Gyp Sea Saint Barth

Booked this hotel on a mad whim via Expedia, I was looking for a 5* experience on a Caribbean island that was friendly and not even slightly intimidating. So 2 days in I can confirm the hotel does not disappoint. The place exudes a relaxed style that soothes and instantly removes all memories of the 2 hour wait on the tarmac at Gatwick airport because BA had forgotten to order food for the flight! Our spacious and airy room has a view that is sublime and to be woken by the sunrise each morning is simply amazing. The breakfast by the pool in the morning starts the day perfectly with attentive and friendly service. The tortoises, house cat and rock doves provide the entertainment. On our first day we had the bright idea of walking to Flamands beach, getting there was easy (steep downhill) and the beach and surf were spectacular. On the way back we took a detour trying to find a place to eat, rescued a tortoise and got picked up by a stranger which saved us the climb up the hill. Clearly the locals are friendly! Next day we took advantage of the included beach club, again lovely attentive staff and another nice beach although more sheltered than Flamands so quite few moored boats to spoil the view. The hotel staff have sorted a car for us to explore the island for the rest of the week, again nothing seemed to much trouble for them all I had to do was sign the form.

The staff is exceptionally kind, genuinely warm, humble, and selfless. Thank you so much for your impeccable professionalism.

Let me just start, overall we had a good stay. IF this was a 4 star rated hotel, we would have given a solid 5 star review. However, there were too many small misses. Our biggest issues was regarding the lack of free safe drinking water. I simple RO dispenser in the lobby would have easily solved this. Yes we get two small bottles at night with turn down service, but they do not even provide water for the tea/Nespresso machine. We had a car and found a store to sell us a 6 pack of water. The breakfast was solid but the pastries were repetitive. No changes from day to day. The servers were great. We had a few language issues that also I think led to less than great service. I would recommend a car as it was fun to drive the island. The beach club service was also very mixed. By our last day, we were finally able to get some pro-active attention. The first couple days we were nearly completely ignored.