The Crane Resort

This hotel has a lot of potential but our stay was just ok. Positives: AC in our room worked really well. Pools and grounds are very pretty. Weather is amazing. All of the staff were really nice and there were pleasant surprises like free coconuts they’d hand out when they were pruning their coconut trees etc. They were able to extend our stay when all flights in the region were canceled and we had to stay an extra night. We had to pay for the night but still am glad they could find us a room. Negatives: Our room was not serviced for multiple days despite us leaving the “please service our room” sign up all the time. We had to request a service through the app finally on day 4 in order to get anyone to bother to come. This is highly unusual for a 4 star resort.. Not enough seating at the pool. Guests would leave their stuff to save spots for themselves and then not return until hours later. We have a young baby and would be stuck at the pool without any seating despite being the only ones there from 8-10 am. The hotel needs to find a way to manage this. The lunch restaurants on site would get overwhelmed by 12:45 pm and stop taking any more guests after that time. This is crazy and I’ve never seen it before. If you are at a 4 star resort there has to be some way for you to get food at 1 pm. Here they simply said sorry we can’t help you. Beach was full of seaweed the entire time we were there. Dinner reservations at the 4 dinner restaurants were quite hard to get, which meant you had to plan ahead. They should think about increasing restaurant capacity given this was the case most nights. Food and drinks were largely underwhelming despite high prices. They can improve the quality easily and make this a much more desirable resort. We tried every restaurant and the food was meh across the board. Room smelled like sewage much of the time. In conclusion - they need more capacity at their restaurants and pools if they plan to keep expanding the number of rooms they have here. They can also improve the experience of guests if they increase the number of cleaning staff so that our rooms get serviced more often. The beach seaweed is out of their control of course, but is something to consider when booking here. I’d have a hard time recommending this resort to friends based on my overall experience.

Love this place and its restaurants

The Crane Resort was immaculate and breathtaking. The employees are friendly and helpful and the food, especially the morning buffet. The beach, pool, grounds and buildings are generally well maintained. The value and quality of our apartment exceeded the price, especially as compared to other resorts in the region. Just be aware, the Crane is relatively far (inasmuch as things are "far" in Bim) from popular tourist hotspots and cities on the island. Be sure to reach out to book restaurant reservations well in advance of your stay