My husband and I stayed at Trade Winds from 23 May til 8th June 2007. We had a great time there. and What a view from the balcony!

We booked the trip direct as is was cheaper. We sorted our own flights out which made it cheaper than going through holiday companies!

Because we have friends who live in Antigua and so we have been to the Island before we wanted the freedom to pick and choose, Trade Winds helped us tailer our meal plans accordingly.

It appears to be cheaper to book evening meals before you go, there is a $50 ECD limit for breakfast but not limit for dinner. We had the most expensive dishes for some meals and it was all taken care of in the meal plan.

The rooms were ideal, they were clean and spacious, and the maids came in daily. The bathroom was a bit dated but clean!

All staff were extremely helpful and pleased to help you.

Reception staff were very helpful and friendly, restaurant staff were great sports, and as they have to put up with the BA staff then that is no mean feat!

The BA staff had no appreciation for dressing for dinner, even though other guests, both residents and not, all complied with the dress code! The BA crews were noisy on occasion. This was only around the bar and restaurant so did not affect the tranquility of the rooms.

I am so pleased we stopped at Trade winds rather than in Dickenson Bay, you can watch the world go by whilst eating breakfast, and watch the sunsets whilst having a drink!

Dickenson Bay is only 10 minutes walk, but the walk to Coconut Grove for Coconut Bay Shrimps is worth it!

Although we were so impressed with the Bay Restaurant that we stopped there even for the meals we were not booked in!

I would quite happily go back to Trade Winds and we intend to!

Tradewinds Hotel in Antigua is nice enough at first. My room was large and had a view of the sea from the balcony. It was clean and well maintained. Pool and deck are very nice as well.

The problem is noise. Presenlty they are building a new sun deck and the construction noise went on during the day and they worked some nights as well.

Moreover I asked the front desk each of my five days to fix the incessant rattling of my air conditioner and nothing was done. In additon the compressors for several of the uits seem ot be right on the roof above my bed. I had five nights with virtually no sleep. As I was there to work it was quite offputting.

Also, the lighting in the rooms is ridiculous. I understand energy conservation sure, but these tiny low watt lightbulbs render the whole room with a sickly dim hue that is really unpleasant.

Final comment, the onsite restaurant BayHouse used ot be really nice years ago. I found that this trip the service, while friendly was far from professional. And the food was badly overpriced and not very good. To be fair, after sending back ny dinner twicefor being indercooked they did take the whole cost of my meal off my bill.

Overall its an ok place that is just missing the point. Rather like antigua itself perhaps........

This hotel and staff were excellent! We had a wonderful time and will definitely visit again. The rooms were very clean and the staff was very friendly and fun. The only staff we found a little unfriendly were the girls at the front desk. They really need to smile more!

I wanted to like the Tradewinds (where we stayed for a week), but can give it no more than an OK rating. It has a nice situation on a hill with good views, and the grounds are lush with tropical vegetation. The front desk staff were friendly and helpful, and the hotel was quiet - most of the other people staying there were British Airways air crew. That's the good news.

The bad news: our room was shabby, with furniture that could have used a lick of paint, and a toilet that only worked sporadically - we had to fill the cistern by hand several times. The fold-out sofa bed was uncomfortable - my back still aches from the experience. Despite having two children we were literally given the only room in the entire hotel whose balcony had no roof - it was uninhabitable when the sun was overhead from late morning to late afternoon. (The hotel offered us another room but the view was not as nice.) We didn't bother eating at the restaurant because the prices were unreasonably high (as they are in most decent Antiguan restaurants), and we also found the bar and restaurant staff surly and unhelpful. The hotel web site says the beach is a five-minute walk, but while we had a rental car and didn't put this to the test, my guess is that it was closer to 20 minutes downhill, and a lot longer coming back (although a free hotel shuttle is advertised as available). TV reception was mixed.

More broadly, Antigua is disappointing. If you are looking for the Third World version of the Caribbean it's fine - the place is run down and systems often don't work. (Our Alamo rental must have been the oldest and most dented in the worldwide Alamo fleet.) Some Antiguans were friendly enough, but the majority were rude and unhelpful (especially those working in the Epicurean supermarket at Woods Centre and in the St John's market - a special word is reserved for them), in spite of the fact that tourist dollars are about the only thing keeping the place going. St John's is a tip. And the Antiguan government could revolutionize the tourist trade with two easy and cheap additions - some road signs, and a decent map. We lost count of the number of times we got lost. The road signs aren't just bad, as some tourist guides indicate - they are all but non-existent. The roads themselves are in a variable state, but we expected that, and so were not disappointed.

The beaches are pretty good, but there is a lot of trash on most of them - we constantly had to watch to see that our two young boys didn't stray too far off the cleaner part of the beaches. The best part of the island is the English Harbour/Falmouth area, and the best beach is at Half Moon Bay. Dickensen Bay - closest to our hotel - is indifferent. Beaches that are almost deserted is great, but you have to accept that they are not well maintained either.

So no more than than an OK rating for this hotel. We paid $170 a night and got about $75-worth of quality. I doubt we will go back to Antigua, and if we do we won't stay at the Tradewinds.