Villa Vida Mejor East Pool & Spa: 2 Bedrooms, Sleeps 5

This was our 3rd trip to Barbados and 2nd time staying at this villa. We arrived for our 2 week vacation to have a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card welcoming us back from Carlton, the owner. That should be enough to just fall in love with Barbados and this villa!! We absolutely LOVE the amenities, the location and of course Carlton, the owner. Keep in mind, Limegrove Lifestyle Centre (http://www.limegrove.com/exploreLG.php) is right around the corner from the Villas…. If you love to shop – all I can say is Oh My Gosh!!! You have Cartier, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton… Heaven!! As a family of 4 (2 boys – 1 teen and 1 preteen), we love this villa and the room / space that we have. The open concept is phenomenal as we can be in the kitchen cooking and still talk to anyone in the family room, dining room, pool or on the computer. With the tropical trees and flowers surrounding the villa and pool area is gorgeous. It is so relaxing and truly confirms that you are on vacation! The green monkeys came to visit, which is another favorite of the villa. The monkeys come to grab the mangos and star fruit from the trees surrounding the villas. The maintenance of the house is great – Carlton is around if there is any issues, someone is cleaning the pool and having someone clean the villa every other day was so nice (as sand gets everywhere). Having laundry on site is also such a great amenity. We can't wait to go back next year - and hopefully with several family members!
Carlton - Thank you for all your accommodations and going over the top to ensure our vacation is memorable and perfect.

Barbados Overall - Island, Food, People
Anyone looking to go to Barbados for their first time - you will love it. The island locals are so friendly; the island is clean and has so many beautiful aspects. We went through the Harrison Caves and I highly recommend it. Also - any beach you are going to be amazed by the blue water and the beautiful fish! Those with families stay on the west side as the Atlantic side is very rough and can be unswimmable at times.

The Roti Hut is a MUST. They make AMAZING rotis and it is just south of the villa.

We had read the reviews of the four properties owned by Carlton and everything seemed fine BUT THIS WAS NOT THE CASE Two weeks before we were to leave for our holiday we received an email to say the accommodation had been DOUBLE BOOKED We were offered an alternative which was in a flat in a building on the beach. Carlton was very keen for us to move from his villa and at one stage even said we could cancel if we wanted! In the end he offered us a car for five days as the flat was not within walking distance of Holetown. Once we agreed to move to the other accommodation he then emailed again and said you can stay one night in the villa and then move to the apartment. This did not seem sensible and at that point I phoned his mobile in Barbados and spoke to him and he agreed to change his mind. Then a few days before we left he sent me a note of the balance due and wanted to charge for the Paypal fee he had occurred when we had paid on line. All this made us very nervous.
When we arrived he collected us from the port and took us to the apartment. This was indeed very high quality and overlooked the sea. However the wi fi did not work and this was an essential requirement as my husband had work to do on one of the days of our holiday. So Carlton then took us to his villa. We were very disappointed with the villa. It was nothing like the standard we had expected. The garden area was overlooked and the property next door had their radio blaring out the evening we were there and the following morning.I was so upset because of all this difficulty and all that Carlton seemed to want was for me to pay him the balance. He expected cash which this website advises against and I told him I had to pay him on line with Paypal. he then told me I had to pay these PayPal charges as well as the balance. I just wanted to get out of the villa and go to the apartment by the sea and I had had enough so I agreed to pay half of the car hire charges to get him to agree to take us there. THIS WAS BECOMING A NIGHTMARE. I also found that I paid more than half for the car.
We did not trust Carlton nor most of what he said. We eventually found out that we could have rented a one bedroom apartment in the block where we stayed for less than HALF what we had paid him. It was very poor value for us.
WE WERE VERY DISAPPOINTED AND FELT IT WAS SUCH A LOT OF HASSLE AND ARE CONSIDERING PUTTING IN A COMPLAINT NOT ONLY TO PAYPAL BUT ALSO TO THE HOMEAWAY WEBSITE AND OUR CREDIT CARD COMPANY

Although we have been to Barbados several times before this was the first time we stayed at this villa. The description given is accurate and the location is as good as it says. if anything the photos fail to show how large the bedrooms are. Supermarket , garage shops and restaurants and bars are all within easy walking distance and bus stops are near also. We have seen many changes in Barbados over the years but the Surfside bar on the beach in holetown still cooks wonderful bajan fish cakes and is as friendly and relaxing as always.
Clinton is very informative and helpful and is justifably proud of the villas. i would recommend this villa.