You may read some reviews here that complain about the pace of life and yes staff in Antigua may appear slow but for us it was perfect! The easy, relaxed atmosphere at Blue Heron really rubs off and we found we easily slipped into a relaxed and un-hurried pace of life that was a perfect way to relax and forget about work.
All the staff at Blue Heron from the cleaners and catering staff to the front of house waitresses and bar staff are fantastic and really friendly, you only need to ask and they will bend over backwards to get you what you need, one day when our taxi was delayed the assistant manager drove us to our destination free of charge rather than let us wait any longer, now please how many places will be that customer orientated? I've stayed in 5 star hotels that could learn a thing or two from the staff at the Blue Heron.
Blue Heron is a smaller sized resort and this works in its favour during our stay we were lucky enough to be staying with a fantastic crowd of other guests that we had great times with in the evenings and all in all could not have asked for a better holiday (honestly the best ever!!)
Now this review is not going to be all one sided and there was an issue on the island with water pressure and this does cause showering issues at times (especially for second floor rooms) they are actively trying to improve this and it did improve during our stay.
Since returning from Blue Heron Antigua we have recommended this hotel and Antigua to everyone we have spoken to, and I can guarantee we will be returning to the Blue Heron resort Antigua in the future!
P.S. watch out for the 140% proof Jamiacan rum.

This is a small no-frills 3 star quiet hotel right on the beach of johnson point, south west coast, a half hour drive from St Jonhs town. The room was impleccably clean and cool thanks to air-con. I suspect the cleaner opens the windows during cleaning which allows mosquitos and tiny lizards in so i recommend getting a strong deet spray. The shower is a bit of a dribble and had a very shallow bathtub. The toilet kept leaking so we had a wet floor at times and the fridge also packed in but soon got fixed. Other wise the room was great as we are not bothered about luxuries.

Food is your bog standard menu catering for the british tastes: curries, burgers, spag bol, soups, chicken etc, nothing too exotic or posh (most people there were on all-inclusive wearing blue bands) but we wanted room only as we like eating out for local dishes. The hotel restaurant is very dated, in a hall with no windows and had no soul, apart from when they had steel pan bands performing live. We never ate in the hotel apart from breakfast which had self service fruit, yoghurts, cereals and cooked buffet enlgish breakfast (you must get there early as by 9.30am there are only scraps and dirty tables everywhere - waiting staff can be quite slow to clear up). But staff in general were always exceptionally friendly, helpful and polite.

Aneeta in the hotel Hair Salon gave me a wonderful manicure for a mere $25.
Kenaih the lovely cab man took us everywhere we needed to go as we'd forgotten our drivers licences - but buses are also good and very cheap.
Errol the barman was always a laugh - do try the local Wadadli beer!

Only other restaurants nearby are:
-OJ's - a small walk along the beach, you get to eat with your feet in the sand! they do amazing salads and a delicious half lobster with garlic and fried red snapper.
-Gibson's is further along from OJ's but only accessible from the road small shack house where they serve local dishes for lunch only.
-There is a resort about 10mins drive away called Jolly Harbour where there are serveral restaurants and bars to chose from, all with international menus - Melini's was specially nice.
-Best of all was Coco's- a 15mins drive and part of the Coco Bay resort , very romantic restaurant above the sea with great wine and fine dining menu.

They have snorkelling gear to rent as well as other non-motor water sports. The pool is cleaned every morning (despite never having used it i love the calm warm ocean two steps out!).

In all we thought it was a great hotel and good value for money on a beautiful island!

If you want to go somewhere warm in the winter but only have a week, Antigua is great with direct flights from the UK and no more than 30 mins to get to your hotel ( after the 2 hour wait to get thro customs at VC Bird Int Airport ) . Having said that, Antigua has become extremely busy over the last few years with few corners undeveloped. Hotels and condos packed in every available place. The Rex Blue Heron is situated in one of the few remaining quiet places - as Antigua used to be- a beautiful undeveloped long beach with distant views of the smoking volcano on Monserrat, sunsets to die for and great swimming and sunfish sailing, wonderful walks past Pelican Point via deserted and wild beaches to mangrove swamps, fishing and snorkelling on the reef 20 mins away if you get hold of Winston Hazard at the shell shop opposite the hotel. This was our 3rd time at the hotel and the main reason was all the above plus a beachfront room that's literally on the beach - just one step . You certainly don't want to stay in anything but a beachfront room here- the standard rooms border on the YMCA ! Having said that - this hotel is probably one of the least expensive on the island- great value, no frills, OK food (for a week ) and subdued /poor entertainment. However the staff are great and so are the cocktails. Suggest the AI package . It's all about location which at the price earns this hotel a 5 rating for me.

My husband and I have just returned from a 10 day break at the Blue Heron.
The position and setting of the hotel is one of the best positions on the island in my opinion, probably to match the setting of the Sandal's hotel!
But that really is all it has going for it!!!
The rooms are not too bad, they have new fridges and coffee perculators - although it is hit and miss as to whether the maid leaves coffee and milk.
The showers are more than awful, although I am not sure if this was a hotel problem or an Island problem, as we were told they turn the water off ,as and when they want.
We only went B & B - thank goodness.
The Staff - well at the begin of the holiday we thought they were just working at Carribian pace, but to be honest that wore really thin by the end of the stay. They are slow beyond belive, there is one Egg chef that seemed to be able to get the staff working together and food is produced at the same time, I am not joking, they would bring out cereal, and if you asked for milk, you could wait another 10 - 15 mins for it, the kitchen was about 5 steps away! the same with the toaster and wanting bread, bacon and wanting eggs, are you getting the picture???
The reception staff although very polite, as were all the staff, were about as useful as a chocolate tea pot. When I asked if I could use the internet to book our plane tickets, I was told I could but when I tried to put this into practice, not so simple,as they dont like you to use it, we ended up chasing around Antigua to find an Internet cafe. They have very limited knowledge of trips or excurtions, all in all, as I say very polite, but!
Would I recomend this Hotel - Not as it stands at the moment.
The location, the beach ,the sea is one of the best.
If you have booked this hotel and I am worring you now, you will survive, it wont be the most plesent stay, but we didnt have any stomach upsets or illness, and the spirt of the english residences carries you through, you will be fine, as I say we had a beach front location and it was lovely, just dont have too high an expectation and you wont be disapointed.
PS . Yes I did enjoy my holiday - as long as you have clean sheets etc and we did, you can put up with most things.