Belnem House Bonaire — Hotel in Bonaire

Belnem House Bonaire had just opened for guests when we booked an 11 day stay for our mother & aunt. The location is close to the airport (without the noise), and just across the street from a variety of beach clubs (which the ladies preferred) and some small open beach patches for swimming and enjoying the sunsets (no sunbeds, no cocktails, though). We opted for a spacious poolside apartment on the ground floor: two bedrooms with AC, a nice bathroom, a huge open (fully equipped) fanned kitchen/living area - and most importantly, a nice big terrace with a large table to enjoy the pool view from breakfast until late in the evening (with a nice rosé from the open bar at the pool). The service staff was very helpful and friendly - the rooms are changed every four days (minimum, more like every three days during our ladies' stay). And Belnem House proved to be independent of Bonaire's power grid, as solar and house batteries provided power even when Bonaire`s power went off after some stormy hours (we booked in early November, off-season can be like that). A washing machine in the apartment, Wifi, the mentioned AC and ceiling fans, the fully equipped kitchen, the huge fridge/freezer and the beautiful and very modern interior left nothing to be desired! Just check the website – you even can rent your car to get around the island, if you ever want to...

The rooms, the pool area, and everywhere were immaculately clean. The staff were very friendly and helpful at all times. Belnem house is located close to the airport but also close to grocery stores and across the street from the ocean. There were many snorkel/scuba diving sites all within a few minutes of the resort. We rented a truck (Renault Oroch) from the resort which is essential when visiting the island. The rate for renting a truck was very reasonable and it worked flawlessly (had great air conditioning too). The air conditioning in the room worked great as well. I also found the mattress very comfortable.

We stayed in a ground floor Studio suite which had all the essentials including a functional kitchenette with a small fridge, two burner stove top, pots, etc. These suites are very compact with limited room to store the luggage. I always appreciate a resort/hotel that has built in USB plug in by the bed - either on the electrical outlet or on a lamp. This is one improvement that could be made. We all travel with a phone so it's nice to make it easy to recharge. I would have liked to see fitted sheets on the bed. The bottom sheet was always sliding out from under the mattress each night.

Overall, I would highly recommend...

This is a one-year old boutique hotel that is modern and clean with the most exceptional hotel staff I’ve ever encountered. Everyone one of them is great. But Britt & Jonathan are phenomenal! Being welcomed by Jonathan upon arrival at the airport was the exact vibe needed to kick off the trip. They really made sure this solo New Yorker who didn’t swim or drive was OK exploring Bonaire. Cannot thank them enough for taking care of me. ||I’ll start off by saying that you can’t be a high maintenance person if you want to stay here or really come to Bonaire for that matter. As I said, I don’t drive and this is not a centrally located hotel. So be willing to walk or pay to take taxis if you wanna venture out. I had a standard room which was sufficient, albeit being used to having spacious suites as standard rooms in island destinations, it felt small. The layout was designed for the compact room size but wasn’t great for comfort. There was no luggage rack/room to tuck away luggage, closet to hang long dresses so leave those at home, space to sit down and do makeup (also not the vibe here, the only sit down space is outside of your door. ||Again, this is a place you wanna be low key and you’ll be happy. I’m fairly certain I’d stay here again...