St. Martin
Sonesta Ocean Point for adult only all inclusive. Gambling is legal. RIU is still closed & potentially will not re open. Sonesta Maho Bay closed for renovations until Feb 2019.
Sonesta Great Bay- becoming Planet Hollywood. Can easily access Anguilla & St Barts from St Martin.
Taxi line outside the airport was sufficient if you do not book transfers with DMC (Main DMC appears to be Nexus). Car rental locations also near by. Taxis are about $20 for four people to Sonesta Ocean Point
Sonesta Ocean Point- 130 rooms, adults only.
Lobby/Check-In- Brand new lobby/entrance. Check in was smooth, they use string bracelets for your room keys. Next to check-in counter is a touch screen kiosk where you can make dinner reservations. You will want to do this either right at check-in or later on the first day of your stay.
Rooms- All rooms all located in one main block attached to the main lobby. The room block building is four floors with all rooms have decent/great views of the pool/ocean. If you have older/handicapped guests I would suggest a swim out room so you have ground floor as this is a stairs resort. They do have elevators but they are slow, hot, and far away from the rooms. Since this was a rebuild all the rooms are very modern and clean. I would have no problem selling the entry level rooms here as they all have decent views. Larger rooms/swim outs are available. Some rooms have butler but I would look at this as a concierge more than a butler as I see no use for a butler at this property. Bedding is guaranteed so no surprises upon arrival. King or two doubles.
Pools/Beach- One pool is lagoon style with a small man made beach tucked away in the back of the resort. It has decent ocean views but nothing crazy. Closest bar to this pool is inside the restaurant which is kind of annoying but acceptable to walk in with a bathing suit on. The other pool is a very simple inground pool. Nothing special surrounded by a sun deck, cabanas and bar (not swim up). The beach is probably a 3 to 5 minute walk from Ocean Point closer to the Maho side. Swimmable beach with white sand and blue water which is wavy. Popular beach because of the airport runway being right there. Chairs for Sonesta guests available. Have to walk back into resort for drinks.
Food/Booze: Liquor selection is probably on par with Sandals. Beer selection is good. Breakfast is breakfast. Lunch is average (Burger was below average, fish above average, chicken good). Dinner is average to above average if you know what to order. Aka the fish was above average and the pasta sucked. I would put the food above a Riu and below a Sandals. At the end of the day everything is edible and any 3.5/4 star all-inclusive client will survive and no one gets sick.
Restaurants/Bars: This is the part where you need to set the expectations for your guests. Only ONE restaurant, which has an awesome cliffside location over the water is adults only. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Other than that all of the other restaurants are shared with Sonesta Maho. So you will see kids and the restaurants will be busy for dinner. Hence making the reservations at the kiosk when you check in. There is one tapas bar above the main restaurant which is also adults only but its apps only. They also have a few roof top bars on the adults side. Late night room service was stupid slow but I can name 5 other resorts where the late night room service is slow in the Caribbean.
Service: Service is slow
Overall: You must set expectations and sell to this to the correct client. The construction is done, but there are some cosmetics still being worked on. Exposed wires for lights, sales team not really have an office, elevators needed AC. Minor stuff that needs fixing to make this a four star resort. Three-five nights would be the max recommendation. Not good for honeymooners. More so couples traveling as friends, social group or even a smaller destination wedding. A wedding group here can easily “take over” the resort and have a good time with a very easy travel day as its literally next to the airport. If someone is happy with a Riu or Iberostar in the past they will be fine here. It is nice to have a cheaper resort back in your search besides something in CUN, PUJ or MBJ.
Sonesta Maho- Family side, 420ish rooms. Still under construction and opened in February. Most of the common areas are finished but still needs a resort shop, logo shop and a few other outlets in the main lobby. This room block building took a beating more so than Ocean Point so they are still working on the top room floors. The rooms will all be modern since it’s basically a new build. However, sell up here. The cheapest rooms overlook the back of the resort. For example if you sold the entry level room today you would be looking at a crane, a chain link fence and a parking garage being used for storage. Only one main pool with a swim up bar and a few slides for kids. It will be crowded. Overall, I would give this resort until 2020 to mark it as a safe sell. Let them finish the construction, work out the service issues and raise the moral/training of the workers.
Right outside of the Sonesta complex is a casino, a few shops, an ice cream parlor, a nightclub, a Mexican sports bar and a few other bars. So it is nice to not feel fenced in after dark.
Island Overview: I rented a car to explore the French side. I would recommend a car rental to any of my guests staying at Sonesta (or any hotel for that matter) to switch up the scenery and explore a safe and awesome island. $50ish a day right from the Hertz desk onsite at Maho. We weighed the choice to take a taxi to say Orient Bay and it would have been more expensive and more stressful (no taxi available when ready to leave) than renting a car for 4 adults. Orient Bay got smoked in the hurricane! When I saw it in 2011ish I would say there were 10 to 14 bars/water sports stands/places to eat. Now there is one restaurant, one food truck/bar and one watersports stand. However, the sand and the water are still great so still should be a beach to visit. No signs of the other bars coming back anytime soon. The nudist population was out in full force still. Went to Friar’s Bay which a nice little unknown beach spot to the cruise ship crowd with a reggae bar and a French restaurant. Visited the old Riu / new Secrets. I think this property is going to be awesome. The beach is pristine. They are building an upscale shopping/bar/marina right in front of the lobby. The open date is March 2020 and I bet you it opens on time. Already putting up drywall in the rooms. In general the only thing open on every French side beach I stopped at was a brand new restaurant that looks like it belongs in the French Riviera in Cannes. I am guessing these owners didn’t lose everything or had money back home in France to rebuild first. Great to see business back open. Drove through Philipsburg (cruise port). Front Street is open. The old Sonesta over there was sold to Sunwing and is supposed to be a Planet Hollywood. However, they haven’t done a thing and the old Sonesta is sitting there destroyed from the hurricane. The Divi around the corner from the cruise port is open. It looked fine but I did not drive in. I stopped by The Belmond and it looks like nothing ever happened there. 5 star all the way.
Overall the island is doing very well for getting demolished by Irma in 2017. I think if you set the expectation for Sonesta Ocean Point it can be sold right now. Maho wait a little bit. And the Secrets is going to be awesome if it stays on track.