We noticed that you're using an unsupported browser. The TripAdvisor website may not display properly.
We support the following browsers:
Windows: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox. Mac: Safari.

Tropical Escape: Traveller Reviews

3.0 of 5
Paynes Bay, Barbados
Hotel amenities
Tropical Escape
Ranked #18 of 23 hotels in Saint James
4.0 of 5 stars 140 Reviews
Which Saint James hotels are on sale?
See hotels
Write a Review

140 reviews from our community

    Trip type
Traveller rating
    55
    44
    13
    20
    8
Date Rating
Falkirk, United Kingdom
Reviewer
5 reviews 5 reviews
Reviews in 3 cities Reviews in 3 cities
30 helpful votes 30 helpful votes
“More than I expected”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 1 December 2006
11
people found this review helpful

Having read mixed reviews about this hotel we didn't really know what to expect. However on arrival we were pleasantly surprised by our surroundings.
The hotel is small but kept in good order and because of its size, we found that you are not just another guest but a friend for the duration of your stay. It would be naive of me to suggest that every member of staff and fellow guest was of like mind but if you are sociable at all you will leave this hotel with many new friends and will have had a ball.
The pool area is quite small but as we are beach people we spent most of our time there, on what can only be described as idyllic. The road across to the beach can be a little awkward at certain times and would advocate caution. I would have been terrified if we had been here with small children as some of the locals treat it as a race track especially the bus drivers.
Food was above average in my opinion with the exception of the a la carte nights which were frankly a disaster both for service and quality of food. My advice is to eat out on those nights.
Drink was plentiful and flowing freely with no service issues.
To sum up, for what you pay you get exceptional value for money in a friendly atmosphere in very pleasant surroundings what more could you ask for.
Finally the First Choice rep (Claire) actually stays in the hotel and seemed to be costantly in attendance. Even on her day off she was never too far away and was always willing to assist in any way she could.

  • Liked — Atmosphere and friendliness of staff
  • Disliked — Small pool area
  • Tips/Secrets — Keep an open mind and be sociable
  • Stayed November 2006, travelled as a couple
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Check-in / front desk
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
    • 3 of 5 stars Business service (e.g., internet access)
Was this review helpful? Yes
Ask TherealDeeGee about Tropical Escape
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
yorkshire
Senior Reviewer
10 reviews 10 reviews
Reviews in 7 cities Reviews in 7 cities
26 helpful votes 26 helpful votes
“nice little hotel”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 25 November 2006
4
people found this review helpful

Very clean,lovely staff,food not that bad for an all inclusive
budget hotel. One tip, get to the beach early for a free lounger
leave about noon,leave towel lounger, return mid afternoon
because you will be fed up with the noise, the sellers and the
cruise line tourists who are sold trips to the beach,you are of
course not told of this at your welcome meeting. Also the
loungers allocated to the hotel are also sold to the trippers!!!!
Seen it !!!!!.
You will need to leave hotel at night for a change, go to Crocs bar,
turn left out of hotel, 100yds on left. Open till early hours unlike
hotel which shuts down at 11.
PS. I paid 799 for two weeks just about right dont pay more.

  • Liked — cleanliness
  • Disliked — pool area
  • Tips/Secrets — get to pool area very very early, put towel on lounger very small area with few loungers
  • Stayed November 2006, travelled as a couple
    • 2 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Check-in / front desk
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
    • 2 of 5 stars Business service (e.g., internet access)
Was this review helpful? Yes
Ask sheandme about Tropical Escape
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Hereford
1 review
15 helpful votes 15 helpful votes
“Great little hotel”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 26 October 2006
15
people found this review helpful

Stayed at the Tropical Escape from 29 Sept to 13 Oct 2006. The Hotel is small, but that worked well for us, it was re assuring seeing the same faces each day, but still not be in each others way. The Staff were extremely friendly, even getting up to join in the karaoke, (that would be Noel, a lovely guy). The food was very good and also plentiful. The entertainment was a bit hit and miss, but even that did not seem to matter, we had such good company. The best entertainment for us had to be on the last evening The Drag Artists, even the staff got up to dance, Margaret, Ivor and Mr Frankie Brown, the manager no less.

Regarding the staff, Noel the bar man was a favourite of ours, he has a dry humour, Sandra and Yvette, for their patience as we worked through the list of cocktails, and listening patiently whilst we made up a few of our own, and not forgetting IVOR who works in the restaurant, so helpfull and thoughtful. Our rooms were cleaned on a daily basis, and towels changed as often as we requested, beach towels and all.

For those of you who read these reviews (as we ourselves did), just a few things to comment on. The birds, yes they do fly in, but honestly, it's hardly Hitchcocks 'Birds'. We had a poolside room, (very quiet), so to be fair cannot comment of the roadside rooms.

Regarding the road, yes, it is busy, but to be fair again, the motorists stopped as soon as they saw us to let us cross, and were in our opinion, more curtious, than our own over here. The Beach is just wonderful, and mostly used by hotel guests. To those of you who are off on your hols to the Tropical Escape, relax its a great little hotel, with good food, plenty of choice, warm friendly staff, and excellant value for money.

