Caravanserai Beach Resort, Beacon Hill, St Maarten

The Caravanserai is an interesting mix of relaxation and frustration. The hotel is well managed, but the difference in quality from room to room is particularly noticeable. Additionally, some of the staff members are very Caribbean...so don't expect immediate results. Overall, a nice place, good location, and excellent bar keeps.

PARKING was a problem, never knew where you would park do to bliss, beach bar and casino. What will happen if the other building get built. Having to pay for ICE for three weeks is beyond belief, have never stayed at a resort that did not have an ice machine. The pool bar is nice but his music is played to LOUD, plus he thinks he is in control of all the lounge chairs. I am glad people from outside come to his bar , but should they be able to use the pool and the lounges when there are not enough for the "Guests"( I thought we were owners). Needs to have better security to stop none owners and guests from using the facility.

We love the resort and where it is located but the rooms are too sparsely decorated. The views and where it is located is one of the best on the island! They need some lamps for living area more furniture and ceiling fans. Our air conditioning didn't work really well in the living room. although the maintenance people came and tried to fix it. The kitchen needs to be equipped with more items to serve a meal and cook with. The furniture seems poorly made and needs to be made more comfortable. The pool area was great but more lounge chairs are needed and the smaller pool out at the point needs to be cleaned more often it was dirty the whole time we were there! I must say the staff was very attentive and tried to take care of any concerns we had in a timely manner, fixing most things that we requested. The cleaning people were outstanding and Marty and his swim up bar is definitely a plus for the resort!! We understand it a work in progress and we loved our stay in paradise and looking forward to next year. We also wish there were more palm trees in the front and more flowering bushes around the buildings. The plantings in front of our condo were getting so tall it was blocking part of our beautiful view!

I was unable to stay at this resort. After what I thought, ie., that I have confirmed with the Resort, I was informed that my room had already been let as I had not confirmed with RCI. The manager explained that a newsletter had been sent stating they where now affiliated with RCI and I had not confirmed with them. Thru some friends I was able to stay at The Royal Islander as I already had booked with the airline as I was under the impression that I was confirmed with THIS resort

Best things about the place? The magnificent view is incomparable. The staff is friendly and helpful, especially Violette, who never fails to share her beautiful wide smile, along with a hug. Still in the growing stage, and many "bugs" need to be worked out, such as poor interior lighting, ugly landscaping, screens on doors, curtains to filter out sun, adequate number of lounges around the pool, more umbrellas or trees for shade, better quality bed linens. Placement of electrical switches could have been better planned. I personally do not like having to pass through the Sunset Beach Bar crowd and walk the dangerous road to get to Maho, the main town. Even driving it is dangerous. We are owners here, and want it to succeed. So much potential, but needs better management. Tey are working on it. We HAVE seen improvement.

Great place, good weather, nice hotel. The staff was great. Only problem wasthe phone in our room was broke.

We have enjoyed staying at this resort for the past 3 yrs. construction progress has been slow- this is the first year we could stay in the unit we bought. Even now it is not completed- the 2nd bathroom was walled off- supposedly to be done by next year. The unit is a good location- on the quieter side away from the nightclub. Also ideal for watching sunsets. The kitchen was adequate, but could have a few more items such as a veg peeler, a decent pan for cooking eggs (non-stick) and the spatula to go with it. My other suggestion would be to mark the stairs in the pool and also in the area leading to the lobby from the pool. The marble tile is beautiful, but you don't really see the steps as you approach, and more than once I almost forgot and narrowly avoided a tumble. This unit claims to have sleeping for 4 but no one would be able to get a wink of sleep on that couch! We could barely sit on it more than a few minutes.

The location, close to Sunset beach and the village of Maho, fit perfectly. The resort associates, 4 restaurants, a night club, a casino, 2 bars, fit perfectly. The facilities, pools etc, fit perfectly. The general suite layout and location fit perfectly. The attention to detail of the furnishings and the repairs is not perfect.

Most of the people there were friendly and helpful.. Management was NOT.

