Esmeralda Resort

What a gem of a place. Rooms clean, pool was a little dated but did the trick at the end of the day. Breakfast daily was delicious and the service was fantastic. Lobster dinner was 100% worth it. Can walk to town for so many options to eat. I would stay again.

In late January 2025, we made our first return visit to Esmeralda since January 2020. COVID, travel restrictions and personal family matters, all one right after another, kept us away for far too long from both the island and our favorite place to stay when in SXM. We were so very happy to get back to familiar and welcome surroundings. The single biggest change we noticed was a number of new faces around the property. Claudie Nannini, the general manager for many years, retired back in 2023 and longtime assistant Audrey Donal is now keeping an eye out to make sure things are running smoothly. Chris, the one man maintenance team and baggage delivery person is no longer there and in his place are two (possibly one more?) gentlemen who we spotted all over the property, daily. Very nice and friendly and often inquiring if there was anything that needed to be addressed, etc... A few of the housekeeping staff we recognized from our many past visits and it was nice to be able to reconnect with them and get caught up after such a long time. The person we most enjoyed chatting with and seeing was Jerome. He is among staff at L'Astrolabe for breakfasts and dinners, since 2023. We had quite a pleasant surprise one evening in OBV, having dinner at L'Atelier, when Jerome comes over to seat us. That's his moonlighting gig a few evenings per week. The property has changed very little, visually speaking, which is nice to see. The grounds are continuing to fill out since Irma, back in 2017 and each visit is just a bit more pleasant with seeing all of the flowering shrubs and growing palm trees looking well and more lush. Two disappointments learned of were from my asking questions and having reception staff explain with their answers. Villa 43 is no longer available as a rental villa as the building was privately purchased for use and rental. A privacy fence now encloses the entire building and grounds to the front and is very noticeable when heading to the reception office right next to it. I've posted two photos showing how it looks now. Villas 47 & 48 are also no longer part of Esmeralda as they each are now private rentals. We've stayed in various rooms within each of the three villas and were a bit sad to find out about these changes. The beach lounger/umbrella guest usage does not extend to Coco Beach restaurant which is closest to the resort. When rebuilt and opened, it was done with new owners and they decided not to participate. The remaining four beach restaurants, starting the with next closest one at Kakao Beach is where we used the loungers/umbrella. Beachfront area was beautiful as always with very minimal Sargassum washing ashore and with what there was of it, early morning crews were out to remove and rake clear and smooth the areas. Service with the reception, housekeeping and restaurant staffs was top notch and very much appreciated and nice to see continue, visit after visit. Our particular room in villa 41 was new to

We've been to St. Martin more than 10 times: staying last 4 times at Esmeralda Resort at the same room. Very quiet, conveniently located, with the private pool, excellent service, great restaurant onsite, 2 minutes walk to about 2 miles long Orient beach with variety of waves/no waves ocean conditions : all these things plus terrific General Manager Audrey makes your dream vacation unbelievably great