TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

I stayed at Van der Valk for four nights during the Christmas holiday last month. Unfortunately, nearly every aspect of my stay was a disappointment. I would absolutely not return to nor recommend this property. Below I describe my experience and outline the reasons why. I had arranged transfer from the airport to the hotel in advance. When I arrived, no one was there to meet me. After about five minutes, someone did arrive with a sign with a long list of names. Although I had my bags and was ready, I had to wait 30 minutes for a huge family who were all traveling together. Given that the hotel was five minutes away, I would have preferred separate transfer for myself individually. Waiting needlessly in the hot sun for thirty minutes at the airport was my first taste of the hospitality of Van der Valk. At check-in I was told no less than three times about the special holiday calendar with a QR code to scan for details. When I scanned and inquired about some of the specific events, the staff did not know any details. This was a very common occurrence. Most of the front desk staff I interacted with during my visit seemed woefully untrained and did not have helpful answers to my simple questions. I was given an envelope with instructions for the property in Dutch, despite being an English speaker, which I discovered upon arriving to my room. When I returned to the front desk to request instructions in English, the staff seemed scrambled, what should have been a simple request, took about 10 minutes. I purchased the all-inclusive package in advance, unaware that this entitled me to eat only at one large, overcrowded buffet restaurant and a pair of very small, understaffed pool bars. There was often a crowd among the main pool bar, with groups of people jostling for drinks, which was very unpleasant. Getting a drink often took up to 30 minutes. I discovered the second pool bar at the other part of the property and would often walk 10 minutes to that bar just to avoid the wait. Most of the pool bar staff at both locations seemed miserable and annoyed to be working there. The man at the infinity pool bar audibly sighed a couple of times when I approached the bar to ask for a drink. I felt like a burden and annoyance, just for existing, to the majority of the wait staff during my time at Van der Valk. My first night I approached the restaurant and was asked if I had a reservation. I gave my room number and the short blond woman manning the hostess station yelled at me to go to the back of the restaurant. I was confused and asked again. She waved her hand in my face and told me to go to the back again. I had seen other people lead to a table and was confused but she kept yelling to go sit down. I went and just sat myself at an empty table and eventually a surly server came over to ask me for my drink order. I asked for the menu and she laughed at me and said there was no menu. I didn’t realize that it was only a buffet restaurant at all meals – no one had explained this to me. I ordered wine which never arrived. This was common. Service in the buffet restaurant was very slow and and often non-existent. The restaurant, like the rest of the resort, seemed incredibly understaffed. The food at the restaurant was fine, if repetitive. The food is Dutch, which means lots of mayonnaise-based salads and meats with various sauces. The buffet itself was housed in a small room which was overcrowded with guests pushing in and out of each other’s way to get food from stations that were often empty as the staff struggled to keep up with the demand. Mealtime was something I came to dread because of this. It was very stressful. I hoped to book an excursion or massage during my visit, but the front desk did not do this. Instead, they sent you to a small office which was often empty. A couple of times I tried to go there were people working who were yelling on the phone and seemed unapproachable. There were often many other people waiting. I gave up on trying to schedule anything a couple of days into my stay, which was a disappointment on my end and seems like a missed opportunity for them. The TV in my room did not work. I asked the front desk why and they said that there was a signal issue that the island was working to resolve. This was also very disappointing as the property offered no entertainment or events at night. For the price I paid for my stay, to not even have a working TV in my room added insult to injury. To escape the frenetic buffet, I booked the special five course Christmas dinner. I indicated a shellfish allergy on my reservation, which was ignored when I was served the shrimp bisque as my second course. The dinner began nicely enough and was a calm respite from the buffet, but after they served the fourth course only three hours after I had been seated, I chose to leave early, as had the guests at the other two tables next to me. In addition, just as at the buffet restaurant, my wine and water glass often sat empty, and the staff seemed annoyed to refill them. I woke up the day after Christmas feeling ill and asked about where I could find cough drops or any kind of medicine. A very curt, blond woman at the front desk told me I could walk a mile to the supermarket. So, I did. In retrospect, I wish I had asked them to arrange some kind of transportation for me, but I wasn’t feeling well and honestly just was so used to them not being helpful, I found it easier to walk a mile one way when I felt ill. This was necessary as the only store on site was a high-end tourist trap shop that had no necessities like sunblock or any kind of medicine that travelers might need. A small convenience shop on the property would have been great, even if somewhere to get a quick drink to go, especially since getting a cold drink at either of the bars was such an ordeal. When I returned from the market, I asked the front desk for the late check-out option for the next day. They added the charge and said they updated my room key card. However, upon returning to my room, hot and sweaty from walking two miles to the market and back, I discovered that my key no longer worked. I walked back to the front desk to ask them to fix it. They claimed they did, but upon the second return to my room, it still did not work. At this point, I had a fever, and was exhausted and just very, very tired of dealing with the incompetence, disorganization, and lack of hospitality of this place. I returned to the desk and the front desk worker, without an apology, said she’d figured it out. The third time was the charm, so to speak, and I finally gained entry to my room and collapsed on the bed, exhausted. That night, I couldn’t stomach another hectic experience at the buffet and walked to a local Surinamese restaurant where I had the best meal of my stay and experienced the only true hospitality of my visit. I chose this resort because of the off-shore snorkeling and yes, it was nice and easy. Very convenient. It’s a beautiful property. Unfortunately, it is managed very incompetently. The whole property felt very overcrowded – if you did not place your towel on a chair around 7 AM, you would be hard pressed to find an empty chair on the beach or at the pool. As I mentioned earlier, getting food or drink felt like a competitive sport and the staff were not approachable or hospitable. What should have been a pleasant and relaxing experience was an exercise in annoyance and regret. I deeply regret choosing this resort. For the amount of money I spent on this vacation I expected much better in service and amenities. I have traveled a fair amount in the Caribbean and Central America to resorts of a similar class and Van der Valk does not even approach the level of hospitality or service I received at similarly, or even lower, priced resorts. I felt like I was on a budget vacation paying resort prices. I will never return and I strongly recommend you look elsewhere for your vacation as well.

