Do you mean that your corporate rate wasn't available for your dates?

Here are some long overdue pics from last year.

Well apparently there are no dates "available" in the year for our rate... tried different geography codes and times of the year and nothing showed up... thought our corporate rate was chain wide.

My employer is a massive multinational... never faced the issue of not getting a corporate rate at a Hilton.

PS: Great pics above this post!!!

I will be leaving this next week for the Hilton.

Can anyone recommend a car rental location?

Thanks

Tasnam

You can rent one at the hotel. The car company usually has some cars parked in the lot, or they will bring the car to you along with the paperwork and card processing is done on site. It was about $120 a day including all insurance (which is mandatory) for a day.

Not sure about airport locations if you like to have a rental for the whole trip. I think they might be cheaper for a daily rate, but we were renting only for a day.

renting a car on barbados is expensive, but not that expensive.

take a look at the tripadvisor forum, there are a few recommendations for car rental companies.

Stoutes is good,at airport and can be booked on-line.

Have used them every visit to Barbados,IIRC visit number 30 coming in a couple weeks

Just returned 1/24 from the week at the Hilton Barbados and rented a car from Stoutes. Price was 194.00 per day after all taxes, fees etc. Very convenient since they came right to the hotel and were able to hand in the keys at the desk on the return day.

Prices were always high in Barbados but this trip I found them to really be high. The Value Added Tax (VAT) is now 17.5% plus they add a service charge to almost all meals. Service at most restaurants was just satisfactory. No need to work for a tip since it's already included.

Quick Review:

Geography: The Hilton Barbados is located on Needham's Point which has the Caribbean meeting the Atlantic to the south (main beach, rough water) and Carlisle Bay to the West (Caribbean side, calm water).

Hotel: The previous Hilton was imploded and the current hotel was built on the same site opening in 2005. The hotel seems very well maintained most, if not all, rooms have some view due to being on a peninsula. We were upgraded to the Lighthouse Tower facing the South and the lounge is in the main tower facing the Bay - both are great views. The Naval Dockyard was based on the Point and the Hilton has augmented Needham’s Fort/Charles Fort (1650) to accommodate events or guest to visit.

Hotel Staff: Every member of the staff that we met was very nice and outgoing - the staff seemed older than most hotel staff I come across - and they were definitely were more professional as well (& no "island time" issues). A maid even profusely apologized for knocking on our door when we had the "Do Not Disturb" sign out.

Hotel Lounge: I've read a lot of comments about the Executive Lounge, and timing may be everything, but I felt it was more than reasonable. The only improvement area that I saw was that sometimes food didn't get replaced quickly, but even at 10-minutes till, it eventually got replenished, replaced or removed completely (presuming sometimes they ran out). There's a main room - which has breakfast, snacks, water, a computer with free internet, newspapers and a side room with magazines, books and another TV - we often went in the side room to watch the world news as we ate. The lounge has pretty generous hours 6:30-11:00am for breakfast, 3-5pm for tea time (juice is in the refrigerator) and 5-7pm for an evening snack. During the cusp hours the staff went around and asked everyone, "we're going to take the food away, is there anything you'd like first?" We always saw a few open tables (maybe not in the main room, but in the side room), tables were quickly bussed (not all guest understand the self-bussing concept, yet I didn't see anyone tipping to have their dishes removed) and the staff was always courteous.

Hotel Dining: They have all-you-can eat buffets (not that any of us really need a buffet) on Tuesday (Italian), Friday (Asian, including some sushi), & Saturday (Seafood) around US$50/person - including the VAT & Service.

Snorkel: If you want to snorkel the wrecks from on your own: From the Hilton, walk down the beach toward town, past the Grand Barbados (former Holiday Inn) and to the back of the Boys & Girls Club (you'll see the back of the fenced in Basketball courts). From there you can swim 600' feet straight out and you'll be in the Carlisle Bay Marine Park where you can see the wrecks. If you're experienced the water is relatively calm and you can do this on your own, if you're new to snorkeling/free diving/diving, go with a tour. No need to get in trouble 700' from the shore right after all the tour groups left.

