Guest Report

[Avianne]

My boyfriend and I stayed at The Golden Thistle during the Carnival season in Trinidad. We stayed for 4 nights. Now, as everyone knows, it's difficult to get a place to stay in Tobago for the Carnival rush period. Thankfully, we found The Golden Thistle.

When we booked the place and paid the downpayment all was well.... Until curiosity swept over me and I began reading reviews on the place (will do this before next time). The reviews were poor and I felt like I didn't want to stay again. But we went.

When we arrived in Tobago we walked from the airport to the "hotel" and Michael (the owner) was waiting for us. He was okay but not very friendly, he wasn't bad but he was serious. He showed us to our room and we went in.

I was taken aback by the place, it was clean but it is in dire need of an upgrade. The bed had brown, spotted, lumpy pillow cases in need of some quality sponge. The sheets were dingy and the mattress was EXTREMELY uncomfortable! We never had a good night's rest. Plus the cleaner comes and knocks on the door every other morning at around 7am. She will not stop knocking unless you get up and open the door. If you are busy, she informs you that she will come back in 15 minutes. There's a DO NOT DISTURB sign we found on our last night.

On to the bathroom, it was clean (even though some places could use a good scrubbing) I had no serious complaints except I didn't like the fact that it is expected that water be used for only 5 minutes.

The kitchen, this was the worst! There were no proper seating except two old chairs (one plastic and one old wooden chair) and the table is built onto the wall. The plates, cutlery, cups, glasses and pots were old and mismatched. It's as though they collected the items from different sets, it was in poor taste to have two old plastic plates and very old pots. Also, people there is NO MICROWAVE, kettle, matches and dishwashing liquid! You have to go to the front desk and purchase matches or pay to reheat your food! I was not paying so I used the old pots to reheat all the food we brought. In addition, the little fridge does not close properly and it needs servicing as our drinks and food were not properly refrigerated and ice was not made.

The pool was also run down and in dire need of paint. The floor of the pool looks dilapidated (even though the water looked clean) the contrast was a turn off! We didn't bathe in the pool as it looked bad. Plus, no late at night swims folks, the pool locks off at 9pm.

The girl at the front desk and Aunty at the restaurant were fantastic! Very warm and pleasant! Aunty made you feel as though you are her own children. Her cooking is delightful and very flavourful! Real Tobagonian! She's a sweetheart.

The best thing about The Golden Thistle is the location. Everything is walking distance and it's a little set back away from the busy streets.

Other than the convenient location and Aunty at the restaurant I will not recommend this place to anyone. You can pay less and enjoy proper, cleaner facilities.