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Tags: Hotel Reopenings / Caribbean Resorts / Hotel Restaurants / → All Tags
Domain de Lonvilliers to Reopen December 1
The Domaine de Lonvilliers is getting a flash re-opening with a seriously flash restaurant. This 145-room resort is on the French side of St Martin and boasts of having both European stylishness and a laidback Caribbean nature – we're not sure if it's possible, but it sure sounds like a beautiful combination.
The new Domaine de Lonvilliers will include a restaurant from chef Christophe Leroy, who has already set up his famed "La Table du Marche" restaurants in other resorts in the Caribbean and beyond. That means the food should be pretty darn good.
The reopening is scheduled for December 1 and they've got some special rates from then until March 31, 2010, starting from $250 per night and $300 a night over the Christmas and New Year season. One gripe we have: French readers will be able to get a lot more restaurant and hotel info out of Christophe Leroy's website, but the rest of us will be scrounging around the site trying to find a button to turn it into English.
[Photo: Santino Corleone]
Tags: Hotel Weddings / Sandals Resorts / Martha Stewart / Caribbean Resorts / → All Tags
Get Married The Martha Stewart Way at Sandals Resorts
If you’re a home décor fanatic, and big fan of Martha Stewart, you’d think you’d want to throw yourself hook, line, and sinker into wedding preparations. But based on this new promotion from Sandals Resorts and Martha Stewart, it looks like there are plenty of nesting types whose passion for napkins and placeholders does not extend to destination weddings. (Hey, we don’t blame them. If we were on a tropical island with a rum punch just a snap of our fingers away, we wouldn’t want to be worrying about coordinating bouquets and boutonnieres either.)
The new Sandals Weddings by Martha Stewart “experiences” take the concept of an all-inclusive resort and a wedding reception package, and runs with it all the way to the crystal-clear shore. From January 1st, brides and grooms will be able to book one of six Sandals Weddings by Martha Stewart themes at 18 different Luxury Included Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts across the Caribbean.
Tags: Conception Moons / Westin Hotels / Caribbean Resorts / → All Tags
At Westins in the Caribbean, Pumpkin Soup Makes Babies
Gettin' romantic with your other half is a pretty common goal on a Caribbean vacation, but don't forget the new trend is to conceive a baby while you're at it – and hotels out there are trying their best to persuade you to take a Conception Moon at their place. Yeah, we thought this is a private matter, but hotel marketers don't. Here's proof.
The extreme case is at the Westin Aruba Resort where they've got a Conception Credit deal going. This means that if you can prove (retrospectively, of course) that your baby was conceived while you were staying at the Westin Aruba, then they'll give you a $300 credit on future bookings. They'll need a doctor's note as proof and that credit is enough for about one and a half night's stay – weird, but worth doing if your luck turns out that way. And at least you don't have to advertise to everyone in advance that you're going to stay in your room and try to make a baby.
On the other hand, at the Westin St. John Resort and Villas in the Virgin Islands, you're pretty much making your plans public if you book their Procreation Vacation.
Tags: Curacao Hotels / Infinity Pools / Caribbean Resorts / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
Renaissance Curacao Sees Your Infinity Pool And Ups You
Curacao is something we drink more often than a place we dream of traveling to, but with the February 1 opening of the Renaissance Curacao Resort we are seriously thinking of hopping on a plane and flying down there.
This new place looks so colorfully funky from the photos that we are already thinking we'd enjoy it. And then there are the swimming options. There's an infinity pool, of course, because no self-respecting new resort could open up without one these days. But they've added a new dimension by creating an eternity beach. We're not quite sure we understand it--they say it's "Real sand, real ocean water, real palm trees...above sea level"--and it could just be a bit of a marketing ploy, but we have to admit, we're falling for it. (All 32,000 square feet of it).
Added bonus--the resort is built around a UNESCO Heritage-listed fort, so there's some cultural learning to go with your cocktails. Like every good just-opened resort, the Renaissance Curacao has an opening special--they're doing $199 per night for rooms with normal rack rates up towards $300 a night.
Tags: Hotel Woes / Sandals Resorts / Caribbean Resorts / Hotel News / → All Tags
Meltdown Cuts 650 Jobs in Sandals Resorts
Bad news in the sunny Caribbean. Since we're not booking enough vacations down there, the Sandals Resorts are letting around 650 hotel staff go from their resorts in the Bahamas, Jamaica and St. Lucia.
That figure makes around 7% of the resort's workforce, so things aren't as bad for Sandals as they are at Wyndham where 12% of people will be out of a job. That probably doesn't make it any easier for the housekeeping staff or waiters in the Caribbean who won't have a paycheck next month.
