Coco Reef Resort - Review Page 6
Meal Plans
The Coco Reef Resort offers a wide range of accommodation plans from room only through all inclusive. So popular has this last option become that it is now rare to find a guest not on that plan. However, do not make the mistake of thinking that this means reduced standards.
According to the room notes, the hotel's all inclusive package includes the following:
Full Buffet Breakfast in Tamaras- Lunch at Bacchanals Restaurant
- Dinner in Tamaras or Bacchanals
- Soft Drinks, Juices, Bottled Water
- Beer, Local Brand Scotch Whisky, Dry Gin, Vodka and House wine by the glass
- Local rum-based alcoholic beverages (Pina Colada, Rum Cooler, Planter’s Punch, Rum Punch, etc.)
- Sailboats, Kayaks, Pedaloes
- Snorkeling Equipment
- Day/Night Tennis
- Exercise Room
- All Taxes and Gratuities
The package specifically excludes the following:
- Mini Bar
Bottled Wine or Champagne /Sparking Wine - Room Service Delivery Charge and Room Service Drinks
- Champagne, Fine Wine, Liqueurs and Cognac
- Picnic Baskets
- Dinner Supplements
- Laundry
- Telephone Calls
- Crown Terrace Tea and Coffee Service
In summary, the package includes everything one would consider reasonable.
Shopping
The hotel has a small arcade with a couple of boutiques selling dresses, local t-shirts and similar souvenir-wear, plus a gallery selling the unique and distinctive Cuban art that adorns the hotel. There is also a hairdressing salon and a small general boutique. Visitors wanting souvenirs may wish to read our article.
I accept that these boutiques have to make a profit, but the prices do seem to be over the top. Fortunately there are a number of regular shops within a short walk of the hotel.
Communications
The hotel provides direct-dial telephone facilities from every room.
The hotel offers limited Internet access through a chargeable system, with total access time being purchased in 10 minute, 30 minute, one hour or 7 day slots. A small room situated off the main lobby has two computers from which guests can collect and send web-based email. At this time, only the rooms immediately adjacent to the lobby area enjoy a wireless Internet connection.
An Internet café (and combined laundrette) is located immediately adjacent to the hotel at more reasonable rates. See our articles on communications and Internet for further details.
Repeaters
The Coco Reef Resort places very great store on customer loyalty. And rightly so!
I have seen Internet reader reports, both on myTobago.info and elsewhere, voicing displeasure at the ‘special treatment’ given to repeat guests at the hotel. The complaining visitors often accuse the staff of being insincere and say that their apparent friendliness is simply to cultivate gratuities. Frankly, words fail me and I will refrain from voicing opinion on those who have visited the hotel and yet believe such sentiments.
Yes, the Coco Reef does ‘look after’ repeaters – and the more often you visit, the better you will be looked after I imagine. Doesn’t that apply at every good vacation hotel? If not, then frankly those establishments don’t deserve repeat business. Do the detractors complain about the friendlier, more personal, greeting they get at their local restaurant or pub? Do they feel that this is discriminatory? Get real!
The bottom line is that repeaters are visitors who have “connected” with the hotel’s employees and, probably, Tobagonians in general. Once you’ve unlocked that initial reserve of Tobagonians, the friendliness is invariably totally genuine. The Coco Reef is Tobago’s premier hotel and being employed there carries a certain cachet. Consequently the hotel attracts the best employees and has a low staff turnover. You would be surprised at the number of employees with more than 10 years’ service. Returning to a hotel is a complement, so it is hardly surprising that many staff members remember repeaters and make a fuss when they return. The ‘special treatment’ given to repeat guests is not just a hotel-imposed policy or good job training – it is evidence of the very characteristics that makes so many of us fall in love with Tobago.
Conclusion
The Coco Reef Resort does not pretend to be a 7-star Dubai-type hotel and travellers seeking that sort of establishment would be advised to avoid disappointment and forget both Tobago and the Caribbean generally, and stick to the Middle or Far East.
The hotel quotes a repeat rate of 46%+. During our recent stay, I didn’t meet any first timers, although they must have been some there. Everyone I chatted to seemed to have three or four visits under their belt.
Owner, John Jefferis, once commented: “Our guests come to the Coco Reef, not Tobago”. It’s taken a few years to convince me.
In our 2002 review, we commented:
“In conclusion we would confirm that the Coco Reef Resort is undoubtedly a fine hotel and it is hardly surprising that it is without question the most popular luxury hotel on Tobago. Only time will tell whether the popularity of the hotel will be its undoing and whether or not it can manage to retain the very high percentage of 'repeaters' we encountered each time we stay at the hotel"
Well, we need not have expressed any concern and can only end by repeating most of our 2006 re-review conclusion:
“So, how did we find it four years later? Well, the hotel looks in tip-top condition and it is obvious that considerable effort goes into maintenance and general presentation. The attention to detail has improved tremendously, with little features like the petal-decorated messages on the bed adding a lovely personal touch. The excellence of the staff remains the hotel’s crowning glory.”
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