HotelChatter

The ten room Rock House was designed to make you feel like you were staying at a well-to-do friends oceanside villa. Four of the nine rooms are in the main building, and these rooms share walls with the bar, the restaurant, and other common areas. Luckily, the owners make sure they kick all the island drunks off the property at 11 PM sharp every night. However, be forewarned, if you want complete quiet, and dream of the idea of never seeing another guest while you are on the Island, this isn't your bag, but if you are ready to live a little, and can put off sleep until 11 PM, then kick back with a Bahama Mama and soak it all in.

Wednesday night is a bit of a different story. The highly acclaimed restaurant at the nearby Landing hotel is closed, which means folks rush over to the Rock House's equally impressive restaurant for a meal. This means the restaurant is packed right up until 11, so be prepared.

The Rock House really does feel like a big island house that you are sharing with nine other Kato Kalins. We stayed in the spacious Sea Horse room, which was complete with a poolside porch area of sorts. During the daytime, we made a habit of keeping our porch door open and letting the soft rock music into our room. Inside the Seahorse room was a king size bed, a large marble bathroom, and sitting area, and a small television. OK, we found ourselves wishing this place went totally island chic and tricked out the rooms with flat screens, but maybe we are just the greedy types.

Directly outside our room was the pool area, with its meticulous thatch roofed, coconut husk lined, cabanas, which yes we did have a Kalik in on multiple occasions. Further past the pool were five more rooms, all with bay views, and a full exercise room.

Our biggest disappointment? The advertised "wireless internet access" was kind of a bust. The wifi is $10 a day, and it is one of those places where you have to hop from seat to seat chasing the four bars. We figured this issue would be solved by the tethered, free, in-room ethernet, but alas, the in-room ethernet was dead as a door nail--nothin'. Don, the co-owner informed us that the tower where the WiFi was housed had been recently struck by lightning, which may or may not have had an effect on our experience.

The Upside:
This place is drop dead gorgeous. You could stare at her all day long. Also, the Rock House has its own set of beach chairs up on Pink Sands beach and a hotel employee cleans the "Rock House section" of the beach every morning. The cabanas work--no really they do. Have an after dinner drink in one and then tell us they are superfluous--we bet you won't be able to do it.

The Downside:
Internet access. Do not expect the in-room ethernet to work. Do not expect the WiFi to give you a signal in your room. If you get two bars in the pool area you have maxed out the current set up. Also, this place is a five minute uphill walk from the beach, so if you are adverse to walking, or golf cart renting, you've been warned.

The Crowd:
Fashionistas. Ad Execs on Photo Shoots. Twentysomethings couples doing yoga. Thirtysomethings having a martini. Young, but remember age is just a number. We saw a lot of older folks enjoying the young vibe of the Rock House.

Bottom Line:
This is the first island "soft rock" hotel we have found. What do we mean by that? It is a scene-y hotel, with a soft side. Despite the fact that we couldn't get a decent internet connection--which can and should be fixed--the island manse lifestyle agreed with us. The service was top notch and the atmosphere, though it is for a certain clientele, is très cool.

Full Disclosure: The Rock House Hotel was nice enough to give us a media discount on the rate for our visit.

More Candid Rock House Photos

Related Stories:
·   Rock House Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]
·   Harbour Island Coverage [Jaunted]