My husband and I spent 5 nights at Coco Reef & Resort at the end of August. Before arriving, I had read some mixed reviews. Now I understand why some guests were disappointed. For us, the overall experience was a good one. I’d go back, but I would hesitate to recommend it highly. The beach is beautiful. Coco Reef benefits from the much larger hotel next door (the old Elbow Beach Hotel) being closed. You have a large stretch of beach to relax, swim, and walk along. The staff was wonderful—hard-working, kind, and helpful. Our room was one of the nicely redecorated ones with a beautiful view. The bed was very comfortable. The AC was very loud but worked in my favor, as it drowned out my husband’s snoring. Some negative aspects we experienced include a huge leak from the overhead AC upon entering. The front desk sent someone to repair it right away and eventually comped us dinner for the inconvenience. However, messages were not relayed to the main manager, and the dinner was reflected on our bill at checkout. This was cleared up within a few minutes but was an example of communication errors. Since the beach is the best aspect of the hotel, they could improve the guest experience there. Every single day, they ran out of towels, and it was inconvenient to have to go all the way to the lobby to fetch them. They lock the towels in a back office, and you have to wait until the front desk is available to help you. An easy fix would be to order more towels and place them in guest rooms or near the entryway to the beach or pool. As a beachfront hotel, this is a basic standard you must meet, or you will frustrate guests. Additionally, there was no staff presence on the beach—no one offering water, cleaning up bird droppings on lounge chairs, or replacing knocked-over umbrellas. The hotel is not for someone looking for nightlife. We were told by the bartender that the bar closes at 10 p.m. On our last night, we wanted a nightcap after returning from dinner. It was 9:45 p.m., and the same bartender told us it was shut down, which was annoying as we really wanted to sit on the terrace and enjoy one last drink on our vacation. The hotel could also upgrade its dining/food services. The atmosphere lacks liveliness. Guests would benefit from an area that sells sodas and snacks for the beach. I’d suggest packing lots of snacks or going to the supermarket, which is about ten minutes away. They provide two small water bottles for free on first day only. There is a mini fridge which was useful. A minor note: our bathroom provided shampoo but no conditioner, and the plastic containers were unlabeled and cumbersome. Coco Reef has many positive features and I hope they improve some issues to make it an outstanding spot to stay in Bermuda.
I had an absolutely wonderful time at Coco Reed right after Hurricane Ernesto hit the island last week. Honestly, you wouldn’t have even known that hurricane had just hit the island directly. The staff was lovely and the highlight of staying here is that the beach felt like there was nobody else on it the whole time. This may be due to the fact that elbow Beach next-door is currently closed so there are fewer people than normal that would be on Elbow Beach. When I had questions about using the bus, the receptionist helped me immensely and my recommendation is for you to buy a three day bus pass. It is the best and most affordable way to see the island but if you’re coming back from dinner late, make sure that you carry cash to pay your cab driver. There is a supermarket that is a 15 minute walk from the resort and I went and stocked up on a few goodies while I was there. A forewarning, be prepared for sticker shock. I bought a bag of chips, 2L of soda, two apples and a bottle of rum and it was $58. The beach was absolutely spotless and my room was comfortable, lovely and spacious. I couldn’t of asked for a better five days in paradise! One of the advantages to staying at Coco reef is that it is a small resort so you feel that the resort is empty even when it is completely full. I would thoroughly recommend this hotel to anybody who is looking to be on a beautiful beach have relatively easy access into Hamilton and be close to many options and sites that are on the island.
- Adrian V
