We visited the Dunmore Beach Club in January 2003. We adored this small resort and can't wait to return. The location is perfect; service is cheerful and attentive; rooms are comfortable, immaculate and tastefully decorated (luxurious bathrooms deserve a special mention); food is interesting and competently prepared, and at times outstanding; and the pace slow and relaxed. Your privacy is respected but, owing to the size and history of the Dunmore, there is more of a personal touch than at other high-end Caribbean resorts. We enjoyed chatting with the other guests and Paul the bartender. Further to the review below, we had no complaints about the service or the view, and in fact were very happy with both. While expensive, we felt we received excellent value. My one "area to improve" would be a daily New York Times fax or similar. P.S. After five nights at the Dunmore, we stayed on an extra two nights at the Coral Sands resort (Dunmore was booked up for the weekend). We stayed in the new Lucaya building, which was perfectly nice. However, we were overall quite disappointed with Coral Sands and spent as little time as possible on the resort. Specific complaints: well-meaning but inexperienced/hapless service; mediocre food; small, ill-lit and dingy bathrooms; problems with hot water; poorly maintained beach chairs and beach area; run-down main building and grounds; numerous loud and/or ill-behaved children (this is my personal bias showing). This resort appears to suffer from lack of attentive management and clearly has seen better days. Coral Sands is recommended for families with children, but lacks amenities - if you have kids, rent a villa instead.

Harbour Island is beautiful, quite remarkably so. The locals are friendly, there's no crime, no hassle, exclusivity is guaranteed just from the size of the island and the lack of large resorts which scar the natural beauty of other Caribbean islands. I would thoroughly recommend the island to anyone. Unfortunately it is in this laid back, small island attitude that the problem lies. Dunmore Beach club as a hotel is saved by its wonderful location. You do not expect to have to ask 3 times for a glass of water in a $600 a night resort and still not receive it, the service was friendly but no where near what you would expect. The rooms are mediocre, I've stayed in better for $50 a night in Jamaica or in fact $20 a night in Zimbabwe. The food is very good, though not as suggested world class. The barman Paul and assistant manger Quincie do a great job and frequently prevented irritations developing into holiday spoiling events. But for the cost you should not have in the first place so many irritations. Whats actually even more frustrating is that few of the annoyances are inherent, but rather due to a lack of motivation or lack of forethought. For example, asking for your choice of wine before dinner, rather than at the present where you choose as you sit down and then only receive the wine after the first two courses have been served and cleared. To be fair going forward, as we left we met the new couple who are taking over the management and hopefully they will pay the attention to the details so desperately needed to propel this amazing located hotel into the league it deserves. As a last thought, garden view translates to view of couple of bushes 4 feet from the window, you will be disappointed if expect anything else.

I had just returned from the club and was pondering what made my trip so special. It was with out a doubt the most excellent cuisine i had ever experienced anywhere. NOt just the island, but all places i have ever been. The chef is young but on his way i might add. The rooms are nice but nothing to explode about. It was the food, the quiet and the sand. In that order. Give it a whirl.