St. Maarten Timeshare Resorts recommended by Jeff Berger / www.everythingsxm.com (2015)
The following are St. Maarten timeshare resorts recommended by JMB Communications' www.everythingsxm.com. They are presented here in order of publication during 2015 (most recent first):
Dawn Beach Club has been touted as one of the finest St. Maarten timeshare resorts, and for good reason. Affiliated with the Westin St. Maarten Resort, Spa, and Casino, it's on Dawn Beach and offers perhaps the widest array of amenities of any SXM timeshare. Look at it closely.
We also suggest you go to our Everything St. Maarten Facebook Site and ask there about specific resorts and about the recent experience of people there. Recent matters greatly -- you won't benefit from yesterday's news.
From SXM Weekly News, 9/8/2015 http://www.dawnbeachclub.com
Now undergoing extensive renovation, Princess Port de Plaisance (not affiliated with Princess Resorts) is a condo community on a peninsula adjacent to Princess Casino, one of SXM largest. Adjacent to the casino are a number of excellent restaurants. The entire operation is near the Simpson Bay Lagoon Causeway, making getting anywhere easier than before.
If you rent at Princess, get a renovated room.
From SXM Weekly News, 8/31/15 http://princessportdeplaisance.com
Atrium is a Resort that has made the news, but not for a number of years. When Festiva took it over, timeshare owners were displeased with some of their antics -- and we reported it here in SXM Weekly News. Rowie Percoco put a group together and they went to court, but timeshare owners were having a rough time in those days and it went nowhere.
Atrium's windows leak in hurricanes, or they have in the past;
hopefully that has been fixed and things will stay dry in the future. Nonetheless if you're in SXM, keep electronics off the floor and away from windows even if those windows are closed.
Atrium has a great location in Simpson Bay near lots of restaurants and several beaches. Its owners seem happy -- very few complaints in recent years.
From SXM Weekly News, 8/24/15 http://www.festiva-atrium.com/
Some resorts just never make the news. Last week, we talked about Bel Air resort in this way. It's fair to say that another resort that has not made much news lately is Flamingo Beach, next door to Simpson Bay Resort. Flamingo originally was part of the old Pelican resort, as was Simpson Bay. It split years ago when developer Martin Vleitman had financial difficulties and lost Flamingo, Atrium, and Royal Palm Beach, all of which were originally part of the Pelican Resort colossus.
Overshadowed by its neighbor, Flamingo Beach nonetheless is quite a gem. It's very well maintained, the beach is beautiful, and of course, the extraordinarily popular Toppers by the Sea Restaurant is located right on Flamingo Beach. It happens to serve some of the very best food on the island and it is reasonable... You can often find Flamingo timeshare condo units for rent or sale on the timeshare rentals page on www.everythingStMaarten.com as well as weeks at most of the other hotels noted on this page.
From SXM Weekly News, 8/17/15 https://www.diamondresorts.com/Flamingo-Beach-Resort
Some resorts just never make the news. They go about their business in an effective, consumer-oriented way, make no enemies, but also make no headlines. That's the story behind the Bel Air Beach Hotel, overlooking the Caribbean near the Southwest corner of the island. A timeshare resort for as long as anyone can remember, Bel Air offers suite accommodations and achieves great customer satisfaction, based upon a number of communications we've received in recent weeks from timeshare owners there. One thing that's particularly interesting to us is that we don't often receive timeshare units for rent or sale at Bel Air — testimony to the fact that Bel Air timeshare owners are very happy people who like to use their own units every year. That says a lot.
From SXM Weekly News, 8/10/15 www.belairbeach.com
If we were basing resorts featured in this series on cost of ownership, Royal Palm beach would not make the cut. They are ridiculously pricey in terms of AMF -- and totally without justification, in the minds of many timeshare owners. Nor have they played nice with their timeshare owners when originating their high charges.
But the resort has a well-maintained physical plant, a beautiful beach, quite good amenities, and a capable, experienced staff — so on that basis we've included them. We have also never had any complaints about the rooms at Royal Palm, another good sign. So… It may be worth checking out. We are not particularly fond of Diamond Resorts, the company that owns Royal Palm. If you Google them, you may well find some of our reasons.
