safe theft incident occurred. The thief, who turned out to be one of the front desk clerks, was caught and arrested by the police, and the 8 or so victims were reimbursed by the hotel.
Still, this whole situation left me feeling less than happy with this resort. Luckily, I missed having my room ransacked and money stolen, but I felt badly for the other guests who were preyed upon. I sure this type of thing happens all the time, but still, in the 15 or so years that I have taken yearly winter Caribbean vacations, this is the first time I stayed at a hotel with so little security. I actually saw only one security guard one night out of the 8 I stayed there. My room had a very loose door knob (screws missing) and it wouldn't have taken much effort to force the door open. I asked to have this, along with other problems, fixed several times, but it was never attended to. Also, the whole resort was very dark at night. Many of the lights that were supposed to be highlighting steps were out. This was very unsafe, considering that the entire resort is perched on the side of a hill/cliff, and there are steps everywhere.

Beside the lack of security, this resort had various other problems. I found many of the employees surly (especially the head housekeeper) and less than attentive to the hotel guests. The bartender and wait staff in the hotel's only facility acted as if they were doing you a tremendous favor by taking your order. That is, after you could get their attention to take your order. Also, the food and drink prices were very high, considering the quality and quantity of the food you were served.

The housekeeping staff needs training. I will say that my bed seemed to be freshly made-up every day, but there was always something left undone or missing. Like towels. Apparently, this hotel doesn't seem to own sufficient bath towels, beach towels, or supplies for its 50 or so rooms. I was there for 8 nights, and for 6 of those nights, my room was missing either towels, toilet paper, soap, shampoo or all of the above. I had to go to the front desk to request the missing items and was met with either disbelief or a surly attitude from the desk clerk. I later found out that my room was one of the last to be cleaned, and by the end of the day, all the clean towels and supply allotments were used up. Nice.
By about 10AM, all of the beach towels had been handed out at the front desk, so if you got there late, you were out of luck. This seemed strange to me, because they only allowed one per person, and the place only seemed to be about half full or less the whole time I was there.

The room itself was spacious, with large closets, and decorated in soft pastels. The deck was large, and had two comfortable chairs and a rack to hang wet bathing suits on.
My A/C and ceiling fan worked well, as did the 19" TV.
However, the king sized bed turned out to be two twins strapped together with a very uncomfortable lump in the center. The bed was rock hard, and the pillows smelled of BO. The sheets were too small for the bed, and as soon as you lay down, they pulled up to reveal a shabby, stained mattress underneath.
There was inadequate counter top area to lay things, and no table. The room was pretty dim at night, because the two lamps only had 60 watt bulbs... inadequate for reading in bed. The electricity went out several times almost every day. You could tell this even if you were not present, because the alarm clock was constantly flashing 12 o'clock. The bathroom was of a good size, with a linen closet lined with shelves. My tub was badly chipped, and had a very slow drain. By the time you finished your shower, you were standing in a foot of water. The fabric shower curtain was moldy at the bottom. I had hot water for only 3 of the 8 days I stayed there, but it didn't matter too much because the cold water was luke warm to warm. The toilet seat was loose because it was missing one of the screws to hold it on. Occasionally, I would smell a foul odor (like raw sewage) in the bathroom, as well as in the hotel's beach area. Overall, the room was a bit shabby and in need of an updating and a decent bed. There were no room refrigerators available, which are essential in a place with a hot climate, warm "cold" tap water that tastes absolutely terrible, and with no guest ice machine or drink vending machines on the premises.

Call me crazy, but I would think that a hotel on the beach, in a hot climate such as the Caribbean, would have an ice machine available for the guests to use 24/7 in a convient location. There was a broken ice machine in the patio area, so the hotel did have one at one time. To get ice, one had to trudge up and down the side of a cliff to the beach level bar/restaurant. IF you could find someone to help you (the bar area was usually deserted by staff except at the designated lunch and dinner times) you received your ice from a grudging employee. You
could also buy bottled water from the bar, which seemed a bit strange, considering this was a mostly all-inclusive resort. The bar & restaurant closed at about 10PM, and after that, no drinks or ice were available until the next morning.

This place is advertised as a "Resort & Spa'" which is misleading. This so-called "spa" boasts only one employee who handles all of the treatments. I was unable to make an appointment until my 5th day there, because the spa lady does not trouble herself to return guests' messages. I'm now sorry that I persisted because the pedicure I had was the roughest and most unprofessional I ever received. It actually hurt.

The hotel's only restaurant served lukewarm or cold dishes that consisted of the cheapest cuts of meat. My pork loin dinner had only two thin slices of meat, one of which was all gristle. The breakfast buffet was the best meal, especially the omelet station. The lunch menu never varied. The dinners were always a different selection each night, mostly ala carte. The seafood buffet dinner I attended was horrible. The advertised "Mix of scallops, shrimp and mussels" was mussels only. I didn't want to speculate what was in the pork stew dish, which was almost black. When I visit the Caribbean, I expect (and hope) to be served local fare such as fresh fish, seafood, fruit, etc. , prepared in the manner of the local cuisine. I don't expect or want "Philly" cheesesteaks (and I AM a Philadelphia area native, and these were like no Philly cheesesteaks I ever tasted!), hamburgers, french fries, etc.. Thankfully, I had the no-meals plan and a rental car, so I was able to escape the resort for some delicious and reasonably-priced meals in the English Harbor area that were of the local cuisine.

The beach area was rather small, but was always clean, unlike the public beaches, which are strewn with garbage. The water was warm, clear, with a safe, sandy bottom and always perfect. Snorkeling was pretty good right off the beach near the little stone jetty, and I saw many varieties of fish. There was a nice view across the protected cove to another small beach and cliffs. There is another large resort being built across from this one, and I fear this area will no longer be quiet & peaceful (Dian Bay's best features) once it's open. The fellows in the water sports shack were friendly and helpful, and are resort's two best employees, as far as I'm concerned.

Overall, my recommendation is this... if you are accustomed to staying in 3 star or better establishments that have at least the basic amentities (towels, soap, shampoo, hot water, ice) then this place is NOT for you.
If you are not too picky, don't mind doing without the basics; don't mind eating expensive, lousy food served by surly waiters; don't mind sleeping on a bed that's like a stone slab;
and don't care if your feet bleed a little after a spa pedicure, then you just might like this place.