Around 80% of vacationers in the region are American and the (optimistic-sounding) guess is that arrivals in the Bahamas, for example, will fall 8% for the year. Is it going to get worse? We're no economic experts; in the meantime the silver lining is there'll probably be some great deals going to entice more people to the area.
Tags: Hotel News / Caribbean Resorts / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
Ritz-Carlton West Caicos Hits a Hostage Snag
A year ago we were dreaming of finding buried treasure at the Ritz-Carlton West Caicos Reserve, which was meant to be up and running by late 2008--that's any minute now. But news out of the West Caicos makes it sound rather sure that we're going to have to wait a bit longer for our luxury eco-resort stay.
We It's all been sorted out now (and they've been paid, apparently) but it doesn't look good for the Ritz-Carlton West Caicos part of the deal. No word yet on whether building will start again soon but clearly a late 2008 opening is out of the question.
Tags: Warm Weather Hotels / Warm-Weather-Hotels-Map / Marriott Hotels / Caribbean Resorts / → All Tags
Warm Weather Hotels: Top Spot on St Kitts Held By Marriott
We might not be super-impressed with the Marriott Bear, but that doesn't mean we'll hold it against the St Kitts Marriott Resort in St Kitts and Nevis. After all, TripAdvisor reviewers have decided it's the best place to stay in St Kitts, and who are we to argue.
Well, we probably won't argue with all the previous guests, but you shouldn't forget that there aren't really more than a dozen resorts on St Kitts, which hasn't been in the tourist game that long. The St Kitts Marriott has its good points--convenient location close to the airport, a fantastic beach that's rarely too crowded, and the food is tasty.
But on the flip side, the tasty food is also rather pricey (and there's not a huge amount of other choices), and the uncrowded beach can get pretty windy, too. Enough of our complaining, though: when you get to the pool you'll be happy again. It's one of those daydreamy lagoons of a pool, with beautiful water matching a cheery blue sky ... that's probably all we need (plus a good cocktail or three) to enjoy a day at the St Kitts Marriott.
[Photo: THED'S]
Tags: Caribbean Resorts / Warm Weather Hotels / Warm-Weather-Hotels-Map / → All Tags
Warm Weather Hotels: Hotel Guanahani on St Barths
A hotel room in St Barths is a good place to relax at any time of year--or a place where the art gallery comes within the hotel, if you remember our story last week. But when winter gets you down then the warmth of St Barths is an especially good destination, and you could try the Hotel Guanahani and Spa because, for a start, it has a lovely warm sounding name!
Get beyond the name and everything about the Guanahani is still screaming "winter escape". It belongs to the Leading Small Hotels of the World group and deservedly so, with its luxury cottages (some so brightly colored so you won't have any trouble finding your way back there), full-service spa, two to-die-for pools and two beaches.
Winter rates do, of course, jump up a bit from the better-value summer packages, but it's now that you need the sunshine: nightly rates including breakfast start at $820 for a basic room and rise to $1670 for the Ocean 1-Bedroom Suite, which includes a living room and a terrace. All guests get free access to snorkeling, windsurfing, canoes, tennis courts and the fitness room, if you need to work off a bit of post-Christmas winter flab, like we do.
[Photo: heather223]
Related Stories:
· Book a Hotel with an Art Gallery Included [HotelChatter]
· Hotels in St Barths [HotelChatter]
· St Barths Travel Stories [Jaunted]
Tags: Caribbean Resorts / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Hotel Openings / Eco-Hotels / → All Tags
Ritz-Carlton To Inhabit the Uninhabited: West Caicos Reserve
When we started to read about the coming-soon Ritz-Carlton West Caicos Reserve our environmentally conscious radar went up: West Caicos on the western end of the Turks and Caicos archipelago is a virtually uninhabited island. Why spoil it with a fancy hotel? But Ritz-Carlton are very careful to point out that the proposed 75 island villas are part of a very environmentally responsible development that included extensive consultations with an eco-tourism expert.
So then we relaxed and decided it sounded like a wonderful place. West Caicos is apparently the home to the Molasses Reef which is not only one of the world's best diving spots, it's also rumored that Columbus' ship Pinta sank here--that makes us dream of buried treasure.
The Ritz-Carlton development will be at the high end of the luxury scale, centered on the north shore of the island; most of the island will remain "forever" undeveloped, they say. The villas will be built using the varying architectural influences of the Caribbean and in a low-density, low-impact style. At the moment the scheduled opening is late 2008 and we'll let you know when they firm that up--and how much you have to pay to stay on a nearly uninhabited island.
