La Samanna, A Belmond Hotel, St Martin

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

La Samanna is a peaceful hotel set on a picture perfect beach, with turquoise water and a caring, consummate staff. The breakfasts are old school European delicious with an eye popping range of delicacies; makes you want to jump out of bed for breakfast and then linger on the terrace with an espresso, gazing out at the sea. I highly recommend the rooms that give directly onto the beach (which faces West: sunsets every evening). Hats off to: Michel, Maitre D' at La Spiaggia, upbeat and professional (who always kept a table for our family to play cards at, and laugh together) Brinda, who anticipated every need with a smile and great kindness. Herbert and Ugo at L'Oursin, thank you for a lovely evening. There are not many hotels left like this in the world- thank you everyone at La Samanna!

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.

Our stay for the most part was excellent. Food was excellent and we had no need to go elsewhere for dining. Wait staff was friendly and excellent The heated pool was a pleasure. Our only complaint was the access to the beach from our until. While almost all units opened to a somewhat spacious area leading to beach stairs our unit was the only one that opened to a narrow twisty sandy area leading to the stairs partially blocked by shrubs and roots. A staircase just opposite our porch would have solved the problem and made our stay perfect

Spectacular in every way. We loved our stunning accommodation, the beach is truly one of the best in the world, the entire staff was caring and helpful, and our dining experience was exceptional

Great Hotel