The minute we arrived put in a room miles from amenities by two bell boys who didnt know where we were going....... attitude of staff and the low morale of staff is appauling and notiable immediately. The place is so dirty it makes you want to throw up - would would never be cleaned up!!! We left after two nights and although where we went The Hilton was no better I couldnt wait t leave - At our new hotel we found that guests had arrived there as they had been robbed at Le Grand - the patio doors were apparently just lifted off - scarey stuff and I am about to write a full report to my travel company.

We have just returned from Tobago staying at the Grad Courlan and thought that we would add our up-to-date comments to those below..

Having travelled the Caribbean extensively and countless trip to Asia I can honestly say that this hotel offers an ideal place to stay on an idyllic Caribbean island.

The staff, if treated with respect and courtesy, are extremely nice people to know…. Valerie in the restaurant area is very accommodating as is Stephanie, Akeisha, Kenwin, Crystal Genealo & Hazel to name a few. The new staff imports from the Philippines also add air of variety to the staff mix and have natural outgoing personalities.

The new manager (Mr Anthony Suttile) seems to have things under control and is doing an excellent job of re-defining the hotels status of being one of the leading 4* Hotels on the island.

The trip to the local ‘Sunday School’ – (Evening Flee Market) was a bit of a disappointment; however the self styled trip around the island in a hired Jeep was excellent.

We stopped at Gemma’s Tree house restaurant … the food was good, especially the lobster although as this seems to be on everybody’s itinerary it was packed, seemed a tad commercial and had an air of becoming a ‘Fast Food’ outlet about it.

However most of time we just mad use of the resort and it’s facilities and we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday

This hotel & Staff something special here and should Nurture and Promote it!!

We will be back!!!!

This was by far our worse holiday ever (6-20 December 2007).

Prior to leaving we received a letter from Thomas Cook saying there would be some minor refurbishment work going on in the Grand Courlan (drive way tiling and roof of the Islander Café) during our stay. We sought confirmation and after reassurances that the work was not significant we decided to go ahead. Interestingly, no work was done on the driveway or on the Islander Café (which remained shut the entire 2 weeks) while we were there, but a lot of work was being done on exterior repainting (railings etc).

However, on Friday 14 December we received a letter from the hotel manager saying that due to an earthquake (!!!) the swimming pool was being closed for essential maintenance with immediate effect. It remained closed for the rest of our stay, but all they did was replace the tiles on the top edge of the pool.

Then on Sunday 16 December, without any notification, the best part of the hotel, the Pinnacles restaurant, was closed for refurbishment. One guest was told by the manager that as there were not many guests in the hotel he wanted to take the opportunity to completely refurbish it before Christmas. All our meals from then on were taken in a small area that was more like a ‘Freds Caff’ and the choice and quality of the food got progressively worse from then on.

The next day all the Virgin Holidays guests were transferred to the Coco Reef hotel

The local Thomas Cook agent had not been advised about any of this work by the hotel manager. She did meet with him the next day and said it was the most unproductive meeting she had ever had.

The first week had not been too bad apart from the 3 robberies from guests rooms and 5 accidents in the hotel, 3 on the slippery wooden bridge by the pool, but nothing was done about it apart from putting a ‘wet floors’ cone on the bridge.

The robberies in the rooms all occurred just as new guests arrived – they left their luggage in their room (not wise I agree) while they went to get something to eat. We all believed it was an inside job but the manager was adamant it wasn’t, even though he didn’t have any idea who did the robberies.

To highlight the Customer Focus (not!) of the manager, one day during the first week we received an invite to “the Manager’s Cocktail Party” that evening. He didn’t turn up because he was in a meeting!!!

we checked in 20th december and out on the 27th, a supposed idyllc christmas... O how wrong we were

On a very basic level, the hotel was misrepresented by itself and our travel company.

We were told that the Hotel was being refurbished, and would re-open on November 1st, thus giving the impression that the property would be in good order.
This was incorrect; the Hotel was rundown, shabby, with peeling paintwork everywhere, the rooms very tired, with cracked tiles, corroded bathroom fittings and peeling paint.
The catering manager of the hotel told us personally that the Hotel had not been refurbished at all, and that it was in fact their sister Hotel next door that had been refurbished (the Grafton beach resort)

The Swimming Pool and outdoor Jacuzzi and Pool Bar were closed when we arrived on 20th December, they did not re-open until 23rd, and even then, the pool bar opened for 2 hours on 2 days only

Supposedly there was a complementary scuba lesson…wrong….no pool…no scuba…sorry…the fact that the sister hotel next door had a pool was somehow irrelevant