Related Stories:
· Winter Getaway: Turks and Caicos [HotelChatter]
· Turks and Caicos Travel Stories [Jaunted]
Tags: Hyatt Hotels / Caribbean Resorts / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags
Hyatt Regency Aruba Gets New Look and Social Conscience
Down on Aruba the Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort and Casino on Palm Beach has been busy this year doing a $20 million makeover. That $20 million adds up to 360 renovated rooms with modern designs, new colors and brand new bathrooms stocked with deluxe Portico products for your grooming pleasure. The official grand opening of the new look will take place in early 2008, but last week they held a "soft opening" for local attendees.
The local people were wowed not only with the new refurbishment but with a nice "think global, act local" kind of campaign that the Hyatt Regency Aruba is running. It's called the "You Can Do It Too" program and involves picking 10 inspiring young Arubans chances to use their talents and potential to the full. What's more, the hotel intends to continue the program in future years, too. Thumbs up for that.
Related Stories:
· Hyatt Regency Aruba Upgraded [Jetsetters]
· Hotels in Aruba [HotelChatter]
· Travel Stories in Aruba [Jaunted]
Tags: Christian Liaigre / Caribbean Resorts / Honeymoon Resorts / Beach Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
Le Sereno: Leave Your OCD At Home
Ok, you know we usually shy away from staged marketing photos. It isn't like we have an aversion to good photos--Noah takes great, real hotel photos for us. However, the above photo illustrates why we like to use hotel issued photos as a last resort.
C'mon. We all know if you are lucky enough to check in to the Christian Liaigre (Club Med Bora Bora, The Mercer in New York) designed Le Sereno in Saint-Barthélemy you are going to flop on the bed in sheer ecstasy, leaving your bags strewn throughout the room along the way--why do they have to prop those bags up there? Besides, the room looks great regardless, just leave the bags out of the shot.
Furthermore, if do happen to be OCD enough to neatly line your perfectly packed burlap bags at the end of the bed before enjoying the room, then we hope the person unlucky enough to travel with you brought plenty of rum.
Our advice to the person traveling with this type of pedantic traveler? Head out to that couch type thing you see in the insert above, down a bottle of rum and flirt heavily with the young, friendly, beautiful staffers that grace this 37-villa seaside resort.
The villas include plasma-screen TVs, iPods, Wi-Fi, and Ex Voto Paris bath products.
The beach isn't one of the nicest on the island, but the resort is--we are sure your OCD partner, who meticulously lines up luggage at the end of hotel beds upon arrival, is already complaining about the beach, instead of enjoying the beautiful resort. See why we don't usually use these type of photos? They conjure up all kinds of visions.
Related Stories:
· St. Barts Travel Stories [Jaunted]
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· Le Sereno Rates [TabletHotels]
Tags: Affordable Beach Resorts / Caribbean Resorts / Curacao Hotel Reviews / Andea Bennett / → All Tags
Escape the Slush: One Twenty Fifth of T+L's Affordable Beach Resorts
A while back the big news on Curacao was the J Lo's possible pregnancy. Didn't happen, but we are guessing the Dutch could care less.
Fast forward six months, or so, and it turns out Lodge Kura Hulanda & Beach Club, one of Willemstads's beach resort options, made Travel & Leisure's 25 Affordable Beach Resorts List (March 2007).
While all the beach resorts on the list are definitely worth a look we focused in on Kura for two reasons.
First, Curacao takes our minds off slush--just get yourself to Miami, and three hours from MIA you will be in Curacao.
Second, Kura was written up by Andrea Bennett, a friend of HotelChatter, and we always tend to believe our friends, even when they show up in the glossies.
The lodge's 75 villas, suites, and guest rooms stand on a cliff, surrounded by 350 acres of carefully tended gardens filled with flowering shrubs and tamarind and breadfruit trees.
The rooms, with their big patios, soft white linens, and rattan furnishings, are soothing but also high-tech, with flat-screen TV's DVD players, and free high-speed Internet.If we do book a flight to Curacao and get out of the slush filled Northeast the first thing we will do upon check-in is fire up our computer, no, not to live blog the experience for you, but instead to go straight to Wikipedia and hope there is an entry for tamarind trees.
As a bonus, it sounds like you get welcome drinks. Nice. White coral-sand beach, welcome drinks, free Internet for under $200 a night, if you find a deal.
[Photo: accent_grave]
Related Stories:
· 25 Affordable Beach Resorts [Travel & Leisure]
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