I would really love to give this place a "Perfect 10". It is so nearly there.

I won't repeat everyone else's raves, but, yes, the staff were genuinely charming (something which cannot be taught), the atmosphere and decor in the airy bar/lounge/dining areas was comfotable and elegant in a relaxed island style, the gardens beautiful and lovingly tended (plants labelled), the food simply but freshly prepared with plenty of local fish fruit and vegetables ( the juice freshly squeezed at breakfast). Always the sign of a well run hotel, the manager was around all the time. When he went away for a few days, his incomparably elegant deputy, Michael from Guadaloupe, prowled the place constantly, keeping an eagle eye for anything not quite right and dispensing witty advice. Very impressive. Being child-free (below 12) the pool was peaceful. This is a huge plus if you go in school holdays - I have lost count of the number of times we have gone to small boutique hotels which sell their atmosphere of serenity but are full of screaming children.

The only real minus for us was the rooms. We had a beachfront cottage with a stunning view straight onto the sand. Inside it should have been just as good as it was v. spacious with lots of lovely wood. However it gave the impression of an impractical designer with poor attention to detail: half way across the dark floor there is a step running the width of the room: it is far too shallow to make any difference as a divider between living and sleeping areas but perfect for tripping over as it is almost invisible against the dark wood floor. There is no glass in the windows or French doors, just wood louvers. This all sounds very green and rustic but means that you hear everything anyone says as they walk past, and presumably they hear everything from inside too...Nobody was noisy but we found this a bit unsettling. It also meant that we could hear the music from the bar area at night whenever amplifiers were used (nobody would come here for nightlife so who needs amplifiers in a cosy quiet little bar???). It went off at 10/10.30PM but was loud enought to stop us watching a film in the room or be intrusive if reading. However, the really appalling feature was that the loo is virtually part of the main room. There was no door to the bathroom, plus there was a huge cutout in the bathroom wall behind the bed (ie it was only really a half height wall). This seems to be an alarming new trend in hotel design but when will architects/designers realise there is NOTHING chic or sexy about the sights, sounds and smells from a loo. This is just so stupid because an open plan bath is fun and the loo could so easily be put in a small area with a door. As it is, it's just gross.
Hopefully the management will block up or glaze the hole and put in a door.

We were glad we chose a beach cottage (amazingly, cheaper than hillside) as you need to be pretty fit to hike up the hillside and there were lots of uneven steps with no handrail to many of the front doors.

Once we had adjusted to the room, we had a lovely restful time and suffered a real shock on leaving and facing the surly faces and general third world experience of Antigua airport.

My Fiance and I stayed at HB at the end of April this year in suite no.38 right at the top of the hill, beautiful views. A couple of months on and we are still wondering what the resort really was all about?

It claims to be exclusive, it prices itself as exclusive, but exclusive it is not.

The suites are standard dark wood & white linen for a resort of this hype, with no little extra touches. The outside shower is a great idea, but tie the bottom of the curtains down if you can, or it feels like you are getting washed in a pillow fight.

The staff are friendly, some very genuinely, some just obviously working you for an extra tip! Strangley enough the owner feels the staff are his USP. Although Carribean staff are not always known for being the most "proactive" in the wrorld, we are still waiting to find a couple that travel all the way to Antigua just for the staff?

The food is average, and we did feel even though the menu changed each day that we were eating pretty much the "same" food each day, a better chef is a must if they want to deliver on what they promise and work their way up the rankings. The wine list is poor, even outside the all inclusive. The bar ran out of bourbon on our first night (no, there was only a couple of shots left to start with), 6 nights later it had not been replinshed. Cigarettes the same.....

Many customers around us really made the most of getting every penny out of the all inclusive price. Which is really what HB is, a good value high end all inclusive hotel, but not an excluisve resort.

I know all the reviews before are pretty / very good, but if you are looking for something special, there are many other places to try that would give the similar great views and location and make you feel altogether a bit more special. By paying attention to the detail and personalising your holiday for just for you, (I have been fortunate enough to try many, and god is in the detail).

To be fair the owner did ask us if everything had been ok and if we had enjoyed our stay, however no real interest was shown in even just the few little things that could have made it a much better place. A great test is always, would we return.....no.