JDiver has some helpful links as well:Water Equipment: Barbados Blue claims to offer Hilton guest free non-motorized equipment (snorkel, kayaks), but this is a farce. The south beach always has a yellow (or red) flag on it, and Barbados Blue refuses to loan any free equipment if there's a yellow flag on the south beach - even when water is still on the Caribbean side (and has no yellow or red flags).

Overall great Hotel & Staff.

Those prices may have been because of an international cricket tournament which wrapped up on Jan 23rd. Rooms were very hard to come by anywhere on-island.
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13F

I checked into this very nice hotel at the Executive Lounge. I was handed a page with all the rules of the EL. It included the following words in bold letters: 'Casual Evening Attire' after 5pm.
Taking this to heart, I dressed up in khaki slacks and a dress shirt when I went back for the evening. So imagine my surprise when I saw a woman in a body shirt and bare foot, and men in flipflops, shorts, and dirty t-shirts. A man in wet swim trunks and a t-shirt came in and sat down, totally oblivious to the possibility that someone else might not want to sit down in the exact same spot shortly after he departed. Finally the lowest common denominator was hit by a woman who came into the EL in a bikini. She was asked to leave, which really irritated her as she picked up some food items and stomped out.
So what the hell is Casual Evening Attire? I guess it has been dumbed down to flipflops or bare feet, shorts, and dirty t-shirts. Either have rules or don`t have them, and enforce them if you have them or let people just let it all hang out.

$190 a day for a car rental?

My wife and I stayed at this location and we rented a Moke (sp?). It's basically a golf cart on steroids, but it's street legal and top speed was about 30MPH I think. We had it for 2 days and drove around the whole island with it. I don't remember the price exactly but it was around $50/day all in. The car rental company was in the hotel itself. That thing was a blast to drive.

We're heading to Barbados in a few weeks. I've been to the Hilton twice before.

From reading the comments on here, it appears that management do not take the feedback seriously. They respond to individual comments on Tripadvisor, but my interpretation from the more recent feedback comments is that nothing much has improved.

I was quite happy there last time, which is why I plan to return. However, the food was dreadful (and overpriced for that quality). From what I read now, this is still the case.

I noticed last time that some guests took the p*** out the executive lounge and hoarded food and drinks. I understand that management's response was to abolish the honours bar and make guests pay.

I don't drink more than 2-3 units per month on average and don't like deep fried nibbles anyway, but I quite appreciate the opportunity to sit down and chill for half an hour before we head out for dinner (not in the Hilton though).

With respect to breakfast, the continental option in the lounge is as I recall on the minimalistic side. I understand that management's response was to withdraw the option to pay for an upgrade to the full breakfast in the restaurant and you have to pay the full price (again).

Now that there are absolutely no perks associated with Diamond membership, or even if you pay for an execeutive room, what is management's value proposition?

Overall, the withdrawn perks won't have much financial impact on my stay, but I simply feel uneasy about the fact that management's response to a problem seems to be to punish the guests as opposed to finding and offering a creative solution. Again, I quite liked it there last time, but I am reacting a bit to what I sense is an attitude of arrogance...

Back to the drawing board to consider alternative accommodation, perhaps...

There have been plenty of posts though as to where you can walk to get food that is nearby or a quick ride. The breakfast was minimal, but I don't mind some fresh fruit, cereal, some various meats and cheeses. I'm not looking to gorge myself with food. Simple works for me.

Regardless of the amenities provided by the Executive lounge, the Wi-Fi is free up there and if you want the afternoon snacks fine, if not, go find a real dinner.

The location of the hotel and the amazing enclosed beach for the hotel makes everything worth it. The staff is friendly and willing to help out in anyway they can to make your stay enjoyable.

I appreciate the work arounds and I have many addresses and good dining opportunities (also, we always have a rental car). The issue is I don't see why management won't work to resolve the underlying issues, i.e. improve food quality and so on.