La Samanna, a Belmond Hotel

My stay at the Belmond in St. Maarten was very disappointing. This hotel is old and not well maintained. The gardens are messy, with patches of missing grass, making it look neglected. The architecture feels more like a hostel than a luxury hotel. The beach is not flat, making it...

My stay at the Belmond in St. Maarten was very disappointing. This hotel is old and not well maintained. The gardens are messy, with patches of missing grass, making it look neglected. The architecture feels more like a hostel than a luxury hotel. The beach is not flat, making it hard to reach the water unless you’re quite fit. Plus, there are construction sites around, which ruin the atmosphere. Service was terrible. On the beach, we waited 45 minutes just to get drinks and towels. At the spa, my massage was so repetitive that I asked to stop 10 minutes early—the therapist seemed tired and uninterested. The food was not bad. Breakfast was good, and the Italian restaurant on the beach was decent ( not amazing ) We booked a suite for $4,000 per night, expecting luxury, but it was a waste of money. The décor looked cheap, and a noisy fridge in the living room kept us up at night. I’ve stayed in the best hotels—Aman, Four Seasons, One&Only, Les Airelles, Cheval Blanc—and this was by far the worst. If you’re visiting the Caribbean, go to Anguilla or St. Barth instead. Avoid this hotel!

Overall a very good first class place , room for improvement in some areas, specifically size and arrangement of bathroom ( shower) as well as furniture of room ( little storage)

La Samanna is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever had the pleasure of staying in. The rooms were absolutely fantastic with a perfect blend of luxury and comfort. The service throughout my stay was exceptional. The staff were friendly, attentive, and went out of their way...

La Samanna is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever had the pleasure of staying in. The rooms were absolutely fantastic with a perfect blend of luxury and comfort. The service throughout my stay was exceptional. The staff were friendly, attentive, and went out of their way to ensure everything was just right. The beach was beautiful and peaceful, providing a fantastic setting for a relaxing escape. The location allowed me to unwind, which was exactly what I was hoping for. While the hotel is on the pricier side, I found it to be well worth the cost. However, there was one thing I hadn’t anticipated which was the number of boat excursions docking in the water in front of the hotel throughout the day. While the beaches are public, and this is beyond the hotel’s control, it did interrupt the otherwise relaxing environment at times. Despite that small issue, I would happily stay at La Samanna again. It truly offers an amazing vibe and setting for a relaxing getaway with exceptional service.

Belmond has a very dear place in our heart; we trusted them both with our wedding (at the Belmond Caruso) and our honeymoon (on the Orient Express). Both were perfect. Unfortunately, La Samanna lacks the attention to detail and flawless service that characterized our previous experiences at Belmond properties. La...

Belmond has a very dear place in our heart; we trusted them both with our wedding (at the Belmond Caruso) and our honeymoon (on the Orient Express). Both were perfect. Unfortunately, La Samanna lacks the attention to detail and flawless service that characterized our previous experiences at Belmond properties. La Samanna has many strengths. The location is incredible, and the beach is picture-postcard perfect. The property is well-maintained, and the front desk staff, as well as the staff at the Baie Longue Bar and L'Oursin, are very kind. The rum tasting at La Cave was the absolute highlight of the trip; Randy Kevin, the sommelier, was excellent. The issues we had were mostly with the staff at the beach and the beach bar, and with scheduling excursions and off-resort activities. We initially chose La Samanna over its sister resort in Anguilla (Cap Juluca) exactly because La Samanna advertised the availability of various excursions, including a hiking trip into the interior of St. Martin with an anthropologist, and snorkeling. The hiking trip in particular appealed to us, so two or three months before the trip I contacted the staff at La Samanna to see if we could arrange it. The snorkeling trip was easy to arrange (more on that later) but we were told the hiking trip was subject to the availability of the local expert. No problem! However, as the trip grew closer, we heard no more specific details on the hiking trip. Finally, when we arrived at La Samanna, I spoke to the concierge, and he told me that that particular excursion was actually no longer offered by the property. I wish we could have known about this sooner, particularly since hiking boots take up quite a lot of space in a suitcase and since we had begun the conversation about it months before. We did manage to book a snorkeling excursion with a private captain through La Samanna, departing from a marina nearby. We had made it on the boat and a fair way out from the dock before our captain remarked that La Samanna had forgotten to give us any towels to dry off with. He said this had happened once before this season, and called the hotel to send someone to the marina with towels. We turned around and ended up waiting at the dock for ten or fifteen minutes, which our captain generously made up to us at the end of the excursion. After that, everything went fine. On to the beach. La Samanna's beach is exquisite. Private beaches are illegal on the French side of the island, but La Samanna's beach has cliffs on one side and a long stretch of undeveloped land on the other, so it is as close to private as you can get. Our issue was this: we went to the beach every day, and every day there seemed to be a new protocol for getting a seat on the beach that we were not following correctly. I think villa guests have reserved seats, which makes sense, but for hotel guests, it seemed like we were either supposed to go up to the staff at the Baie Longue bar, who would direct us to the beach staff, or simply walk along until we found an empty seat and then wait for the beach staff to find us. Either way, I got the sense we were inconveniencing them. One day, the beach seemed to be entirely full; despite being guests of the resort, we were told that we would just have to wait or to sit by the pool. Ultimately they set up some chairs for us at the very end of the beach. Some days, the staff brought us sparkling water when we sat down; sometimes, sparkling water and an ice tea, sometimes, a welcome drink, and sometimes, nothing. We can get our own water, but it was just not clear what was supposed to be happening. After getting set up initially, getting a hold of a staff member to order anything else was a little difficult. Not a dealbreaker, just annoying. These minor issues aside, we had a lovely time at La Samanna. Breakfast was wonderful every day, and the room had a beautiful view. Above all, the natural beauty is unparalleled. All that was missing was that little bit of Belmond magic that makes everything seem effortless, which we look forward to seeing on our next Belmond vacation.

The most luxurious and romantic hotel in the island. We loved views, amazing staff, services.. Two years ago when we spent our winter holidays together and felt under magic of island, we decided to come back to same hotel couple weeks ago to celebrate life.