Harmony Club Hotel - pretty good, but don't go looking for gourmet food.
Written: Jul 30 '02 (Updated Jul 30 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: All inclusive. Near South Shore beaches.
Cons: Food is just so-so.
The Bottom Line: Harmony Club is an all-inclusive resort, and a good place for befriending other guests. Food quality is just OK. Location is near major South Shore beaches.
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| yippee1999's Full Review: Harmony Club |
I recently planned a spur-of-the-moment trip to Bermuda, having heard of a cheap airfare. I then started looking at hotels through the internet. The hotel with the best price for my dates of travel was the Harmony Club, so that's what I went with.
I travelled during the end of July 2002. The quoted rate for a (double-occupancy) room was $358, and that included all your meals, and unlimited drinks. In the end, I travelled alone, and was given a "break", and only had to pay $250.
HOTEL ENVIRONMENT
After making a tentative reservation over the phone with the Manager, I received a very nice email from him confirming my tentative reservation. I corresponded a few times with him over the next few days via email, as I confirmed my travel plans (would it in fact be just myself, or would I be coming with a travel companion?... etc.) He mentioned that he looked forward to meeting me upon arrival. I inferred that this was a boutique type hotel, due to the personal attention I already seemed to be receiving.
The outside of the hotel is pretty nice looking and well maintained. However, the interior could use some updating. There is one dining room where breakfast and dinner are served. Lunch is served in a more open patio type room with wicker furniture. The dropped-ceiling in that room had stains in certain areas, as well as some of the wall. The last day I was there, another leak had apparently occurred, as I saw a 1' hole in the ceiling, with a pile of towels on the floor below.
While the hotel itself had a nice "family" atmosphere, I think this is due to the nature of the hotel, and the fact that it is all-inclusive. Since hotel guests have already paid for all their meals and drinks, there is less incentive to venture away from the hotel. As a result, you start recognizing faces after a short time, so casual friendships are quickly formed. I'm not so sure the staff really has to do anything to create this atmosphere. It just happens naturally.
I noticed some guests "stocking-up" on drinks throughout the day. I guess they wanted to be sure they got their money's worth. This kind of set-up therefore dictates a certain mentality among some of the guests. While I never saw anybody getting wild or raucous, I don't care for an atmosphere where some folks try to get their money's worth via drinks.
Understandably, I imagine it is hard for the staff to keep up their enthusiasm, when each day new guests arrive, and old ones leave. I'm sure it becomes very routine after a while, constantly having to put on the "friendly Bermudian" front. While most of the staff were genuinely nice, I did get the sense from others that they were "bored". While I can understand this, it doesn't make for a nice environment for guests like myself who pick up on this negative energy. Also, since (as mentioned) you spend alot of time at the hotel itself, you notice it all the more. I guess I was just expecting a bit more of high class service, due to my first encounters with them over the phone and via email.
During my stay, the clientele mainly consisted of couples in their 40s or 50s, with a few younger couples in their early 30s. Their were no children while I was there. (Nor did there appear to be any facilities for children in the pool area.)
FRONT DESK
There is usually one person working at the Reception/Front Desk at a time. A few times I found no one there at all, and there is no bell for you to ring for service. You are expected to either come back later, or else call into the back room to see if someone can come out and assist you.
When I first arrived, after checking-in, I was not told about the free passes to Stonington Beach, nor was I told about the "fitness center", or where to go for the different mealtimes. I had to ask about all of this myself.
AMENITIES
The hotel has a pool with chairs, a sauna and a jacuzzi. There is also a putting green, and tennis courts out back.
Their website mentioned a "fitness center", but it's a bit misleading. I was told that the fitness center was located in Room #5. One day I decided to check it out, only to find that the door was locked. I went to the Front Desk to ask if I needed a key, and they said "yes", and gave it to me. I walked back to the room, only to find that the key did not work. When I explained this to the Front Desk, they made some comment that they sometimes have problems with it, and with that one of the guys said he'd bring the master key to let me in. He walked with me to the room, opened the door, and then left. The "fitness center" is actually a guest room into which they put a few machines (stairmaster, treadmill, and a few others) and some freeweights. All in all, my sense is that the fitness center was simply an afterthought by the hotel, and not something they care to update or even publicize to the guests.
