This hotel is in a lovely spot close to a great beach. We returned in November 2004 bacause we had really enjoyed our holiday the previous year.

However, we had a fairly disasterous time, both my sons aged 9 & 11 contracted ear infections, we believe from the hotel pool, which were so bad that even after 3 trips to the local doctor they were in bed and in agony for the second half of our stay.

The hotel staff were not really interested in our plight and claimed that the pool was tested daily and met the Barbados Government standards and that was that.

I believe the hotel is due to close for refurbishment in 2005 and I would think carefully about visiting prior to its completion, after all there are plenty of other great places to stay in Barbados.

Glitter Bay is a great spot with some fantastic staff, I hope some updating and a bit of TLC return it to its former glory !

We have just returned from our fourth visit to Glitter Bay, our last was six years ago. We love the position and there is a great beach. The one problem there has always been is that, other than families with small children, no-one eats at the hotel at night. The food is excellent but the atmosphere zero. This time no-one even seemed to want to stay at the bar for a drink so the social area was completely dead in the evenings.

We were not notified until 4 days before our departure that there would be building works going on. They said the noise would be limited to the hours of 10-6 but in fact work started around 7.30 a.m. We did manage to ensure we had a room as far away as possible but some people had a dire time with the noise. The hotel became known as "Grotty Bay" by the end of the trip!

We spoke to the manager on the cocktail evening and it transpired that the hotel is closing in May for refurbishment and the staff have been given notice and don't know whether they will be re-employed there. There was a distinct atmosphere among them and a general malaise which was sad as the Bajans are generally such happy and welcoming people.

A hotel perhaps to be avoided until it reopens end of 2005, if the work is completed in time, when it will have returned to an even keel.

My husband and I and our 11month old daughter stayed here and at the 'sister' property, The Royal Pavillion,at the end of June this year and I must say that relative to the amazingly positive reviews we have read for both properties we were very disappointed.

Firstly I hope it is helpful to give some context: we have travelled a lot in Asia, Americas and Europe and have been lucky enough to have stayed at a huge range of resort style hotels from the top end (Aman resorts, Four Seasons, Sandy Lane, Le Prince Maurice and Tousserok in Mauritius) down to more mid-ranking hotels (eg. Swept Away, Jamaica etc.) so I feel we are well qualified to give a view.

Our disappointments can be summarised as follows:

- hotel is in much need of renovation having not been refurbished for many years
- the layout of the hotel is very dated and the pool in particular is small and unimpressive
- we saw the beach traders much more regularly than we saw waiters on the beach. Trying to order a drink or lunch was a minimum of a half an hour process
- although supposedly 'kid-friendly' we were still not able to get a high-chair, kettle or steriliser in our room and had to resort to feeding our daughter in her pram with very messy consequences.
- the kids club is dingy, poorly staffed and not properly air-conditioned. There really is nowhere to push a pram unles your pram is beach-worthy.
- babysitting is outsourced to a separate company 'child of destiny' with the result that we were sent 4 different babysitters which was tough on our daughter and on two days the babysitter just didn't turn up without giving us any notice. (The hotel did apologise and shout at the agency on our behalf but it was very frustrating nonetheless). In addition one of the babysitters (we found out later) had spent her time chatting on our hotel phone as we had $50 of phone charges we had not made (at least our daughter was asleep at the time (we hope) and the hotel did not charge us for these).

Having said all this I should also mention the positives of the hotel:

- in general the staff were friendly and helpful if not terribly efficient
- the beach is pretty and the swimming good with snorkelling directly off the beach where it is even possible to see turtles.
- food whilst not amazing was of a surprisingly good standard for this level of hotel in the caribbean
- the hotel probably represents reasonable value for money - I guess 'you get what you pay for' - just don't be misled by the massively overly-enthusisatic reviews you may read!

After a terrible start to our holiday, we were transfered from Almond Beach Village to Fairmont Glitter Bay and were delighted with what met our eyes on the first morning. I have never known staff so willing and helpful with always a friendly smile and attitude towards guests and their work. We had originally planned to get married at Almond Beach Village and in transfering didn't know whether it would still go ahead. However John who was the consierge and wedding co-ordinator told us that there would be no problem and we left everything in his hands, and they certainly made it a day to remember, the location by the lilly pond was fantastic, all the wedding flowers were beautiful in fact to say that John only had two days to organise it ....what more can I say. It was 'our day' and we were made to feel very special indeed.

The room that we had was very comfortable with ample space even with 2 boys aged 11 and 10 who had their own beds in the lounge and there was still plenty of room.

The restaurants - a little disappointing as it was a set menu for 2 weeks although the quality of the food was excellent. If you were on the meal plan reception could give you vouchers to eat at three other restaurants that were a short taxi ride away one is Carambola and would highly recommend this, the setting is stunning and you can hob nob with the rich and famous here.

The beach was outstanding and nothing was too much trouble for the staff to get you your sun lounger or drinks and lunch or even a jet ski. Complimentary watersports if you were a guest at both Glitter Bay and the Royal Pavillion.

We made some lovely friends both guests and staff and my youngest son played football with Wes Brown of Manchester United.

All in all it was the best holiday that my family and I have had and will return sometime in the near future.