If you have kids and are concerned about suitable hotels in Tobago to go stay as a family, I will recommend Rex Turtle Beach as a good option. I must admit that I visit Tobago very often. It is such a wonderful island blessed by all the facets of a tropical paradise. I've stayed many times to the south west of the island in the Crown Point-Pigeon Point area and I genuinely did not know about Rex Turtle Beach till I read about it on Trip Advisor, during my search to find somewhere different to stay in Tobago. In fact the hotel is on "Turtle Beach" a beach where every year nesting turtles come to lay their eggs and eggs hatch and little hatchlings return to the sea. In fact I was informed that sea turtles always come back to the place they are born to lay their eggs no matter how far they travel at sea. Turtle Hatching season is in March I believe, and I am definitely taking my kids back to witness this marvel.

So upon driving into Rex, I wondered what exactly I was getting myself into. The place looked very dated on the outside, but as I entered the lobby area I realised that it was really what made the place charming. The hotel was built, I'm guessing here, late seventies early eighties and the physical design has not lost this charm. The hotel is by no means a posh refined five star establishment but it has a certain character to it that makes it very charming. The hanging pink bouganvillea flowers and open air lobby was very inviting. From the lobby you can see the lagoon like swimming pool which is absolutely majestic and the best that I've seen in any resort I've stayed in Tobago. The hotel is situated right on the beach.

The rooms were big for hotel rooms. There was a flat screen T.V. and very unique furniture which looked like they were made with weaving rope. Very environmentally edgy decor, I might add. The artificial lighting in the rooms however, are very dim, but I was informed by a manager that it was part of their eco policy to use as much natural lighting as possible, so during the day if you simply draw the curtains in your balcony the room is illuminated perfectly. In the night the lighting is dim but if you need to get ready or something the bright lighting in the bathroom is perfectly adequate.

We chose the all inclusive package which I must admit I would recommend you take if you are staying here. The meals had very healthy options and was very delicious. The dessert options could be improved. The cakes are a bit dry. The wait staff were polite but could be a lot more friendly. The restaurant is very big and offers out door seating as well but the decor of the restaurant could be a little refined.

All in all, my stay at Rex was great. My kids had a fun time at the pool and waking up in the morning and going on the beach to see the fishermen pull in their nets with their catches. As a parent with young children, I was very impressed with how environmentally forward this hotel is. It is not fancy or over flowing with gluttony as so many resorts are. They are simple, adequate and gives you the ability to teach your kids about a green lifestyle and appreciate things such as nature in a beautiful tropical setting rather than all the man made excesses which the rest of the world seems to be so caught up in. The setting is very family oriented and if you simply need a time out with your family this is the perfect place to be.

Second holiday at Rex and we'll be going again. Don't go if you want 5* for 3* money which is what some of the complainers seem to have a problem with. The hotel is in need of a refurb but I hope they don't or the price will go up. Rooms are clean, air con worked efficiently, bed comfy, staff with the very odd exception helpful and cheery - particularly Lincoln and Jason. Food varied, meat good quality, if you hate spiced food you could have a problem but we loved the local lentil stew, channa and potato and I felt very virtuous every morning with my porridge. We had room 254 at the far end beach quiet. The sea does have quite strong breakers which we enjoyed but perhaps not for non swimmers.
We had two trips with Peter Cox (the birdman) and can heartily recommend him. Just looking for a good deal to go again in April to see the turtles - anyone know how low we can get the price down and how???

This is our third visit to Turtle Beach. We returned because it's location is superb, right on the beach. The food used to be mediocre but has much improved and is of good pub grub quality. The Front desk and restaurant staff used to be unhappy but now mostly seemed well motivated and happy to help. The bar staff varied from happy and helpful to miserable and uncommunicative. The rooms are still rather tired just a lick of paint on the interior and exterior doors would make a big difference. When we arrived we were given the wrong room and were half way through unpacking when we were told. The new room was larger and had a safety deposit box. All rooms should have these so beware, not all rooms are the same. The staff kept the room clean and changed towels whenever we wished. TV is flat screen and wall mounted but channels were very poor (don't expect Sky) but are you really here to watch TV! Hotel entertainment is of the mediocre variety but again did you come for that. Some areas that need improvement are:
- the tea/coffee station in a dark corner right next to a swing door - a light would help.
- sunloungers are getting past their sell by date
- A weekly clean up of the beach would make a big difference to those of us who sit on the beach not by the pool.
- Windsurfing was advertised but no windsurfing equipment was present, because of the rough sea this was not an issue but I would have been very annoyed if it had been calm.
One area which is still good is the gardens, but a replanting of the orchid wall would produce a spectacular feature.
To sum up this is not a 5 star hotel but you don't pay for one. The food is of good quality, the rooms are clean but basic and the staff generally helpful. The location is superb but the beach a little untidy.

Turtle Beach by Rex resorts – Tobago

Where to start?! The hotel is very tired and desperately in need of refurbishment. ( yes we know it only rates as a 2.5 / 3 * , but we have stayed at 3 * in Cuba , Sir Lanka , Egypt , Barbados and Costa Rica in the last 5 years and all were in much better condition.

