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Having previously been to this hotel in 2008 we wanted to go back in Feb 2010 but were told by Virgin that the hotel refurbishment would not be completed before May 2010. We subsequently stayed at the Sea Breeze which is a little further south towards Bridgetown. During our holiday we took a power boat trip up the coast and the boat owner slowed down and pointed out The Waves hotel and the ongoing refurbishment works to me. It looked a complete building site with windows out and in a very sorry state. We would advise people to make sure this hotel is completely finished and up and running before making a booking. Our first visit to this hotel (Escape and Spa, as it was then called) was excellent and although the hotel was beginning to look a bit tired at the edges we had a fantastic holiday. If they can get this hotel back to the same, or better, standard as before then we will be pleased to return in the future without hesitation.
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Date of stay: February 2010
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We booked directly with Virgin 3 days before travelling, despite being worried by other reviews, we thought, it's cheap, it's Barbados, let's make the most of it. My major worry was taking our 2 year old son. Parts of the hotel are adults-only and I wasnt sure he'd feel welcomed in general - how wrong. We were told that if he didnt like the food on offer, to just tell staff and they'd make him whatever he eats at home. We were in a top-floor room with balcony, within a day and without being asked, maintenance had built a special 'baby-barrier' on the balcony to prevent any accidents. When we ordered room service, again, without saying anything, we were told we'd be prioritised as they didnt want to keep the baby waiting too late. Baby seats were always available. Staff always had a kind word and smile. So all worries on the front were washed away. We had a deluxe room and are glad we paid for the extra space. It was in need of refurb, but not alarmingly so. If Virgin would just change their '4-V' rating to equate to a regular 3-star hotel, people would im sure feel they were getting a good deal. Food was good - though after 2 weeks you tire of any kitchen. The worst aspect of this holiday was the shockingly poor behaviour of some of the other guests... getting nasty with beach staff about towels, pig-like laying out of towels/shoes/books on sunbeds by 7am and then not turning up til afternoon, if at all (when space in the shade - necessary with 2 year old - is in v short supply), actually barging each other to get to the food/plates at buffet meals etc. Anyway, all in all, we got excellent value for what we paid. The hotel is being renovated next year and im sure will then be very good. Top tip - this is beautiful Barbados, you've gone all that way! stop whinging, get out of the hotel at least once or twice and go to see what's on offer elsewhere.
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Date of stay: December 2008
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
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Business service (e.g., internet access)
Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Recently stayed at Escape hotel and spa and had the most relaxing time. We booked through the Virgin website and got a superb deal for a week all inclusive.
On arrival at the airport, we were greated by a fabulous Virgin team, who quickly and efficiently gave us our details, directed us towards the transfer bus and provided us a lovely bottle of cold water. The bus driver was a superb lady who gave us a very informative drive to the hotel. The check in was very quick, and helped along the way with a complementary rum punch.
The room was superb. We'd been upgraded to a sea view room, which was just amazing. The view is breathtaking, and I'd recommend staying in the main building over the spa area every time. The spa rooms are over the road, which in the main is fairly quiet with a pedestrian crossing, and the pool is much bigger than in the main building, plus there is access to restaurant, bar etc., but I personally preferred the sea views.
The food menus were very comprehensive. I'm an awkward veggie who doesn't eat fish, so I always struggle when overseas, but there was much on offer for both meat eaters and veggies, plus freshly caught fish every day of course.
Breakfast was in the main building and there was cereals, fruit, egg station and lots of bacon, potatoes, tomatoes etc., plus toast and jam. You need to leave one person to guard the table from the birds, as if you turn your back, they'll be drinking your milk jug in no time! The birds really didn't bother me at all, in fact I enjoyed watching them, but I know some people ushered them away, and the staff were really quick to clear tables. I'd read on this site that flies were an issue, but hand on heart, I saw none!
Lunch was again a buffet affair, and you could have pizza, pasta or grilled fish cooked in front of your eyes. Again, a great selection of salads (ALL water from taps is safe to drink), veggies, meats, stews and Bajan foods.