From SXM Weekly News, 8/3/15 https://www.diamondresorts.com/Rentals/royal-palm-beach-resort
Summit Resort Hotel has been around more than 40 years. It undergoes heavy maintenance routinely -- an absolute necessity for resorts continually exposed to salt air -- but Summit also gets a steady stream of renovations that keep it consistently among the best resorts out there. In 2015 it had very heavy renovations -- all rooms new from floor to ceiling. Its TripAdvisor Hall of Fame Award, its RCI Gold Crown status, and our own Everything St. Maarten Award of Excellence are strong testimony to just how good this place really is.
It also has (Ms.) Pat
Evans in charge as GM and the lady knows her stuff. We continue to recommend The Summit Resort in Cupecoy -- one of our long-time favorite small SXM timeshare resorts. Note: You can only get timesharing here (as we understand it) by buying weeks from current owners. The resort no longer sells timesharing weeks. We believe RCI still enables RCI timeshare owners elsewhere to trade into the Summit Resort. More: see www.thesummitresort.com.
From SXM Weekly News, 7/27/15 www.thesummitresort.com
Divi Little Bay resort, on its own beach near Fort Amsterdam just west of Philipsburg, has a near-perfect tropical setting, newly renovated rooms, exquisite vistas, great dining, and legendary Divi service. Like the resorts previously covered in this series, if you try to find complaints about Divi you'll be hard pressed to succeed. It's a very good resort that takes care of its timeshare owners and consistently receives significant accolades.
From SXM Weekly News, 7/20/15 http://www.diviresorts.com/divi-little-bay-beach-resort-st-maarten.htm
The metamorphosis is almost complete now. Simpson Bay Resort was an old resort that needed maintenance and that absolutely looked its age. Now it is a prince; a totally renovated beautiful place inside and out with all the latest amenities. From a constant source of complaints to a resort now sought-after because of its beautiful condominiums -- it's a place where customer satisfaction ranks at the top of all SXM timesharing resorts. If you had to pick one modern SXM resort -- this now is the place.
From SXM Weekly News, 7/13/15 http://www.simpsonbayresort.com/
Located next to Dawn Beach, Oyster Bay Beach Resort offers a gorgeous setting, superbly maintained facilities, and a long-standing attention to guest satisfaction. They are a two minute beach walk away from Mr. Busby's Beach Bar, Island Pizza, and Daniel's by the Sea, one of the island's most romantic seaside Italian / Seafood restaurants. The central location in Dawn Beach makes trips to Orient Beach and to Philipsburg fast and easy. All of the businesses we just mentioned -- "OBBR" and the restaurants next door -- won our coveted Everything St. Maarten Award of Excellence last winter and are highly recommended. Just go, you won't be disappointed. (If there's any seaweed on the beach, it's taken away every morning.)
From SXM Weekly News, 7/6/15 http://www.oysterbaybeachresort.com/
La Vista Resort and its across-the-street sister, La Vista Beach, are superbly well managed, well-maintained resorts overlooking or on the beach in Pelican Key, Simpson Bay. Fiercely loyal and happy clients (which means the world), great food in the Hideaway Restaurant (with entertainment), comfortable rooms, beautiful sun deck, and a true Caribbean feel. You can't go wrong at La Vista; tell the GM, Andrea, that we sent you.
From SXM Weekly News, 6/29/15 http://www.lavistaresort.com
Royal Islander Resort on the water next to Maho Beach is clearly one of the most well respected of all SXM timeshare resorts. We recall receiving no negative reports about it, ever. What we do hear is that its people bend over backwards to serve customers, the the resort is perfectly maintained and immaculate, and that everything runs with the precision of a fine Swiss watch. All of those strike us as good reasons to take a second look at Royal Islander.
From SXM Weekly News, 6/22/15: http://www.royalislander.com/
Interested in a smaller, non-timeshare SXM hotel?
Check these out:
Baker's Suites*, Simpson Bay on Billy Folly Road near Kim Sha Beach, www.bakerssuites.com.
Summit Resort*, Cupecoy, Dutch Side www.thesummitresort.com
L'Esplanade Hotel*, Grand Case, St. Martin, FWI, www.lesplanade.com
Mary's Boon Beach Plantation, Simpson Bay, www.marysboon.com
Turquoise Shell Inn, Simpson Bay, Dutch Side http://tshellinn.com/index.html
Le Petite Hotel, Grand Case, French Side http://www.lepetithotel.com
Blue Pelican Resort, Pelican Key, Dutch Side www.bluepelicansxm.com
The Horny Toad Guest House, Dutch Side http://www.thtgh.com/index.html