If you ever want complete relaxation, excellent food, spectacular views, very friendly staff, great accommodations, choose The Reefs. They are now under some renovation, so the casual restaurant, Coconuts is the only one open, but they made up for that in the food and friendly atmosphere. The construction going on was fascinating to my husband and kept him occupied for hours. The construction was in no way interfering with our stay. The room was beautiful, clean and the staff kept it that way.
We completely recommend The Reefs for a relaxing vacation.

staff is great couldnt be more accommadating and friendly ,while the construction limits the number of restaurants currently the reefs is a place we will definately return to.

We have just returned from spending a week at the Reefs celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. This was our fourth visit but it had been fourteen years since we visited last. Much too long!

When we were trying to decide where we would spend this special occasion we asked ourselves, where do we always enjoy ourselves, where will be be treated royally, and where is everyone friendly and provides the ultimate in customer service? Only one answer, The Reefs.

We weren't disappointed. What a memorable 50th anniversary.

Milford & Connie Dube
Windsor Locks, Ct.

For a New Yorker, Bermuda is a phenomenal getaway. Take a short hour-and-a-half flight and you reach an island paradise. Set on a cliffside with a clean, good-sized beach, the Reefs' physical property epitomizes that island paradise. But I think The Reefs gets away with overcharging because of the mystique of those gorgeous grounds, and the beauty of Bermuda in general. We are easy to please, and with our wonderful company, and our wonderful vistas, we could have slept in a tent, and probably still would have rated this 3 stars. To be fair, perhaps some of the issues (discussed below) are a result of the ongoing construction of on-site timeshare properties, but that is still not an excuse.

The Good:

We stayed in the Windy Brae cottage, with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a private balcony and hot tub overlooking the ocean, and surrounded by lush greenery. The views were absolutely breathtaking, and the rooms relatively clean (I use the word "relative" because of some problems with vermin, although I would like to think that ants and water bugs are par for the course in a tropical environment surrounded by lush greenery). Security guards made rounds in the evenings as we sat outside enjoying our hot tub. The beds and linens were decent, as were the furnishings, although nothing to write home about. As I stated above, our company and the views assisted us in overlooking some major problems.

The Bad:

For $900 a night for a two bedroom cottage -- with no working phone in the cottage (for the entire time of our stay), no hot water on arrival (although that was fixed the same day we complained), no room service (because of the construction, even though about $130 of the $900 nightly fee appears to comprise a resort fee), and a requisite walk to the room (with a 1 year old baby in a carriage) on a dangerous, curvy, main roadway with no sidewalk, (due to the construction of timeshare properties) -- one would think that the service would be impeccable to compensate for these inconveniences. At best, the service was inconsistent.

The construction "discount" at the moment does not seem to compensate sufficiently for the lack of amenities. In addition to the dangerous trek to the main property, our cottage was adjacent to a separate construction site, and, on one morning, at 7 a.m., we heard men loudly complaining about their jobs at the Reefs outside our windows.

We opted for the breakfast plan only and took cabs (although expensive) to various restaurants on other parts of the island for dinners (as an aside, I would recommend Blu, the Lobster Pot and the Seahorse Grill). One gentleman we met had visited the Reefs numerous times in the past, and had previously been satisfied with the meal selections. He commented that he was disappointed, however, with the lack of selection at the one functioning restaurant, Coconuts. Also, on our last evening, we took the five-minute walk down the same busy roadway to the "recommended" Henry VIII -- a glorified Ground Round. The $250+ for dinner for 4 was NOT worth it.

All in all, the service at the Reefs was just decent in my opinion. Yes, the staff are friendly and try to remember that you drink iced coffee, etc. However, that service was inconsistent, as noted above. As an example, on our last day there, here is a sequence of events that transpired:

(1) The evening before, the front desk informed us that our bags would be picked up from the room at 9:45 a.m., and that a cab would be waiting for us at 10 a.m. at the front reception area.

(2) At breakfast, around 9 a.m., a waiter informed us to call the front desk. The front desk informed us that we should leave for the airport 15 minutes earlier -- at 9:45. We assumed our bags would be picked up 15 minutes earlier as well.

(3) Around 9:45, as we were checking out, the bellhop asked us to traverse the dangerous highway one last time to (a) pick up our bags and (b) meet a taxi cab there. Needless to say, we were miffed, as we had rushed through breakfast to leave earlier, only to find that our bags had not yet been picked up. We informed the bellhop and the front desk that we had no desire to make the dangerous voyage back to the cottage with the baby, and then wait on the no-sidewalk-having street for a cab that was already late (on our last "voyage" earlier that morning, we all were thankful that we had made it through our 5 day vacation without being hit by a car). Our party was quite upset at that treatment, and the experience soured what was an otherwise relatively pleasant vacation. We are still unsure whether there was a miscommunication between the front desk and the bellhop, but, such a miscommunication, on a property with a mere 65 rooms or so, should not have happened.

The Reefs is undergoing construction, so it is difficult to imagine what it would be like when it is fully operational. The friendly staff, although likely biased, touted the greatness of the Reefs when it is fully operational. In a few years, we might revisit the Reefs, but at the moment, we are looking forward to trying out a new property on the island.