If you are reading this and thinking, wow they are a bit picky, maybe we are, but recheck all the advertisements for HB and they really claim to be something very very special and and I guess our opinion is they are just not, really really special.

If you do visit HB, enjoy

We stayed at Hermitage June 30-July 6 for our honeymoon. It is an amazing place to just relax. The beach is beautiful, the weather was perfect, and everything was gorgeous.

First some negatives: We stayed in a hillside but it was one of the lowest/smaller ones. The view was gorgeous, but prob not as pretty as it would have been if we were higher up. Also, our air conditioner did not work upon arrival (they fixed it) and our mini fridge did not work the entire time! And there are mosquitoes. But they provide bugspray (and we brought extra which we did use). And the room ambassador took an unusually long time to clean our room (like a few hours) which we thought was kind of strange considering we spent a lot of time in our room by the pool! And if we had not read about the bumpy dirt road leading to the resort on trip advisor, we would have been nervous that we were driving to the middle of nowhere! Writing these things out makes it sound like we must have had a bad time… However, these things could not stop us from having an amazing and memorable time in paradise. On to the positives…

The staff was amazing. Everyone was so nice without being in your face, and when I had a sore throat they brought us all kinds of Antiguan remedies, teas and fruits to help it. They cater to your every need. The food is exceptionally good, and not just for an all inclusive- it’s very good in general, it’s like going to a very nice restaurant every day/night. The breakfast was especially good. There is a different fresh juice each day that included passion fruit, cantaloupe, and watermelon. And the local organic jams – soo good! We loved taking the kayak out to the private beaches and just hanging out by the clear water, feeling like we were the only people around. (We saw no jellyfish btw.) Massages were also great. The private pool (no need to go to the hotel pool!) and ipod docks are really nice touches and we LOVED the gorgeous bathroom and outdoor shower which was stocked with wonderful aromatherapy shampoo, body wash etc. Usually I can’t stand what is provided at hotels but loved this. They have a great selection of books, games, magazines and DVDs to borrow. And, there are gorgeous flowers and birds everywhere you look. You could go on excursions, but we just stayed on the resort the entire time and took it all in, going kayaking, laying by the deserted beach, reading and listening to music in our room by the pool, and feeling like we were the only ones in the world!

We are very fussy traveler, which we have been to Parrot Cay (terrible, don't go there) Carlisle Bay, Cotton House in Caribbean and Soneva Gilli, One and only Kanufura in Maldives and Villa Fertonelli in Lake Garda, also Santa Caterina in Amalfi and so on. I am also working for airline industries, so that I have very high expectation for the service. So, I think you can rely on my review.

We normally don't go to same place twice, but this hotel made us to feel 'Home Sick' and we are always thinking about going back there. We have been there in FEB this year for 10 days and already tried to book in JUN. Unfortunately, they were full. When holiday comes to the end, we usually feel that it is the time to go home, but we felt so sad to leave this hotel on our departure.

Service* All staff there were so friendly and trying their best to make our stay happy. They remember your name and I think it is not fair to mention some staff's name which we still remember, because all of them are really fantastic and we miss them a lot!

Food* They have very good choice from breakfast, lunch and dinner. You will never get bored. Chef is very flexible. We also liked afternoon tea with nice earl gray tea and little cakes and sandwiches. Please starve yourself before you come here. Food is fantastic!　The service is also excellent and very professional.

Rooms* They only have 25 rooms, which is an ideal for us. We normally don't go for the hotel which has more than 70 rooms. We didn't feel crowded and it was very comfortable rooms and nice view from our patio. It will be good exercise to go up and down the hill. You need to burn the calories from delicious food.

Water Sports* We have been taken to Boat and Catamaran trip.

Beach attendant* Excellent service and very attentive.

Evening Entertainment* They had various live musicians most evening. But this is not loud, but very stylish jazz music one evening and very casual guitar music with songs (we call him Mr. Antigua) which is also nice. Who would like to have Karaoka night or Disco night in such a lovely resort?

Hotel Manager* Michael tried very hard to make our stay memorable. He is so keen to improve the service and listen to you. If you have any problem, go to Michael, he will do his best.

This is the one of the best hotel we have stayed. We are so difficult to be pleased, but this hotel makes us to go back there again, which is a very good sign.

If you are looking for tranquility, this is the palace for you. I agree with other reviewer that we would like to keep this lovely resort secret........