Hôtel Esmeralda Resort - Orient Bay - Saint Martin — Hotel in Saint Martin (France)

In late January 2025, we made our first return visit to Esmeralda since January 2020. COVID, travel restrictions and personal family matters, all one right after another, kept us away for far too long from both the island and our favorite place to stay when in SXM. We were so very happy to get back to familiar and welcome surroundings. The single biggest change we noticed was a number of new faces around the property. Claudie Nannini, the general manager for many years, retired back in 2023 and longtime assistant Audrey Donal is now keeping an eye out to make sure things are running smoothly. Chris, the one man maintenance team and baggage delivery person is no longer there and in his place are two (possibly one more?) gentlemen who we spotted all over the property, daily. Very nice and friendly and often inquiring if there was anything that needed to be addressed, etc... A few of the housekeeping staff we recognized from our many past visits and it was nice to be able to reconnect with them and get caught up after such a long time. The person we most enjoyed chatting with and seeing was Jerome. He is among staff at L'Astrolabe for breakfasts and dinners, since 2023. We had quite a pleasant surprise one evening in OBV, having dinner at L'Atelier, when Jerome comes over to seat us. That's his moonlighting gig a few evenings per week.||The property has changed very little, visually speaking, which is nice to see. The grounds are continuing to fill out since Irma, back in 2017 and each visit is just a bit more pleasant with seeing all of the flowering shrubs and growing palm trees looking well and more lush. Two disappointments learned of were from my asking questions and having reception staff explain with their answers. Villa 43 is no longer available as a rental villa as the building was privately purchased for use and rental. A privacy fence now encloses the entire building and grounds to the front and is very noticeable when heading to the reception office right next to it. I've posted two photos showing how it looks now. Villas 47 & 48 are also no longer part of Esmeralda as they each are now private rentals. We've stayed in various rooms within each of the three villas and were a bit sad to find out about these changes.||The beach lounger/umbrella guest usage does not extend to Coco Beach restaurant which is closest to the resort. When rebuilt and opened, it was done with new owners and they decided not to participate. The remaining four beach restaurants, starting the with next closest one at Kakao Beach is where we used the loungers/umbrella. Beachfront area was beautiful as always with very minimal Sargassum washing ashore and with what there was of it, early morning crews were out to remove and rake clear and smooth the areas. ||Service with the reception, housekeeping and restaurant staffs was top notch and very much appreciated and nice to see continue, visit after visit. Our particular room in villa 41 was new to us and spotless when we arrived and daily after housekeeping came through to do their work. We are already looking ahead to book the next return visit for sometime early in 2026 as our yearly winter escapes from the Upper Midwest get...

I'm very sorry and sad to write this review, but we had a bad experience at Hotel Esmeralda. First, it's not a resort, but reviews made that clear. Grounds are very bare and basic. No scenery. Rooms were plain, old, outdated, and not quiet. But the major issues were: (1) we lost power, multiple times. Went on and off 10 times overnight and each time woke us up due to noises with a/c and devices. This was the entire building, not just our room. (2) the next day, no water. Not no hot water, no water at all. Couldn't shower, wash hands, flush toilet. I have 4 young kids, and I get more sleep at home than at this resort. But what really bothered us was the response. Initially they said it was not the "resort's" fault, it was the city. Complete lie. All other buildings were not affected, just our building (4 units). Then, we asked to be moved and they said no other rooms. After the no water situation, we demanded to move or were leaving the resort, it was that bad. All of a sudden, they had a room for us. That room at least had running water, but the fan didn't work, the bathroom had a funny smell, and the shower was ancient and barely any water pressure. Finally, the manager called and offered a free dinner. That was nice, but she also promised breakfast for the weekend, and they only comped us one day. I'm guessing a miscommuncation with the front desk, and by then I didn't have the energy to fight. That was the final straw and I had to share this horrible experience here. Really disappointed in the quality of this place and the service response.

It's in a quiet area, about a 10-15 minute walk to town, very safe. About 8 minute walk to beach. If you want better beach chairs you have to pay. Restaurant on site is very good. Not the best in town, but excellent. Breakfast was good if you paid. The included continental breakfast was quite bare. Fruit, a few croissant choices, peasant bread, and coffee/juice.

Overall, I cannot...

We stayed at the Esmeralda for the first time in April, 2024. I, along with my husband and 9-year-old daughter, reserved a 2-bedroom suite, and were very happy with our spacious accommodations. We had a giant living room, and small kitchen, a large master bathroom, one bedroom with a king-sized bed, and one bedroom with two queen beds that was designed to also function as its own hotel room, so it had its own spacious bathroom and a little kitchenette. The building we were in had one more room in it that was closed off, but we really felt like we had a whole house to ourselves, including the small swimming pool out front. We enjoyed the short walk to the restaurants and shops in the center of Orient Bay, and even had a lovely al fresco lunch on our deck one day with some wine, bread, meat and cheese that we picked up nearby. The staff were very helpful and even provided my daughter some paper from the hotel printer so that she could draw. The little shop at the Esmeralda reception had some useful basic supplies, and they also let us borrow some power converters when we realized we'd forgotten to bring enough with us and helped us find a great taxi driver when we needed one. We enjoyed the included continental breakfast every morning and occasionally ordered extra heartier things off the menu (too bad that they didn't have the cheese plate available). All in all, we were very comfortable, very happy, and felt very well taken care of. I look forward to staying at the...