Having read some of the previous reviews of this hotel we were very pleasantly surprised. We have travelled to Barbados many times and have stayed at Coconut Creek(knocked down and turned into flats), King's Beach and Sea Breeze and this is now our new favourite that we will be returning to again(as soon as we can arrange it!). Clearly a lot of effort has gone into improving the restaurant - the food was far better than expected, but by far the best asset of this hotel is the staff. Their commitment to making sure our stay was as enjoyable as possible was done in a way that was never intrusive, just a pleasure to talk to them. The location of the hotel is excellent as it is in Holetown with all it's amenities. The other guests were all like minded people from several different countries - we made some new friends that I feel sure we will meet again at Discovery Bay. You may be wondering why this review is titled return of the monkeys, well they hadn't been seen at Discovery Bay for sometime but we were lucky enough to see 2 of them crossing the garden. All in all this was a holiday we will remember for years.

This hotel is in a great location - very close to Holetown and only a short walk from the shops and amenities there. The hotel itself is on a very large plot, with a good amount of beach which is nice and sandy and not bad for swimming.

Unfortunately, the hotel itself has seen better days - it is very tired and dated. There were plenty of staff working on maintaining the place, but they just seemed to be going about it in the wrong way - it felt like the place was getting continual coats of cheap paint to keep it patched up when what it really needs is a proper renovation. There are new looking tables in the dining room, which were nice and showed what could be done.

The room was a decent size with a reasonable balcony, but the bathroom felt very old and basic - the shower was terrible, with very little water pressure at the best of times, and on one day so little water left that you could barely get wet under it. The Air Conditioning did work, but made a loud ratting noise so you couldn't have it on while you slept. The furniture was also very dated (and was all painted with emulsion, I think so that they can regularly repaint it to keep it looking more fresh). The room had the ambience of an old style travelodge type room.

We had an all inclusive package, and regretted it - the breakfast was OK (bacon, sausage, toast, pancakes, omelettes / eggs), but was the same every day. The lunch was probably the worst - the food from the 'grill' was pretty terrible - pre-cooked hamburgers, hotdogs or chicken nuggets that were warmed up on the grill or a dish of the day that was a pot luck as to whether it was OK or not. Dinner was a mixed bag - the day they had the BBQ was good - nice steaks, chicken or fish with baked potatoes, but aside from this it was a pot luck of different types of stews that often didn't look too appealing. The fried chicken and the roasted meats (lamb or ham) was good though. I don't think the all inclusive package was great value for money as the food got very 'samey' quickly and you wanted to go to eat out elsewhere to get a change.

Overall, Discovery Bay was a disappointment given the price of the package, and we actually decided to leave a number of days early and go to stay elsewhere on the West Coast, which was a big improvement on Discovery Bay!

We stayed at the Discovery Bay over Easter 2008 - booked through Expedia.

Excellent location, right on the beach with fantastic beach views and sunsets !

We chose to stay on an all inclusive basis and had a beach front room, clean and comfortable - housekeeping staff friendly and cheery, unlike some of the other staff.

Waiting staff and some bar staff very surly and serious, I am not sure if they saw this as being professional.

Food tasty and in plenty supply, albeit not a great deal of choice and even though the dining room was fairly quiet the drinks service was slow at times.

Good quality hotel in an excellent location - not far from local shopping centre and 24 hour garage so handy for amenities. Staff could have been better but we didn't go to stay in the hotel complex for our time there.

Great island and loads to do and see as well as time to chill and relax - highly recommended.

Booked the hotel as it was fairly reasonable (all inclusive)and looked OK.
Have stayed at many hotels before in Carribean and Maldives and Mauritius on beach holidays myself and my wife like nice things but are by no means fussy. Hotel looked OK as we pulled up to it. Staff on the reception were quite friendly and we had a welcome drink at reception. Security guard showed us to our room, it was 210 ( a sea view junior suite). Room was a good size with double bed and double patio doors onto the patio which was nearly on the beach. Bathroom was very tired and sink and shower were all old and tatty. Decor in room was ok. Breakfast is nice with choice of cereals / fruit and bacon and sausages and a chef cooking eggs. Dining room is also quite nice as it looks as if it has had new furniture. Lunch is served outside and was either burgers, toasties and hot dogs or salad and either rice or pork chops or stew (pretty similar each day) but OK. This is served outside under a gazebo, near the outside bar and grill. The thing with this hotel is 85% of the staff are nice. The main problem being that the hotel is really tired. The staff keep it really clean and tidy but you get the feeling that they have given up on the place. I was told when I was there by people who have been several times before that it goes down hill a bit each time they go. Dinner was the dissapointment to me. We were all inclusive but ate out about 3 or 4 times. Dinner is served in the dining room and you get red or white wine with your food. This consists of salad or soup for starters (every night) and then vegetables or roasted pumpkins and rice or pots. Then you basically have the choice of the 1 dish that is on. its a cook cutting up either beef, lamb or pork. The food was OK but the choice was very poor and it was a bit dissapointing. Also there was only 1 bar in the hotel and this was at the front of the hotel so you could not sit anywhere and watch the beach or the sea. Again this was tired and the decor was really outdated. Service was good in the bar though and you did not have to wait too long.

Couple of the staff were stroppy but majority were helpful. Beach and gardens are the saving grace as both are very well kept and nice. Beach is really good and hotel is in a great location for shops and a few bars and restaraunts. Overall I would rate the hotel 7/10. I was also told that only 40 people were booked in for Easter. Its a shame for the workers but you just get the feeling that within a couple of years the hotel will be bought and perhaps demolished for a new hotel / resort.

Like I said earlier this is a genuine review. The hotel is OK as long as you do not expect 5 star luxery and fantastic food.

I would rate the food 6/10 what was served was nice but choice was poor.

Staff 8/10 a couple of stroppy's but thats life.

All in all a nice relaxing holiday,