Sibonné Beach Hotel — Hotel in Providenciales

I recently stayed at the Sibonne for my first visit to Turks & Caicos. ||The best thing about this place is the proximity to the beach. This is the cheapest hotel on Provo that directly faces a beach. And the travel guidebooks aren't kidding; Grace Bay Beach is one of the most magnificent white sand beaches in the world. Its soft white sand and gorgeous turquoise water is well worth the cost. You will never forget it.||The hotel's circular swimming pool is small but immaculate and in excellent condition; it was probably completely renovated at some time in the last decade. ||The hotel is relatively small and intimate, and not crowded at all, as opposed to other TCI resorts which are much larger and sprawling, and have lots of people walking around.||The room was clean and well-maintained, but definitely an older room. The bed was comfortable and I slept well. ||The rooms are remarkably well-insulated from each other and other exterior noises. It is impossible while inside to hear noises from adjacent rooms or the construction next door from the St. Regis Residences. The air conditioning in the rooms is very effective and not too noisy. ||The staff are friendly, warm, and hardworking. ||Now, the downsides, which is what we all read Tripadvisor for. ||I generally try to book relatively new hotels to avoid "old hotel" smell. Unfortunately, in this situation I had no choice but to go with this older hotel because it is all I could afford. ||The room did have an unpleasant "old hotel" smell, which I was able to get used to after a few minutes each time, but it was still annoying. This is why I normally stay at the big hotel chains when I can afford them, because in my experience they are better than small independent hotels at minimizing such smells. ||The bed frame had visible signs of rust, which looked awful. ||The room decor and fixtures appear to be old-fashioned aging relics of the 80s. ||The pool is way too small, meaning that to swim laps, I had to swim in circles which was dizzying. I was able to get lots of swimming done during my stay, but it would have been nicer if they had rebuilt the pool to a larger size and a more conventional rectangular shape. ||The hotel has an annoying policy of locking the gates from 10 pm to 8 am, rather than staffing the front office all night. If you need to get in or out outside of those hours, it is possible to bypass one of the gates through a long detour, but that was annoying. ||Because the hotel is small, it has no fitness center or the other kinds of amenities normally seen at beachfront hotels. Its two major amenities are the on-site restaurant, the Bay Bistro, and the swimming pool. ||There is construction in progress at the St. Regis Residences from about 8 am to 4 pm each day. There is no pause for weekends or national holidays. It is relatively mild construction noise in the sense of hammers and saws, and it can be heard only when outside, not inside. It is relatively distant, but it is still annoying. ||It is not the kind of thing one wants to hear on vacation while lying around the pool or on the beach while trying to relax. So I did not do either on this vacation. Instead, I focused on swimming laps and on taking long walks along Grace Bay Beach and Long Bay Beach. ||For any other location, I would have given a hotel like this a rating of three due to its aging interiors. It is seriously overdue for renovation and redecorating, so that its interiors could look more contemporary and smell nice. It would be even better if the owner could tear it down and build a slightly larger hotel on the same site with a larger swimming pool. ||But after thinking about this very carefully, I have to concede that a clean, quiet room with a comfortable bed near such a beautiful beach is definitely worth something, so I am assigning a...

Pros: 1.The 3 Stars and not 1 is due to how well Ms. Stacy, Ms. Pansy, and Ms. Ismay took care of me. All of the restaurant and maintenance staff were also so sweet and accommodating, but those ladies just took it above and beyond. The love and care that the ladies exude for the guests will be unforgettable. In all of my travels, I've never come across the hospitality and decorum of these ladies.

The food was spectacular.

The beach acces was great.

10-15min walk from town with shops and food. The hotel does have bike rentals!

Cons: There's been reviews complaining about the cleanliness and ants since 2015 and Mngment has not done anything to try and remedy the situation.

I would give 1 star, 0 if I could, for the Housekeeping. My shower was not cleaned before or during my 4 night stay. There was hair and black stuff all on the shower walls, floor, seat, and the bottles of used toiletries. I informed the front desk of this 2 different days and they addressed it to Housekeeping immediately. Housekeeping still did not clean. I confronted the Housekeeper with the short cut, 1 day and she acted like I was stupid. I told her that my shower had not been cleaned since I been there and she said she cleaned it 2 days ago. I then pointed out the black stuff that has been there since day 1 and the soap that has not been moved. She told me that there will always be black stuff because of the bugs that molt...she was 2 doors down, so my room had just been "cleaned" so why was it still there?!!? Then I pointed out the mountain of sand that I left behind from the night before and she blamed a different Housekeeper for not cleaning my shower that day. The other Housekeeper came and all she did was wipe some of the sand down the drain. She had a bottle of cleaner with her, but did not use it. Didn't even use any water. There was still sand left behind. Maybe their definition of clean is different from the US. I left dead gnats on my vanity around the sink and they were never wiped off. Bath mirror never cleaned. Just pure laziness. If you don't like sanitization, then this is the place for you.

Let's get to the bugs. I guess they're native gnats. Tiny flying bugs that are attracted to light. Hundreds of them appeared ever night at sundown and then most would die and be all over the floor in the morning. They were on my pillows, in my sheets, on/in my suitcase. I feel like they should have split the bill with me. Management should consider investing in some Zevo lights or something to help with this. There was an ant infestation in my bathroom. They were all over the vanity day and night.

There's a 2in gap under the door. I stuffed a towel under it to keep mosquitos and lizards out. The rooms are open to the outside, they could at least have a screen door in place.

I would not stay here again, but would come for dinner to see the ladies and the great food and...

Lovely little hotel right on Grace Bay Beach. It is a little dated, but very clean and welcoming. Our room was a decent size with a very beachy decor. Everything we needed, safe, mini fridge, microwave and coffeemaker. Comfortable king bed. Daily maid service, two bottles of water replenished daily. We had a balcony that looked down over a lovely courtyard and a partial beach view. The rates are extremely reasonable by any standard, and especially for this island, which is quite expensive. Truthfully, we were not expecting much, our last few beach vacations were at all inclusives and we got kind of used to all that goes with that. The Sibonné was a pleasant surprise. Our room was nice, the beach was fabulous and mere steps from the door. Chairs and umbrellas were easy to come by, no having to rush down to save them. Towels are available at the front desk. Because it’s such a small hotel, I think around 20 rooms, the beach is not at all crowded. The pool is a very small round pool, no one seems to use it. If you are a pool person, don’t go here. But with the gorgeous beach here, why bother with the pool? There is a restaurant and bar on the property. We ate breakfast here every day and it was quite good, not cheap, but no more than anyplace else. We ate dinner here once and it was fine, but not great. Service was good, very attentive. High season, no children allowed at the hotel, Low season only children 12 and up. I must say I think kids would be bored here. Seemed to be mostly older people and a few young couples here. We are in our 70’s and walked to town one day, about 20 minutes. We also walked to the Thursday fish fry, straight down the road. (less than 10 minutes) which we really enjoyed. Lots of food, souvenirs, music. Sure it’s a bit touristy, but there were a lot of locals there too. It was fun. Walking back in the dark felt quite safe as there were so many people walking too. Also police presence. |There is a big construction site next door, a shame really. I was a little worried, but we did not find it at all intrusive. A three minute walk down the beach will get you to Hemingway’s at the Sands resort. We ate dinner here and loved it, but I would stick to Bay Bistro for breakfast, much better choices and food, plus the morning ocean view. All in all a lovely little basic beach hotel. I would...