Dinner was smarter, you needed to wear collared shirts for men, and smart casual for women. To be honest, we slept through 2 dinners as we'd been napping, and couldn't be bothered to get dressed! The one improvement would to have had access to room service. However, on the nights we did dine, the food was a la carte and superb, again, great veggie choices and mouth watering desserts.
Although we don't drink much on holiday at all, there were some people indulging in the extensive cocktail list, branded spirits and local beers. They also had champagne cocktails of an evening, but I only had the odd rum punch.
A previous review complained about the size of the beach, but I found it to be no different to the rest of the beaches in Barbados. As this hotel is just a few hundred metres from Sandy Lane hotel, if it's good enough for Tiger Woods, it's certainly good enough for me!!
Right, trips. Helicopter - very expensive, but a great experience. Something I've never done before, but thoroughly enjoyed, even though I'm scared of heights. Again, great commentary from the pilot, free drink, fantastic service and transport. Submarine - well, I felt proper sea sick!! However, this was because we bobbed around on the surface for a bit whilst the repaired something. I'm a scuba diver, so I didn't expect to be that amazed, but it was so great to be able to look at a ship wreck and have a conversation with my holiday companion, plus take loads of photos.
The best experience was Virgin's Ahoy, which was the Tiami catameran tour. The sole reason for booking Barbados was to be able to swim with turtles, and wow, what an experience. We were met by c. 7 turtles, then had a delicious lunch, unlimited drinks, then snorkled over 4 shipwrecks. Totally worth the money, and you get a t-shirt if you go on one of the Virgin passengers only days.
Way better than I was expecting, great value for money (booked as part of Virgin sale), loads of great trips to keep you entertained, sweet hotel, fantastic staff, good food...what more could you want?
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Date of stay: October 2008
Value
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Cleanliness
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Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I had been looking at the reviews for this hotel for the past couple of months and some were so bad that I contacted both Virgin Holidays and the hotel agents in the UK. I was really worried but I was reassured that the reports were inaccurate and should not worry. THEY WERE RIGHT! I accept that the hotel is looking tired and is ready for refurbishment, but the previous negative comments were, in my opinion, completely unjustified and unfair. I found the staff, led by Sandra of Guest Services, to be extremely kind and helpful and this made for a very friendly and relaxing stay. We’re not averse to complaining if something isn’t right but I have to say there were no problems during our stay. The rooms are clean and bright and had large bathrooms. The food was excellent in both restaurants and there was even a lovely lady called Cheryl cooking the eggs for breakfast. How she did that in the heat I will never know! Nothing was too much trouble for the staff and without fail they did everything they could to make our stay wonderful. I particularly enjoyed the free massage at the Spa, the girls were friendly but professional and I ended up going there a lot!
Having been to Barbados many times before we only did one trip and that was the Island Safari. This trip is a must, but don’t sit at the back unless you want a really bumpy ride! Many of the trips are 2 for1 with the VIP card given to you by the rep but only up until December 12th. I too would recommend the hotel catamaran. This is on a Thursday and Sunday afternoon at 2pm and 4pm. We went on the earlier one, which arrived back in time for afternoon tea! There is also a free shuttle bus into Bridgetown every day, which must be booked in advance. The 9.30am picks up at 1.30pm and gets you back in time for lunch. I have travelled widely in the Caribbean and thought that this hotel was one of the best I have stayed in. I hope that it doesn’t change too much as I wouldn’t hesitate to revisit it again. Take the negative comments with a pinch of salt, and don’t be put off like I nearly was. I defy anyone not to enjoy a stay at the Escape unless they’ve got another agenda.
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Date of stay: November 2008
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Check in / front desk
Service
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Traveller beware! The worst hotel we have ever been to. Not only the rooms, food and location but experienced robbery from the safe in the room. Money and jewellery taken and the police were of no help when it was reported. We were told by the police that numerous assaults, muggings and thefts occurred at this hotel and why did our agent send us there.
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Date of stay: January 2009
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Check in / front desk
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Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
On our stay at the Escape Hotel and Spa; we had roof leaks at our room on 2 separate days (30/11/08 and 1/12/08). The fact was management knew about the leaks and yet provided us with a sub-standard room. We took some pictures which were already marked by hotel staff to suggest leaks were already identified. The annoying part to this was that when we reported this to management; they came to the room (when we were out) and just put a towel on the floor.
