Top Local Tips for St. Barthelemy

Avoid Bel Esprit, CaribbeanWay and St. Barths Properties Bel Esprit was most recently named Villa Lorient Estate. It is a rundown villa without running water and has many problems. The name was recently changed to Bel Esprit. We rented this villa thru Caribbeanway.com and once they had our money and we returned, they pleaded not guilty, accused the villa owner and local management for all the problems.Suggest you avoid this company! On the island, St. Barths Properties is the local management company and supposed to address any issues. The many calls to their office and many voice mails about serious problems at the villa went unanswered/non-responsive. Avoid this villa and these companies!

good values in St Barts Many of the private villas available for rent in St Barts are offering free nights this off-season. The posted prices are still the same, but you get a free night, so the company you book it through (in my case Wimco) will reduce the price you pay by 1/7th. I don't know if they will carry this promotion over until 2010. It makes renting a villa on St Barts a much better value than a hotel if there are more than two of you. On a related note, Wimco offers its clients a restaurant savings card "Friend of the Island" card which gave me 10% off in a few restaurants. Its accepted in 11 restaurants in all, and most of those are the upscale ones, but if you want to have a big night out the card saves you some significant coin.