Valentines Resort & Marina

Hard to review this place since while staying here I learned that each room is individually owned and therefore the quality and upkeep may depend on what room you get. The property itself is lovely, the common areas well maintained. The pool is great for kids and families (not for couples looking for quiet or serene). Our one bedroom townhouse was clean, the master bath is luxurious, bed comfy and overall, the room looks like what you see in the hotel pictures. But, the rugs and upholstery were a bummer and really need to be changed out. It doesn't need a complete overhaul - its needs small upgrades and someone to take a look around and care. The kitchen is very poorly equipped with trashy pots and pans. Our stove was completely nonfunctional. I wouldn't stay here again but I wouldn't not recommend it since at average $750/night it's an "affordable" option if you have kids with you. The housekeeping staff is awesome - so kind and friendly and clearly work so hard - but keep in mind in general this is a self-service marina hotel.

For the steep rates we have been charged we were expecting superior service, which is not what we have received: On the first day, room cleaning was incomplete; the kitchen area was left entirely untouched. On the second day, no cleaning was conducted at all. Despite service staff arriving at 4:30 PM and promising to clean the room shortly after, it was never completed. Maintenance Issues: TV cabinet door broken and the terrace mosquito screen detached remained unresolved On our final night, the toilet flushing system failed. Upon inspection, I noticed severe rusting, which rendered the unit almost unusable. All these issues were detailed also in a mail to the manager, after a month my mail is still unanswered, is this the customer focus a top-notch hotel is proud of?

I booked Valentine's after checking out many, many places online throughout the Bahamas. Harbour Island is supposed to be fantastic, winning best island in the Carribbean from T&L, etc. So based upon that, I choose Valentine's. I'm not much of a resort person, we tend to stay in more boutique type places mainly because they usually have more character. We booked for 4 nights, Wednesday through Saturday, the first week of March 2009. We flew into Nassau and then took a very quick flight to North Eleuthera, about 15 minutes. The airport here is nothing more than a hut really. There are taxi services from the moment you get off the plane waiting to take you wherever. Your bags go straight from the plane to the taxi. One word of advice, the folks here survive off your tips and they're not shy about asking for them. For about $5 per person, the taxi driver will take you to the ferry to Harbour Island. It's about a 5 minute ride. Once at the ferry location, they take you and your bags onto a small motor boat. You usually will share the ride with a few other people. The fee is the same though, about $10 per person. Valentines is straight across the bay and since it's a marina, they can let you out right at the resort. On this particular day, there was no one to meet us as we got off the boat. We had to carry our bags to the front desk. Not a big deal really. Everything at Valentine's is brand new. I'm not sure when the place was built but it was recently. It's quite upscale but in a comfortable sort of way. Most of the guests here are farily well off and it shows in the room rates. Lots of boat owners (and not small boats, huge yachts in some cases), deep sea sport fisherman, etc. We booked a junior suite online through the hotel website. The rooms here are in a few separate buildings on the property. Some are first floor, some are second, all open directly to the outside. Our room was very nice, and like I mentioned, felt brand new. I would go so far as to say it seemed as though we were the first to stay (not true I'm sure, but it was very clean). Everything was tastefully decorated and beautifully kept. After the first night, though, we decided to upgrade to a 1 bedroom mainly because we were travelling with our 18 month old son. When he goes to bed at 8pm, we wanted to be able to put him to sleep in a separate room. We arranged for a crib from Valentine's but all they really have is a pack-n-play (parents will know the difference). Unless your child is very small, a pack-n-play is not comfortable for a night's sleep. I asked if they had any full size cribs. They do through a 3rd party service at a charge of $60/night. That was a bummer but what can you do? The 1 bedroom suite is worth the upgrade for both the space and the fact that it has a full kitchen. The junior suite has a mini fridge and a microwave. You'll find that you will actually want to make some of your own meals here. So the full size kitchen is a real asset. The pool is nicely

Valentine's is a very nice place. The room was comfortable, had a good bathroom, was clean and had a very good bed. Housekeeping was great, but the other services were limited (which may be how it goes on Harbour Island). There were a few minor things I would change; for example, they should have a full length mirror, they should put a pen in the room and they should enclose the mini-fridge so that it muffles some of the noise at night. But all in all, the room was good, with good closets and furniture. The patio was very nice and the bathroom had a pass-through style window into the room (which could be closed for privacy) to allow a water view from all areas. The room has WiFi (for free!), but whenever the electricity spiked or went off (just for a second), the internet went down and I needed to call the office. This happened a lot (welcome to the islands!). The clock radio also reset to flashing 12:00. These are little things, but the hotel could easily fix both with battery back-ups. One morning the hotel didn't have water for an hour. They were responsive and fixed it. The people are very nice. The restaurant for breakfast was slow and inaccurate - that area clearly needs work. Most important, the hotel fits very well with the very charming, peaceful and friendly atmosphere of Harbour Island. Unlike some other vacation spots in the Bahamas, Harbour Island is not even a little tacky or cheesy or commercialized (although it is expensive). And the blue water and beaches were off-the-charts.

In general, the property and staff were wonderful as you would expect at this price point. But the room itself left much to be desired: no full-length mirror, working lightbulbs, any hot water for the beautiful tub, light switches somewhat near the lights they controlled.

Island living with all of the amenities. The staff is very friendly and accomodating.