Nicest resort on the island but absolutely worst customer service. My wife and I did a day pass one day from 10-6pm and then were going to do dinner a few nights later ($82.50 pp); however, we were told by some random worker in a blue shirt that this area is for guests only and asked us to leave (as we did not get our wrist bands yet)… We were guests - we already spent the day there for $150pp earlier that week and had dinner reservations booked for 6pm that evening. We arrived early - there was a bus load checking in - so we took a few photos. At this time, we were told to leave by the worker in the blue shirt - again, we had dinner reservations and therefore, were guests. We decided to leave as a result of this individuals disgusting attitude and lack of customer service. Lunch and dinner are very similar. They show photos online of all different meats - this is not true. Both lunch and dinner, they only had tuna at the grill. For $82.55pp, the dinner is beyond overpriced and the service is the worst on the island.

Had to switch over to this hotel because a terrible experience we had from another hotel in Bonaire. nice hotel, very friendly, although the room we had 3124 could definitely use some TLC. Honestly, he didn't care we just wanted to leave the other hotel

Wat een fantastisch resort. Wat een heerlijke ligging direct aan een visrijk zee. Prachtige zwembaden en niets is het personeel te veel. Ongelooflijke mooie appartementen met werkelijke alles. En het restaurant waar je zo over zee kijkt en ‘s avonds de zon ziet ondergaan. De sfeer is hier meer dan goed en heerlijk om te relaxen of activiteiten te doen die Van der Valk allemaal voor je regelt. Aanrader. We hebben al veel gezien maar dit overtreft alles.

Amazing hotel Direct at the beach Lovely pool Close to the airport and the city Really nice apartments Good food Polite and friendly staff