We arrived at the hotel as part of our time-share where we paid $40,000 a couple of years ago (two weeks). After confirming TWICE on the phone with Violet it was confirmed and guaranteed by her that the room would be ready for Tuesday Dec 4th. When we arrived from Canada we were informed by front desk that we cannot check in until Saturday and we are to pay $380/night from Tuesday to Saturday where our week is suppose to start. I tried calling Violet and it was CLEAR that she realized that she had messed up but didn't want to take responsibility for her mistake. She got really aggressive and HUNG UP on me. I could not believe it; we paid $40,000 for this package. Pay $1600 + every year and we don't even usually show up, we have just arrived from Canada stranded by this young lady and she HABGS UP on us. In no professional organization would this young lady still have a job and within a couple of days it became very apparent that at least two other couple at the resort where we met at the bar had similar issues with her. We even heard about Violet at a store by Maho where the lady working there said that Violet's reputation is not great and Caravansari's service reputation is very bad. Imagine store sales girl talking about Caravansari's bad service reputation singling out Violet after asking where we are staying. Violet even tried to tell me that she has had issues with us before even though the only issue we had was HER MISTAKE two years prior where she sent someone in to my suite with their own key to collect the annual dues of $800 at 9 PM at night while I was sleeping. On that night I left work early (I have an office in St Maarten that I visit once or twice per year) because I was severely sick to get some rest. Imagine waking up an hour later and some large guy is in your BED ROOM standing by your bed in a two bed room suite, waking you up and demanding for you to get out of bed and walk to the main floor and make a condo due payment when you still have 4 more days in the hotel. Naturally I was very upset and asked the man to leave but he wouldn't because he said he was given strict instruction by Violet to bring me down with him. What the hell was the sense of urgency that couldn't wait until the next morning? I have paid $40,000 for the time-share so if I don't pay the $800 I will lose $40,000 so why was my rest interrupted and what gives them the right to break in to my room? Outside the Violet drama the resort is fine, we like it and brought many many many hotel guests there who rented from the resort but dealing with Violet has ruined our experience twice and already it is getting around the island even to the local clothing store sales person. I highly suggest that you re-evaluate this employee and her track record. For one if she has the edacity to hang on a out of country client of the hotel it is clear that this behaviors has gone too far and she simply has no respect for her work or the guests. As a CEO of an international company operating in 73 countries with over 12 000 clients we face tough situations however we treat our clients as assets and always try to find a way to say YES hence our massive success. Back to the story: Out of desperation I agreed to pay the $380/night until we can sort this out the next day but I was going to make sure that every guest I ran in to hears our frustration with the resort. Luckily for us the GM was still in the building and the front desk staff called her and she came to assist us. I explained the situation, she graciously invited us to the back office and within minute she accommodate us. She was respectful and full of class. The front desk staff for most part are also great. Violet has no place in this organization especially in such a sensitive position dealing with clients. Caravanserai's price point is mid to high so the clients you have are good clients used to certain way of treatment and violet is not the right fit to be dealing with reservation and direct contact with the guests. Perhaps another position that doesn't compel her to deal with guests is more suitable. Thank you

We had a lovely visit. Our last visit was in 2010 and while there is still room for improvement, things are looking better. The pool bar area was quite nice. We especially liked the pool that was out by the lava rocks. but would like to see it improve with a possible sand area....more chairs and umbrellas.....plants, etc. Our room decorations were sparce...furniture, not terribly comfortable...the kitchen was fine and provided nice pots and pans, as well as all the items we needed to fix our meals. On our next visit, we are sure things will even get better.

We are fans of Caravanserai, while the furnishings could be improved they are acceptable to us and we have had no issues. The locations is great, the Dream Pool Bar is a great place to meet others and spend time as well. We have stayed in several units at Caravanserai and this last stay was in a "hotel" room on the back side of the property for a short stay. It was all we needed, would certainly stay there again if needing a room for a short stay. The staff is fantastic, and that in my opinion is what makes St Maarten great, the people. We are regulars on St Maarten, usually about 5 weeks per year, and Caravanserai is in our top 5 for timeshare places to stay. We look forward to our next week there.