Mandarin Oriental, Canouan

Service and Staff: Guests consistently praise the hotel's staff for their professionalism, attentiveness, and warmth. Butler service is highlighted as particularly outstanding, with staff going above and beyond to ensure guests' comfort and needs are met.

The Mandarin Oriental Canouan is the best kept secret in the Caribbean for luxury travelers. The resort reopened only a few weeks ago after recovering from the devastating effects of Hurricane Beryl. The island is friendly and accommodating to tourists. The 1,200-acre Canouan Estate property is mostly a nature preserve with two private beaches in addition to the main beach at the resort. Shell Beach is still under repair. It is a vigorous 2.5-mi walk from the hotel, and offers a calmer Atlantic-side beach for swimming and water sports. L’Ance Guyac Beach, a short van ride to the Caribbean side of the island, features a quiet, protected cove for snorkeling as well as an open air French-inspired restaurant. The Mandarin staff will arrange excursions pretty much anywhere you wish to explore on the island. There is also an 18-hole golf course on the estate, but we did not play during this trip. We were delighted to be assigned a butler upon check-in. Our butler, Rayshorn, was incredibly helpful, and it’s clear that the Mandarin prioritizes customer service training for all of its associates. Our suite had a stunning ocean view with the ability to open the massive terrace doors to the enjoy the tropical breeze. We enjoyed a relaxing couples massage at the spa overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. While the property and amenities are 5-star, it’s really the people that make the place truly special. We will be back again and again.

The resort was helpful in making island airplane transfers from Barbados. The rooms are nice a large with great porches and views. They greet you by name and remember your preferences. I want to give a shout out to so many great staff like Landy, Feiona, and Jada who did so many thoughtful things. I know I’m forgetting lots of others. We are both vegetarians and the chef at Lagoon created special meals for us that were not on the menu that were AMAZING. The service at all the restaurants was outstanding. Also several managers stopped by to touch base. The main beach at the hotel was battling the seaweed coming in which is becoming a common problem all over the Caribbean. We were able to get a few days of good beach weather and clear water. We did the hike up Mount Royal with Erasto. He is so full of energy and made the hike fun safe and enjoyable. He was always checking on us at the pool and beach frequently to see if we needed more towels or drinks. Above and beyond. The only thing I think I that needs improvement was the room cleaning. It was kind of inconsistent in the quality. The toilet was dirty upon arrival and few other things I found not clean . The turn down service did a great job. The resort itself is very clean. I love that they do not use plastic bottles. I had minimum contact with the butler. I would at least expect a a daily check in by text see if I needed anything. We often just ended up making our own arrangements with front desk staff or to find out info about the resort. It was the easier option. We also took the Island tour with Gideon. So informative. The greatest thing about this hotel is that it is staffed mostly by the local community.