A week far away We stayed with another couple at one of the villas available for rent. This is a beautiful property - very large, gated community on the west side of the island. We had a tremendous view of the golf course and Caribbean from our porch. The other amenities were fine with a good size pool, tennis courts and plenty of room to walk. The only disappointment was that the property has no beachfront. There is a free shuttle bus to a private beach location and an open-air beach restaurant the property owns. The beach is very small, virtually no space at high tide and not much at low tide. Chairs and umbrellas are free but everyone was so packed into the small beach space, we could hardly breathe. There are many good reasons to go to Royal Westmoreland but the beach is not one of them. With the large and magnificent homes on this property, you'd think they could sink some money into finding a new beach location or rebuilding the current beach.

Advice to Longterm renters Under new One Year Work permit NB This review is a general observation that applies to all resorts where a long term (1 year +) booking is being sought. When looking for a short or long -term Barbados rental there are a few things that you should check based on recent experience gained during an 8 month lockdown on a private gated estate. This was a place we had stayed at before over a number of years. During that time management of the estate had passed from the developer to the owners association. This is normal but can lead to the association imposing rules which may not chime with you. For instance, during the Barbados Government’s well organised response to the recent Pandemic certain statutes introduced allowed a little leeway in their interpretation. In our case the Association decided that the large and unused pool on our part of the private gated estate could not be used. This despite it being private and that other private estates were allowing residents to do so whilst observing social distancing. From comments made to us by the association I believe there was an element of virtual signalling involved, Whilst that may be, the signallers probably had plunge pools of their own if not larger. Protesting, we reluctantly had to bow to the imposed rules. Interestingly two days before the first UK flight home after lock down our privacy was incredibly violated on the so called “private Gated Estate”. Suddenly at breakfast on our covered balcony a large Phantom Pro 4 drone which carries a hi-definition camera appeared and hovered about 40 feet away and level with the balcony. The huge lens was pointed directly at us. There was no doubt it was targeting us so we retreated inside pretty cross. Its illegal to own one in Barbados unless licenced they also cost between USd$ 5-6000 so it wasn’t a kid fooling around. When dealing with local agent, after years of enjoying a bull market and high prices you will need them to be very specific about establishing the running costs of your year let. You should also consider buying a car rather than renting - you never know you might enjoy Bajan Living so much you’ll want to extend your work visa!!!

Royal Apartments 322 need updating First of all the staff are very helpful and accommodating , the golf and pro shop can’t do enough for you , the Club house and bar just perfect with the communal pool and gym all kept well.However :We have visited Westmoreland before so knew where we were going to be staying so the distance to the main part of Westmoreland Golf was not a surprise . The apartment it self was dated and needs to be modernised the bathroom very small , no vanity mirror and no drawers apart from 1 bedside drawer to put clothes , bedroom was ok but bed so big getting past door into room was very tight and I have the bruises to prove it. The views are ok , straight onto a quiet road and sea in distance. To buy any sundries you have to drive to Holetown which is difficult if you don’t know you needed a car , a welcome pack would be very useful. (Westmoreland all you need to do it is put a little deli by the rum shack and sell bread , milk etc .)The swimming pool for the apartments was very soulless no staff no amenities. Mullens beach bar looked lovely but the beach is so small now that you practically have to seat on each other’s lap !Having said all that we had a great holiday and we will be coming again just staying in another villa.All said and done Westmoreland is amazing but some little extra tlc would be very appreciated for the price tag that you are asking.

Amazing We have been coming here now almost 20 years and I can honestly say the views are stunning. It is very safe and the guards make you feel very safe. The staff are friendly and helpful. The concierge is too. I have been staying in my resort now for a long time and have enjoyed it immensely.

Overall very good but some areas for improvement We arrived at Royal Apartment #321 in Foxtail and were immediately greeted by Danielle from the concierge who was excellent in answering our questions. The apartment was lovely and spacious and the cleaner was excellent. However the resort is laid out strangely as we had to cross a main road and drive about 10 minutes in a golf buggy to get to the reception, pool and golf club, possibly due to rapid expansion. Furthermore, there was no proper restaurant on site to eat as the Ram Shak had no kitchen and is basically just a bar, which was quite disappointing for us as we normally prefer to eat in the resort as it is more relaxed. This meant we had to use taxis to go out each night for restaurants as we did not want to cook on holiday. The taxis were very unreliable as for the same journey the prices varied enormously as there was no metres, it was just at the drivers’ whim. However, Danielle and Karen at the concierge were great, the golf course was really beautiful and quiet and we were the only ones at the pool most of the time. Also the beach club was great and the food there was quick in a relaxed atmosphere.So overall the resort was quite good just some layout issues and lack of restaurant.

Luxurious Our family of 6 rented a three bedroom apartment in the Palmetto units. Compared to the villas - we met a couple who rented a villa and complained that there was no air conditioning in the kitchen/living room area, but only in the bedrooms - our apt had air in every room. When it was cooler, we turned off the air and opened up all the shutters and the verandah doors and let the island breeze flow through. The apartments shared a heavenly salt water infiniti pool which was nestled in a grove of palm trees and brilliantly flowering bushes. My husband and 16 year old daughter were very impressed with the gym near the clubhouse. In fact, my husband misses it now that we are at home! We drove our rented car down to Mullins beach - 10 minutes. Parking was across the street from the beach entrance. It was very convenient to have loungers and towels set up for us at no extra charge. The restaurant there was very pleasant and the food was delicious. The resort invited us to cocktail party at one of the villas. We were convinced we were going to be shackled down and given a sales pitch for a vacation home...and so we were hesitant to attend. But we went and had a lovely time. The staff were very gracious and just let the guests mingle and enjoy themselves. The grocery store, Masseys, is a 15 minute drive away. I recommend their prepared food counter - the rotisserie chicken and fried chicken was yummy. RM provided an excellent home base for us to enjoy and explore Barbados.