For our stay on St Vincent we originally booked the Paradise Beach hotel. A few weeks before our holiday started, we got an e-mail that Paradise Beach was under new management and they were cancelling our reservation.

Because we were staying in a number of beachside hotels during our trip in the Caribbean , we thought it would be nice to stay in a lively Caribbean town with nice little restaurants. Because of its proximity to the center of Kingstown we selected the Grenadine house.

Kingstown however is not a lively Caribbean town with nice little restaurants, it’s a hectic place with hardly any nice little restaurants. Apart from the restaurant in the Grenadine House the places we liked best were KFC and Subway…. As we were touring the island, we found out that we would have preferred to stay at the Villa Beach area with the Paradise Beach hotel and the Beachcomber. We selected the Grenadine house because of its proximity to the center but realize it is on a steep hill and at night the walk to/from town is a little bit spooky.

The hotel itself is in a nice old restored colonial building. We had room 20 which was a spacious deluxe room with seaview, probably the nicest in the hotel. It was very clean, well furnished and had an extremely nice view of the see and the island Bequia in the background. Because there was not a lot to do in town at night, the long list of television channels available was an absolute plus!

Reception and the rest of the staff were very friendly and helpful during our stay. Also bonus points for them.

As this is not a cheap hotel, you expect something nice for breakfast even though only continental breakfast is included in the room rate. However, we got two very small pieces of toast and a tiny croissant (one morning they told us they didn’t even had the tiny croissants any more), one tiny cup of butter for the three of us, only one type of jelly and no cheese or meat, a very small fruitplatter and some coffee. On our last day there was a conference and suddenly there was some kind of breakfast buffet: they seem to cater more to business groups than to individual tourists.

Because we couldn’t find a decent restaurant in town, we dined in the hotel at the Sapodilla room a number of nights. Food was ok but didn’t come close to what was suggested on the website and it was extremely expensive for the quality you got.

Although we didn’t like Kingstown, we did like the rest of St Vincent. We rented a taxi for a day and saw a lot of nice sites like the botanic garden (ask for professor Sinclair, a super guide well worth the EC 10 per person you have to pay), fort Charlotte, Mesopotamia Valley, the beaches and the Salt pond. The official price is USD 30 per hour but we got a discount and payed EC 60 (EUR 15) per hour.

The swimming pool was nice but as another example that the Grenadine House caters more to business groups than to tourists: they rented out the pool to schools during the day, so our daughter could not swim in the morning or early afternoon.

For us the conclusion was clear: both Kingstown and the hotel are not really for tourists and next time we would stay at a different area on the island.

Stayed for 3 nights for business in Kingstown. For what I've seen this was the best hotel I could have picked. Don't expect the big business like hotels in St. Vincent. This one is clean, nice professional staf, walking distance from downtown, good rooms and beds, free internet, etc. It's a bit difficult to find, but that is a one-time issue. Make sure you book a room with a balcony (yes, their website says all of their rooms, but that's not true), if you can spent the extra dollars.

It's our second visit to Grenadine House - twice in about four months - and we're here on business. But whether you're here for business or on holiday Grenadine House is a great experience - relaxed, laid-back, attentive and enjoyable. I also think that it represents good value for money.

We travel a great deal - too much perhaps - and we look for as hassle-free existence as is possible; Grenadine House supplies that in a friendly, enjoyable manner and so I have no hesitation in recommending the place.

A delightful and attractive old colonial building, a haven as a base in St Vincent.
A short walk into the main town - 10 mins. approx -(uphill on the return journey)
Lovely views, great value and fantastic staff. The receptionists devoted much time and effort to helping with our sightseeing and onward flights / ferries - so grateful to them.