Verdict: We would *not* recommend this hotel - pricy for what it is and we had problems with the hotel manager... Read on.

We stayed at the Candyo in January 2002 in an apartment - 2 rooms with kitchen paying US $90 night.

The rooms were clean and reasonably well kept and the staff are friendly, but the facilities are basic. The kitchen provided fridge, cupboards, basic cooker+oven, kettle, sink, and some utensils. The hot water system at the Inn is erratic - you'll need to choose the times you want to shower or bath to avoid having only cold water and even then you may suddenly get sprayed with cold water. The apartment doesn't include a washing machine, nor is there a machine available for guests to use, but we were told that we could ask the cleaner who serviced our room to do our washing, or use a nearby washing service. If you do your own washing, bring your own washing line to use on your balcony. The towels and sheets were clean but worn. There is a pool which is badly in need of painting, and a small bar. Our room had cable with around 10 to 15 channels. Air conditioner in the bedroom only.

The area that the Inn is in is excellent and I would definitely recommend Rodney Bay as a good holiday location. It's about 10 minutes walk from the beach, in a group of of other similar motels and restaurants. (Look here for a map and a list - http://www.geocities.com/thetropics/cabana/7071/Surrounds.htm) The beach itself is lovely - white sand and warm deep-blue water. There is a nearby mall where there is a supermarket. The restaurants along the road to the beach are very good. You should definitely try the two that make local cuisine at local prices - The Triangle. We thought they made great food. Also within a few hundred yards is Elenas - they make excellent ice-cream.

You should not use the hotel phone system to connect to the internet or to make any calls you think may not be local. Instead walk down to the internet cafe about 200m away. We used the published Cable and Wireless dial-in number, and were presented with the largest phone bill I have ever seen in travelling 18 countries; the St Lucian phone system and specifically the set up of the hotels PBX apparently makes it possible to dial premium rate numbers which look as if they were local numbers. The manager of the hotel did not deal with our problem in a reasonable or helpful way, and it took half a day of my time to talk to Cable and Wireless, in order to find out that the fault lay with the Inn, even then the manager was not prepared to admit fault. We felt as if we were ripped off.

Overall: Over-priced for the facilities, and beware of the phone system. Rather choose one of the other small hotels in the area.