When we were provided with an alternative room ; the smoke detector alarm went on for 3 consecutive days; first alarm went on at 4.30am; second alarm went on at 7.30pm and 7.45pm, and the third alarm (this was apparently AFTER replacing the battery) went on at 4.00am. On our last night, we decided to ask management to take the battery out so we could get a good night sleep.
The room also smelled of damp, especially in the bathroom and the wardrobes.
The ONLY person that understood and resolved our issue (in the end) was Sandra; the Customer/Resident Service Manager.
We also had a minor dispute with the beach staff regarding towels. I was told that new towels will be available at 10.00am each day and they could not guarantee guests there will be towels for everyone. In the end I kept my original towel and washed this myself. I have been to many hotels and was always provided with unlimited towel usage.
This was rated as a 4 star hotel; this may have been the case when it was new but the fact is the hotel has deteriorated very badly and looked very run down that it seemed to be only worth a mximum of 3 stars if not for the fact there were a gym, spa and pool.
We have always used Virgin Atlantic but this experience have put us off to the point when we are thinking of using British Airways; voted number 1 by the BBC Watchdog programme (2008).
Also there were too many chavs there; if you are after a classy hotel with a bit of professionalism, don't bother going to this resort.
Lee.
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Date of stay: November 2008
Value
Location
Cleanliness
Check in / front desk
Service
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed at The Escape Hotel & Spa at the end of September - we booked late and direct with Virgin on one of their Hot Deals, paying around half of the brochure price. For that reason only I felt we got value for money, there were plenty of guests who had paid full price and quite honestly if I had then I would have felt totally ripped off. The hotel is tired and seriously in need of an overhaul, we had a garden room which was up steep narrow stairs and had no opening windows, we had to keep the curtains permanantly closed because on one side we had the road and on the other it looked straight into another room. The bathroom was minging, a rather odd shaped bath tub lined with blue mozaic tiles, the grout was black and worn out in places, and a rather sorry excuse for a shower which dribbled water. Plastic shower curtain too - yuk! The pathway from the garden rooms to the main hotel was made of stepping stones and at night this was unlit which was a bit of an accident waiting to happen. There was also a pathway down to a gate onto the beach, but this too was quite hazardous and the step down th the beach is actually a jump! We were given two beach towels on arrival which we managed to change twice over the week we were there, the beach hut kept promising clean towels - they just never seemed to turn up. The beach traders on the whole were not too much of a problem, a polite no thank you and they left you alone - that is except fo "Sam the Man" the jewellery trader who was a total pain in the proverbial and would not take no for an answer coming back day after day to see if he could get you to say yes eventually, I'm sure most of his sales were secured just to get rid of him. The beach is lovely, clean and sandy and the sea is crystal clear, there were some watersports available but they were not very well publicised, and there were annoying jet ski people buzing up and down and shouting from the sea for customers. The sunbeds were not very pleasant, dirty and damaged in the main, and there were very few beach umbrellas (I counted 13 in total, 6 of which had broken poles so only stood about 3feet high which meant that you had to crawl under them, and could not sit up on the sunbed.) Food - Breakfasts were good, plenty of fruit and a good egg station, just dont look too closely at the overhead fan which was caked in grease, lunch and dinner was very basic in the Seascape restaurant and also felt rushed if you went for the 7pm dinner sitting, like they had to push you through before the 8pm people turned up. In the Garden room service was much more relaxed for both lunch and dinner and the food marginally more apetising, though everything is cooked well done no matter what you request. Another thing we found with the garden room was the lack of items on the menu, one night from a selection of about 6 starters, 3 were not available, and nor were 2 of the main courses. We found it easier to check what they didnt have when we arrived as they do not warn you when they seat you at your table and leave you to read the menu. They do say that you can only eat on two of your nights in the Garden Room but we managed to book 4. Lunch is unrestricted and is definately a better option than scrambling for the buffet. Staff - I though they coped very well in spite of the circumstances, the hotel seems to be run on the minimum number and some of the waitresses seemed to be working every available shift between breakfast and dinner.Everyone was polite and helpful, and the bar staff were very friendly. Parking is also a bit of a problem, as the staff all use the customer car park for their cars, we had hired a car for the week and were frequently unable to park when we returned to the hotel after a trip out. They do try and resolve it quickly for you but it is still an inconvenience to have to ask. If it were advertised as a two star hotel and priced to match I would expect it to get top reviews, but as a four star resort it falls way short of the mark - by the end of the week I was fed up of listening to other guests complaining. I am surprised that Virgin are prepared to associate their brand with this hotel as it does not represent what they stand for. We stayed at Turtle Beach last year and payed pretty much the same price - there is no comparison between the two resorts and unless Escape is significantly upgraded we shall not be returning.