Bedrooms - The bedrooms are dark, dated, cracked tiles, noisy air conditioning , dirty windows. The beds are fairly comfortable and there is a flat screen tv that shows Disney channel and HBO Family of you need to get your children out of the sun for an hour! It is impossible to have a shower at the end of the day that is a constant temperature. It is either scalding hot or freezing cold. We had a 6 year old with us and were unable to put her in the shower at all. After a couple of days we requested a move to a room with a bath. The water temperature was not better but we could run a bath for our daughter!
I spoke to the maintenance man about this and he said it’s always a problem and lots of guests complain about it.

Reception area - Ok. Nothing special. Again could do with a refurb. Reception staff – hopeless! To say they live on the island, they know nothing about it and were unable to even find a telephone number for our car hire company! There faces dropped when they saw you walkng towards them , I suspect because they were getting lots of complaints.

Dining – Again ok. We actually thought the Indian Head Chef did a good job with what must have been a very tight budget! and the waiting staff are nice. There was a good selection of nice curries. The BBq was good. Fish was always overcooked and no shell fish at all. The salads were not very varied and there was only ever 3 to choose from. You would expect an abundance of fruit at breakfast time but there was only ever watermelon, papaya and occasionally pineapple. Bananas also made an occasional appearance. Wine – the white was undrinkable, the rose was never available and the red was just about passable. Coffee was very weak.

Pool – the pool itself was fine. It needed some minor repairs but no big deal. The bar staff around the pool... again it often felt it was all too much trouble for them. Serving drinks was secondary to texting on their phone one bar men would not even speak to you, that said Raoul, Mark and Kachchief were lovely!
Watersports – The girls running this were nice enough. Not always there on time but no problem changing towels when they were. There are some sit on top Kayaks. A couple we met were keen to take the Hobi cat out but nobody was available to rig it. In the end the girl recommended my husband to do it for them as he has done a fair amount of sailing but obviously he didn’t (health and safety nightmare). They got out in the end but it took 2 weeks!

Entertainment – Dire! DJs or very average club style singers most nights. The exception here was that one evening Katzenjammers played (the local steel band) and they were fantastic! Why they don’t have more Caribbean style entertainment I don’t know.
Kids Club – available for aged 4 to 12 years twice a day from 10am until 12 and 2pm until 4pm. The reality; it was only available for 3 two hour sessions for the whole 2 weeks we were there , we asked every day and there was always an excuse as to why there was no one to run it. We took our daughter out of school to go on this holiday so I didn’t expect there to be lots of other kids which is why we insist on a kids club so that we have a bit of a break and it hasn’t been a problem anywhere else!

Beach – not great! The beaches further down had whiter sand and clearer sea and you could see more when out snorkelling ( Buccoo , Store Point ect). Nothing to see off our beach although it was fun watching the fisherman landing their catch most days. The beach has piles of rubbish that were half heartedly swept up and then left in a pile right outside the hotel’s beach access for the duration of our holiday. Nobody could be bothered to clear it away. No surprise there!

This review, I realise, is very scathing and to be honest we could forgive an awful lot of the above if the Hotel staff had been outgoing, friendly, helpful etc. We felt like a burden rather than guests!

Tobago – the island itself is nice. We hired a car for 2 days. They drive on the left so it’s very easy. You can cover the whole island in a day. It has quite a lot of interesting history.

We did a couple of trips:-
Buccoo Reef Boat trip – you don’t need to book this through your hotel. Drive or taxi down to Store Point and buy a ticket ( 100 TT dollars per person). You get to snorkel out on the reef and swim in the Nylon Pool. It’s a nice way to spend the morning.

Rainforest – We can highly recommend Peter Williams a local tour guide who knows a huge amount about birds and a fair bit about the other wildlife. He can also fill you in on the island’s history. The trip has an early start. He picks you up at 6am so that you see as much wildlife as possible. You drive in an open backed jeep which is a great way to see everything. We went out on the Atlantic Highway. We saw crocodile, Cayman and many species of birds. You take a walk into the rainforest (he provides wellies; it’s very muddy) and down to a waterfall where he feeds the crayfish coconut. He was keen to go on to see the owls and then to Argyle Falls but our 6 year old was quite tired by then so he drove us back along the Caribbean side and he knew lots of the island’s history. If you did his trip you wouldn’t need to do an island tour as he covers a lot of it. The trip was £45 each and our daughter was free.

Seahorse Restaurant – Next to Grafton Beach and absolutely stunning. 10 minutes from Turtle Beach by taxi. I wish we had discovered it earlier in the holiday as we would have gone again. Beautiful location. Fantastic food and great wine list. I finally got to eat seafood!
Conclusion – We had a nice holiday in spite of the hotel. Would we return to Tobago? Probably not. It’s a small island and we saw what we wanted to so no need to return. Turtle Beach by Rex Resorts was very disappointing. We would not stay at a Rex Resort Hotel anywhere based on this experience. This one needs a huge cash injection and I imagine the others are the same. ( In fact there were 4 people on a free holiday from Virgin after they stayed in the Rex Resort on St Lucia and it was so bad)