PRICE:
Frommer's Highly Recommended

Lighting designer Arnold Chan (Miami's Delano, L.A.'s Mondrian) and French decorator Christian Liaigre (New York's Mercer) collaborated on the sleek, minimalist, "ethno-Zen" design aesthetic of this latest entrant in the super-deluxe category, which debuted in December 2005. Standard rooms are cramped (in great part due to trendily oversize beds) but include private minigardens; larger units offer private access to the resort's 180m (600-ft.) beachfront. Scandinavian and Asian influences predominate: white-on-white color scheme with wood accents, the severe geometry (elevated black granite square wash basins, triangular chrome lamps) softened by gauzy white curtains and plush armchairs. Add custom-made D. Porthault linens, Parisian toiletries, personal iPods and docking stations, flatscreen LCD TVs, in-room Wi-Fi access, individual parking spaces, not to mention beach beds and designer martini bar, and voilà: instant boutique hotel buzz. The Restaurant des Pecheurs is the on-site restaurant, serving fish fresh delivered to the hotel daily by local fishing boats. Highly touted is the restaurant's bouillabaisse, filled with fresh fish from the Mediterranean flown in every Thursday.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Portable St. Maarten/St. Martin, Anguilla & St. Barts, 2nd Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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