Hotel berhampiran The Harbour Gallery, Hamilton

My husband and I spent 5 nights at Coco Reef & Resort at the end of August. Before arriving, I had read some mixed reviews. Now I understand why some guests were disappointed. For us, the overall experience was a good one. I’d go back, but I would hesitate to recommend it highly. The beach is beautiful. Coco Reef benefits from the much larger hotel next door (the old Elbow Beach Hotel) being closed. You have a large stretch of beach to relax, swim, and walk along. The staff was wonderful—hard-working, kind, and helpful. Our room was one of the nicely redecorated ones with a beautiful view. The bed was very comfortable. The AC was very loud but worked in my favor, as it drowned out my husband’s snoring. Some negative aspects we experienced include a huge leak from the overhead AC upon entering. The front desk sent someone to repair it right away and eventually comped us dinner for the inconvenience. However, messages were not relayed to the main manager, and the dinner was reflected on our bill at checkout. This was cleared up within a few minutes but was an example of communication errors. Since the beach is the best aspect of the hotel, they could improve the guest experience there. Every single day, they ran out of towels, and it was inconvenient to have to go all the way to the lobby to fetch them. They lock the towels in a back office, and you have to wait until the front desk is available to help you. An easy fix would be to order more towels and place them in guest rooms or near the entryway to the beach or pool. As a beachfront hotel, this is a basic standard you must meet, or you will frustrate guests. Additionally, there was no staff presence on the beach—no one offering water, cleaning up bird droppings on lounge chairs, or replacing knocked-over umbrellas. The hotel is not for someone looking for nightlife. We were told by the bartender that the bar closes at 10 p.m. On our last night, we wanted a nightcap after returning from dinner. It was 9:45 p.m., and the same bartender told us it was shut down, which was annoying as we really wanted to sit on the terrace and enjoy one last drink on our vacation. The hotel could also upgrade its dining/food services. The atmosphere lacks liveliness. Guests would benefit from an area that sells sodas and snacks for the beach. I’d suggest packing lots of snacks or going to the supermarket, which is about ten minutes away. They provide two small water bottles for free on first day only. There is a mini fridge which was useful. A minor note: our bathroom provided shampoo but no conditioner, and the plastic containers were unlabeled and cumbersome. Coco Reef has many positive features and I hope they improve some issues to make it an outstanding spot to stay in Bermuda.

I can’t say enough amazing things about Pompano Beach Club. The location is absolutely perfect. You are on top of the most crystal clear waters and see the most amazing aqua, teal, and blue water. The beach at low tide is walkable for what seems like forever. There are NO waves and you can truly, truly relax. They have wonderful rafts that I would just float around on out on an empty and calm sea for hours. The sunsets are perfection. Kyro at the beach bar is the absolute best- a super kind young guy who makes sure everything is just right. The owners and the rest of the staff are absolutely lovely as well, from those providing food and drink service, to behind the front desk, the chefs and more! The meal plan is amazing- breakfast and dinner included. The dinners were impressively good for what you are paying- it really is a 5 course meal. One restaurant has a set menu and the other changes nightly. They are super smart and switch up breakfast between table service and buffet service, keeping it from getting boring. Monday night swizzle party and bbq was so fun and yummy! You pay your own way if you want lunch and drinks, but prices were reasonable. They charge everything to your room (no need for a wallet at the hotel) and add a gratuity, and our final bill was way way less than we anticipated! Like, impressively so. The bartenders pour a heavy drink and you definitely get your money’s worth. They have free a shuttle to a few common locations or they can call you a cab. They can also connect you with a super reliable transport company to/from the airport (CEO). The hotel guests are predominantly older folx and just a handful of families. But this makes it perfect as the beach isn’t crowded and overrun with an endless spread of chairs and umbrellas. It’s quiet and serene. The online pictures are really what it looks like! The only (and I do mean only) downside is that there isn’t music throughout the resort. Not even at dinner or breakfast. Just a little lobby and dining area music would make it total perfection. But everything else is perfect and so this really is not a complaint. The deluxe room was so worth it for the spectacular views of the ocean and sunsets. I spent more time out there than in the room. 10/10 recommend if you’re looking for a calm, quiet paradise with plenty of food and great hospitality. If you’re young and want lively parties and dance clubs, come back in 10 years! We celebrated a 40th birthday and it was the absolute best location for the occasion.

There are plenty of luxury hotels in Bermuda, but the true test of a 5 star hotel is how that handle mishaps. Our trip happened to fall a day after a hurricane. We had our flight cancelled and arrived a day late. Before arrival the hotel had already accommodated us for an extra night on the back end of the trip to make up for the lost day. When we arrived there was some obvious storm damage to our room. It takes more than that to interrupt our family vacations. I gently voiced my concern with the room to the front desk and options we quickly vetted out. The hotel was quite crowded but they were able to move us to an upgraded room while efficiently moving all of our things without disruption. This meant a lot to us as we take advantage of every minute of family times like this. Desmond and Emily went above and beyond to make all of this happen and I applaud their efforts. The hotel itself is truly special, the beach club is equally impressive. At the resort pool there is an amazing waiter named Goosti; he may be one of my favorite humans on the planet. He’s a genuine person that has one goal and that is to make sure you are having a great time. (I assume Goosti likes to have a good time himself). We miss him already. At breakfast Georgia showed an amazing memory about our orders and preferences. She played a huge part in getting our day started off right. Thank you for that. In summary, sure, our room may have been in rough shape when we arrived, but there are few hotels who would have gone to the lengths that RW Bermuda did to make us happy. We’ve already booked our trip for next summer and hope everyone we mentioned above are there when we return. Pro-Tip: get a golf cart. It completely changes the experience.