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Date of stay: September 2008
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Check in / front desk
Service
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I spent a fantastic week at the escape hotel and spa in St James Barbados and it has made my wife and I fall in love with the island. The staff and the standard of accommodation is outstanding. The owners are the most helpful people i have come across in all my time of travelling the world. Simply an outstanding resort on the perfect island. It is ideal for couples and family alike and has a beach that allows you to sunbathe and swim without any of the usual hassle. We will be back again soon.
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Date of stay: November 2011
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
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Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
Room Tip:Â Talk to the team before you book to get help in selecting the best room for your needs
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Was due here on the 4th march, got told 3 days before still not open and only given Almond Beach as a "like for like" Went passed here on our journey to the ABV and it was still a building site probably at least another month at the rate they are going, although our rep stated it was going to be opened 10th march..... no chance so far!!! Come on Virgin get a grip and let people know with more notice please!!!
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Date of stay: March 2010Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This was supposed to be a fantastic family holiday, with my mum and dad surprising everybody with a wedding after a 23year long engagement but this was not ment to be after arriving and being put in the most terrible rooms that we have ever had the misfortune to come across!!! from the green mould on the floor and under bath enamel, to the damp and dirt covering walls and tile floors. The lovely view of the main road was nearly obsculed by the dirt covering the windows. Before arriving at the hotel we read some of the horrendous reviews and phoned virgin to see if we could get moved only for virgin to tell us that the hotel "was due a refurb but there was nothing at all to worry about as it was in full working order and if we had any problems to tell the rep and we would be moved". Everything virgin said was a lie as most things were out of order (lift, catameran, games room everything was broken, air con units rusted so much they couldnt have been serviced!!!) When we asked rep Suzanne if we could be moved to another hotel she said we would be separated and would have to pay alot more!!! so we asked if we could change rooms as the "standard" rooms wouldnt have been acceptable in a bed and breakfast we got told we were looking at nearly a week before we could get moved!!!(we had already spent 3 nights in the hell hole and i still had to unpack which i refused to do in such a horrible place!) it took myself to break down in tears and offer to pay before they said there was 2 rooms we could view to move too!!! The superior room we got moved to was definatly an improvement but i wouldn't class that as a standard room!! we were lucky to not end up really ill as the air con unit was so rusty and the toilet smelt and gurgled through the night even bringing sand into the toilet bowl??!! Throughout dinners we hardly got served drinks and were lucky to get wine, and that was usually with dessert!! the barman was extremely rude and unpleasent! as were the hangers round who had chairs on the beach and ordered holiday makers to bring down the inclusive drinks and food and also tried to sell you everything and if you declined got quite abusive!! i would also like to say myself and my aunt picked up a fungal skin infection from the hotel swimming pool which i find dreadful, i have yet to find out what virgin are going to do to ease our complaint! i cant believe we paid full price for a 4star accomadation but feel like i've received 1star treatment!
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Date of stay: April 2009
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Saint James Parish area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
escape hotel saint james
LOCATION
CaribbeanBarbadosSaint James Parish
NUMBER OF ROOMS
70
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Are there any historical sites close to Escape At The Gap?
Many travelers enjoy visiting George Washington House (2.7 miles), Garrison Savannah - Barbados Turf Club (2.5 miles), and Gun Hill Signal Station (5.0 miles).
