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Warm Weather Hotels: St Maarten's Westin Has Rules at the Pool

Where: 144 OYSTER POND ROAD, ST MAARTEN, Netherlands Antilles

For a warm weather escape with a Dutch flavor, then vacationing on the island of St Maarten is something we'd recommend (and if you want to show off to your friends, you might explain to them that at the end of 2008, St Maarten will become an independent state of the Netherlands rather than a part of the Netherlands Antilles). A resort that's improved over the years is the Westin St Maarten Dawn Beach Resort and Spa, which has pushed its way up to #14 out of 81 on the TripAdvisor rankings after becoming part of the Starwood chain.

With 308 rooms plus six luxury suites (all with the famous Heavenly Bed), it's no boutique resort but that means it has plenty of facilities, including two restaurants on the ocean front, as well as a cafe near the pool and a swim-up bar. There's even a casino on site that they proudly proclaim is Vegas-style, whatever that actually means--we think a casino's just a casino.

We're particularly taken by the pool, which Westin brags is the largest infinity pool on the island. It looks gorgeous, although we're not sure if it fits our definition of infinity. What we find most amusing is their policy on "saving" seats, according to one guest's experience:

The resort has a sign saying if you abandon your chairs for longer than 2 hours, your possessions will be confiscated (I commend the hotel for that!). One afternoon, 2 couples were seeking chairs and we saw a pool attendant direct the couples to 4 chairs that had been unoccupied all morning but had been "saved" by someone by leaving hotel beach towels on them. When I saw the pool attendant do this, I hoped he'd work his way up to General Mgr.of the hotel since the hotel needs this type of initiative.

Abide by the pool rules and you'll enjoy your stay. They have some special deals for winter getaways where you can get a credit to spend in the spa or in the restaurants, starting at $150 if you stay for three nights.

[Photo: maribel91]