Restaurants – ‘a choice of 2’
Incorrect, the only choice was either eat in the restaurant that was open, or not at all, at no time were both restaurants open together, therefore giving a choice
The Main Pinnacle Restaurant was closed when we arrive ed on the 20th December, this did no re-open until 22nd December, it was closed again on the 25th and 26th of December, the latter being the most outrageous, as a local wedding had been booked in there, so the paying guests were not allowed to eat there, but told we had to eat in the ‘Caribbean Bistro’ ,which is in fact a small area mainly used for breakfasts and light lunches, ,which can cater for perhaps 30>40 people, and when more than this are on site picnic tables are set up, with checker tablecloths, by the kitchen serving hatches and the ‘closed’ washrooms
To be honest it was like sitting in a bad motorway café, which the guests referred to as ‘Sid’s café’
Several of the guests, ourselves included ,actually ate at local restauarants outside the Hotel, even though they were all inclusive, just to get a decent meal and service,,,that is a damning endictment of the Grand Courlan

Cuisine (that is a joke in itself to call it cuisine)
Meals did not, as stated, consist of a combination of buffets, table d’hote menus and barbecues
Not one buffet was offered
Not one barbecue was provided
The breakfasts, without exception, consisted of orange or grapefruit (squash, not juice), cereal or choose your eggs and bacon and toast
The evening meals were almost inedible, the Christmas meal a joke, and the starter on our last day was actually the left over vol au vents from the local wedding, I know this because they were offered to the guests round the pool the following day and the waiter confirmed it to me that night

The Service
I have to say that that of all the Hotels I have ever stayed in all over world, this was without doubt the worst.
The waiting staff at breakfast were particularly, but not exclusively bad.
We at breakfast had to wait on one occasion for an hour, yes, an hour…before we were even offered a cup of tea…3 tables walked out because they had pre-booked trips to meet, or spa appointments.
My partner actually found the American General Manager, asked if they were short-staffed, and was told that they were not, and he would find out what the problem was.
He never came back, never explained, and we, and he, walked out, He to avoid explaining, us to avoid a stand up argument with the staff after my wife was basically told we would have to wait because they were ‘busy’ bearing in mind there were no more than 40 guests at the hotel at the time
The restaurant staff in the evening only seemed interested in getting you in and out in the fastest possible time. On our last night we were put in Sids café, sorry the ‘Caribbean Bistro’ by the kitchens, on picnic tables, and had 3 courses given to us in 25 minutes, with the staff then setting up round us for breakfast, and asking us to move so they could finish laying the tables !!!!
We spoke with the Catering manager, who told us quite openly that they have severe staff problems, and that unless he was there on site watching everyone, ‘the whole thing fell apart’…my god what a thing to admit to paying guests.
The entertainment was appalling and infrequent, and on one occasion our entertainment left to go next door because their entertainment had called in sick !
The one and only open, not bars, closed at midnight exactly, when the staff simply closed, shut the lights off and walked off !!!, so that was it…everyone had to go to bed!!....
I would also point out that 2 of the guests rooms were robbed during our short stay
Not that this seemed to perturb the management in anyway

‘Complementary use of non motorised motor sports’
This consisted of 2 pedalos on the beach….yes 2 pedalos!!!

The Beach
Dirty, with wild dogs roaming and defecating there
Beach dealers offering us marijuana openly, and the beach itself closed at night with no access from the Hotel as the gates were locked


The worst aspect of this was the fact that the General manager advised us that all UK Travel Agents, including ours, had been told that they had problems with their Pool, closed Restaurants and bars etc and that we should have been told, giving us the option of cancelling or booking elsewhere, this they thought absolved them of any responsibility. They told us to take it up[ with our own agents on our return to the UK
The manager told us that he assumed we had been offered reduced rates by the travel company because of the facilities not being ready or available !!!.
Basically we had 25 per cent of the promised facilities, but paid 100 percent of the price !!
Our Holiday was 100 percent ruined, as well as every one else’s who was in the hotel.

we had to check out at 1200m and our taxi was booked at 1600 to the airport, we asked if we could leave our bags somewhere safe till then,and perhaps have have a room for a couple of hours,especially as the hotel only had 40 guests...tey asked for 50 usd for the privelage !! we were allowed use of a jacuzzi suite as it was laughingly called...this room could not have been used in months...musty..damp...the jacuzzi I would not have kept a fish in..it had algae and slime and leaves in it..it was the mark 1 i think,,,old tiles,cracked..worked by a calor gas bottle..very attractive..the only veiw from your window was the fishpond/jacuzzi and an old trellace that shielded it from the garden,,,and this was extra!!
stay away from this hotel!! the first holiday ever that I could not to end !!