Moped rentals are not available through the hotel. However, there is a place right around the corner from which you can rent a moped.
Free entertainment is provided a few nights a week, at the very least I know on Friday and Sunday evenings. On the one night I saw the entertainment, it was a 2-member band, who played "popular" songs. For what it was, they were a good band.
As previously mentioned, guests are entitled to free passes to Stonington Beach, which is a ten-minute walk from the hotel. The beach is quite small and has a private feel to it, which is nice. You also have use of the beach's chairs and umbrellas. Next to Stonington Beach are Elbow and Coral Beaches, and you are free to walk the entire length of them.
MEALS/DRINKS
I am a real "foodie", but at the same time, I realize that I cannot expect everyplace to live up to my standards. I guess I thought that Harmony Club's food, while not "gourmet", would be quite good. In a nutshell, I felt it was more like high-end cafeteria type food.
Breakfast was essentially served buffet-style. There were muffins, toast and bagels to choose from. Nothing fancy, but just OK. Of course there was always juice and coffee offered. Home fries, bacon and sausage were all available in heated urns. There was a grilling station where one could order pancakes, french toast or eggs of any style.
Lunch was self-serve, and available in the patio-style room. It always consisted of salad greens, a bean salad, rolls, and 2-3 warm dishes. Examples of the warm dishes would be pasta with tuna, pasta in tomato sauce, chicken in a tomato-based sauce, veal patties, or fish patties. All of this food was kept in heated urns. While everything tasted "OK", more than anything it was the lack of care or attention that bothered me the most. It seemed they were just cooking "slop" in the kitchen to feed the masses.
For dinner, you had your choice of about three appetizers, two salads or soups, and three or four entrees. I believe they also offered a few "healthy options" as well. Dinner was the highest quality meal of the day. The salads were usually quite good, and might contain baby spinach or arugula. For entrees, one night I got filet mignon. It was decent. Another night I got chicken breast in a cream sauce. I figured they couldn't screw up with chicken, but it was the blandest chicken I'd ever had, and didn't have a nice texture to it. Desserts were just OK. Each dinner course seemed to come out pretty quickly. I'd therefore assume that everything was cooked in advance just as the lunch meals were.
From what I could see via other guests, drinks certainly appeared to be unlimited and free-flowing. I think they had "machines" behind the bar that were constantly making/dispensing pina colada and margarita mixes.
THE ROOMS
The rooms were certainly nice enough. There was a TV with some (free) movie channels, and a radio with alarm. The bathroom had a blow dryer (although mine didn't work). The air conditioner/fan was easy enough to adjust/operate on your own.
My room was clean enough, although I felt more attention should have been paid to cobwebs (which is probably a common problem in MANY hotels). However, here it was really a problem, as I saw about 15 spiders during my 3-night stay.
VALUE COMPARED TO OTHER HOTELS
I understand that Bermuda hotels are always expensive, and I was told that $250 (for one person) was an excellent rate, seeing as it included all meals/drinks. But the down side to staying at an all-inclusive hotel is that, if the food is not good, you're more or less stuck eating it, unless you want to spend additional money eating elsewhere.
When I went to Stonington Beach, and walked through their hotel lobby, it appeared to be much more professional and upscale than the Harmony Club. In addition, I understand that the Stonington Beach Hotel is actually an extension of a hotelling school .... a school whose standards appear to be very high. I picked up one of the hotel brochures, and I believe the double-occupancy rate was around $400, just $42 more than the Harmony Club. So for those of you who are really into quality food, you need to decide what's more important to you: unlimited breakfast, unlimited lunch, dinner and unlimited drinks; or high quality food. The only possible downside to staying at places like Stonington is that the clientele might be more "snooty". You may not have as much "fun" as you would at Harmony Club. Again, only you can decide what's more right for you...
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
yippee1999
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Location: NY, NY - USA
Reviews written: 84
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
Chocolate.Public television.Foreign/indie film.Modern art.Int'l travel.Foreign language.Performance art.Cats.Birds.Butterflies.
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