We would like to thank ALL the staff at the Tropical Escape for such a warm and friendly welcome, and for contributing to our fantastic memories of Barbados

Also a big thankyou to everyone else who stayed there at the same time as us, everyone was so friendly, a special mention to a couple of lovely groups, Tom, Jack, Irene,Sylvia, HRH Queen Violet, and not forgetting Dorothy. Thanks to Stuart and his girls and their families................ Beverley and Mark (shrek)

  • Liked — small, clean and friendly
  • Disliked — that the entertainment was hit and miss
  • Tips/Secrets — go native and just relax and chill out
  • Stayed September 2006, travelled with family
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 2 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Check-in / front desk
    • 5 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
    • 3 of 5 stars Business service (e.g., internet access)
Was this review helpful? Yes
Ask Beverley/Mark about Tropical Escape
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Ashton under lyne
1 review
16 helpful votes 16 helpful votes
“FANTASTIC - Will go back”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 18 October 2006
16
people found this review helpful

What can I say, I have just come back from the best holiday ever. Tropical Escape hotel is rated a 3 star but we got 5 star service. The hotel is cleaned on a daily basis and when I say hotel I don't just mean the rooms the pool, bar,reception and dinning room area were all cleaned every day. The food was fantastic and I am a fussy eater (watch your waste lines). I have to say a big hello to juliet our rep at the hotel she was great, so helpful and very cheerfull, thanks for a great day out on the catamaran Juliet (it's a must for everyone) There was 9 of us on this holiday ages 6 to 60 and all of us enjoyed our holiday and we all will be going back. You do have to cross a road to go to the beach but it's not a problem and the drivers do stop for you.Now when you get on the beach WOW ! it is paradise and usually the only people on it are the hotel guests and a few local boys who are very freindly and no trouble. There isn't much to do at night although they do have entertainment on in the bar downstairs but most people sat outside on the pool terrace and had a drink . Because the Hotel is small everyone got to know each other very quickly which was really nice, "HELLO STEPH AND DARREN hope work wasn't to depressing when you got back". Anyway I could go on and on about this hotel and I wouldn't have a bad thong to say. I will post some photos at a later date. GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY!

Stayed October 2006
Was this review helpful? Yes
Ask DebCarr about Tropical Escape
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
sheffield uk
1 review
8 helpful votes 8 helpful votes
“what a holiday”
2 of 5 stars Reviewed 3 October 2006
8
people found this review helpful

me and my husband have just come back from tropical escape,and i would just like to say that this hotel is not a 3-4 star it is more like 2-3 star. I am not complaining about my holiday at all, far from it, my best holiday yet and it really boils down to everyone who stayed in the hotel the same time as us. if your expecting top class i would advise you not to stay here but all i can say is you get what you pay for. there are still some building work going on bang across from the hotel and unfortunatly for us we were stuck in a room bang facing it. i had to keep my curtains closed all day and night as the workers could see right through my room. the noise was unbeleilable from 7am till 5pm. as for the reps, they were useless, we went on a charity catamaran on sunday and one of our reps hardly spoke to us as she was covorting all day with her bejan boyfriend which we thought was very unprofessional of her. the other one just did not want to help anyone, she just told us what we wanted to hear but got nothing back from her. useless they were.
the food was excellent,but it would have been better if there were more buffet nights than a-la-carte. as when everyone ate there meal on a- la-carte nihjt they were still hungry and we could not go for second helpings.
what out for the beach boys as they don,t care about who is around they will argue and fight all day long and watch out for a guy named smiley he can turn nasty with holiday makers too.
the trips were fab, the beach was fab and weather we could not ask for better weather. your holiday is what you make of it yourself, as we did and we could,nt have enjoyed it as much as we did without all the nice people who shared the hotel the same time as us.we all ended up being like a holiday family.
i also would like to say i will not be booking with first choice again as the reps really put me off.
thanks for taking time out to read my letter and i hope it has helped you for your holiday. oh before i forget,don,t expect good entertainment.(it,s rubbish).

  • Liked — the food
  • Disliked — building work, reps
  • Tips/Secrets — don,t expect 3-4 star it is alot less
  • Stayed September 2006, travelled as a couple
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Check-in / front desk
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
    • 3 of 5 stars Business service (e.g., internet access)
Was this review helpful? Yes
Ask cheekygirlx about Tropical Escape
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

Travellers who viewed Tropical Escape also viewed

Beach View
5 of 5 stars 255 Reviews
Saint James, Barbados
CHECK RATES! ABS:HotelCheckRates-d1234133?&src=ShowUserReviewsHotels&fromServlet=ShowUserReviews&Action=QC_AlsoViewed
Waves
4 of 5 stars 370 Reviews
Saint James, Barbados
CHECK RATES! ABS:HotelCheckRates-d260445?&src=ShowUserReviewsHotels&fromServlet=ShowUserReviews&Action=QC_AlsoViewed
Sandy Lane Hotel
4.5 of 5 stars 268 Reviews
Saint James, Barbados
CHECK RATES! ABS:HotelCheckRates-d148703?&src=ShowUserReviewsHotels&fromServlet=ShowUserReviews&Action=QC_AlsoViewed
View all 23 hotels in Saint James, ranked by popularity »

Been to Tropical Escape? Share your experiences!

Write a Review Add Photos Add Videos

Additional Information about Tropical Escape

  • Tropical Escape Saint James
  • Tropical Escape Barbados
  • Tropical Escape Hotel
Address: Paynes Bay, Barbados
Price range (per night):* 287 AUD - 359 AUD

Owners: What's your side of the story?

If you own or manage Tropical Escape, register now for free tools to enhance your listing, attract new reviews, and respond to reviewers.

  • Manage your listing