This is the last post on the Crane Beach Hotel in Barbados.  The cover of Travel and Leisure’s December 2008 issue featured a photo of the exact room I stayed in.  I had exchanged my RCI timeshare to this incredible resort for only $184/week.  That room was probably about $400/night at the time.

These are a few pictures of the restaurant on site.

This is the poolside bar.

This is the view of the restaurant and pool from the pink sand beach below the hotel.

The Crane Beach Hotel is a highly demanded RCI timeshare resort.  Make sure you request far in advance to have a chance of exchanging into it.  To give you a substantial leg up on other timeshare owners requesting this resort, make sure you get a copy of The Timeshare Exchange Bible now.

It’s interesting to note that Travel and Leisure magazine lists rooms at the Crane Beach Hotel “starting at $410/night.”  I stayed there on exchange for $184/week by exchanging my timeshare.
In the last post of the Crane Beach Hotel , a RCI timeshare, I showed some pictures of the beautiful pool and beach. If you’ve never been to Barbados make sure you put it on your “must see” list.

These next pics are of the 2 rooms we had.  We were there for 10 days – 7 as a timeshare exchange that we paid $184/week and 3 days paying $350/night.

View from our living room.

This is the view from our patio.

View from patio of lawn, ocean and sculpture.

These next photos are of the 1 bedroom for which we paid $350/night.

Here’s the bedroom.

View from our deck on the second floor.

That’s it for now.  In the next and last post for The Crane Beach Hotel I’ll share some pics of the restaurant on site and some of the island’s other attractions.

This RCI timeshare is very difficult to exchange to, especially from Christmas through April.  Make sure you pick up a copy of The Timeshare Exchange Bible – RCI Weeks Edition to give you the best chance of getting into the best timeshare resorts available.

I’ve seen quite a few articles on The Crane Beach Hotel in Barbados, an RCI resort, lately.  Travel and Leisure magazine pictured the timeshare room I stayed in on their Dec 2008 cover.  I thought I’d share some photos with you when I was there on a timeshare exchange.

Theses photos are of the incredible pink sand beach that sits below the hotel.  Only hotel guests and locals use this beautiful beach so it was never crowded the week I was there.

The sand is very soft and fine.  (These are not my toes.  I prefer a different shade of red.)

Pictures of the famous pool that overlooks the beach and it’s Doric columns.

I’ll be adding more to this post soon.  If you want to exchange your timeshare into this fabulous RCI resort make sure you request in advance.  You’ll want to supercharge your exchange power first.

The Crane Beach Resort, on the island of Barbados, is one of the best exchanges I’ve ever done.  It’s said that it is the first resort ever built in the Caribbean! The main building, which still exists, started accepting guests at the end of the 1700′s.

The Crane sits on a bluff above one of the most beautiful palm lined, pink sand beaches you’ll ever see.  You take a switchback staircase down to it where the staff will bring you drinks and rent you umbrellas and body boards.  The shallow slope of the beach makes it safe for swimming and even though there were good waves for body surfing, I detected no undertow or rip currents. 

It’s also on the quieter and more remote side of Barbados and is very romantic.  It’s away from the hustle and bustle of Bridgetown, the capital, and the more popular resort area of St. Lawrence Gap. 

The pool has one of the most dramatic settings you’ll ever find.  At far end of the pool are  sets of Dorian columns that are backed by the ocean.  It’s truly a breathtaking setting.  You can see some pictures of it here.

There are a great restaurant and pool bar on site and a grocery store nearby.  Because the Crane is more remote you’ll either want to rent a car or take tours to see the other parts of the beautiful island. 

Be warned, Barbados is a former British Colony so you drive on the left, which takes some getting used to for many of us.  Also, be sure to look both ways when stepping off a sidewalk because the cars will be coming from a direction you’re not used to.

Make sure you visit Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, a beautifully manicured mangrove swamp filled with the natural flora and fauna of Barbados.  Look for the beautiful Rainbow Eucalyptus trees the bare trunks of which are covered with the pastel colors of the rainbow.

Barbados is also outside of the hurricane zone so you can safely travel there anytime of the year.  Winter is best, of course, but the hardest time to exchange.  I was there in May and it was great.

You can check it out at http://www.thecrane.com/.

You’ll find this one of the most challenging timeshare exchanges you’ll ever do.  If you want any chance of exchanging to this resort, make sure you pick up

“The Timshare Exchange Bible-The Da Vinci Code of Timeshare Exchanging.”

In the next post find out which resort you can stay at with its own penguin colony while still wearing shorts all week.