It began with an idea.
An idea to celebrate the jewels of the Caribbean hotel industry, the smaller, more intimate spaces through which hoteliers express their dreams, their personalities and their visions for what hospitality can be.
And now the Caribbean Boutique Hotel Awards is back again, with its second annual edition again putting the best of the Caribbean’s small hotels on display.
Nothing better represents the diversity of the Caribbean travel experience than these small properties, places that are eminently in tune with their communities, with their natural environments and with their destinations.
And that’s what Caribbean Journal readers often tell us — in many ways, these boutique hotels are the ultimate Caribbean experiences, that some of our most beloved stories are the ones that shine the spotlight on these little gems.
The Caribbean Journal team scours the region all year round to find the best of the best, and we are delighted to announce our selections for the second Caribbean Boutique Hotel Awards across 12 different categories.
“The best boutique hotels are their own art form, built on passion, love and immensely hard work” said Alexander Britell, editor and publisher of Caribbean Journal. “And the Caribbean is filled with boutique masterpieces, from historic retreats to wellness getaways. We are proud to celebrate our favorites in the region with the second-annual Caribbean Boutique Hotel Awards. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!”
Caribbean Boutique Hotel of the Year: Island House, Nassau, Bahamas Plainly, this is one of the best boutique hotels to have opened in the Caribbean in some time. The 30-room masterwork is set in Nassau’s tony Lyford Cay neighborhood, with marvelous design, impeccable service, a pair of world-class eateries and the kind of inspired amenities you can’t even find in large resorts — ranging from a full-service cinema to squash courts to a co-working space. It’s a new kind of boutique hotel for the Caribbean, and a masterwork in hotel design. More importantly, it’s yet another reason why Nassau is one of the Caribbean’s most exciting destinations right now.
Secret Bay.
Boutique Luxury Hotel of the Year: Secret Bay, Dominica Set at the far north of Dominica near Portsmouth, Secret Bay has long been one of the Caribbean’s true bucket-list retreats, with spectacular design married to an almost overwhelming authenticity. Secret Bay, which has built back better than ever since Hurricane Maria, remains a hard-to-match vision for sustainable luxury in the Caribbean.
The new OLV Fifty Five in San Juan’s hip Condado district.
New Boutique Hotel of the Year: O:LV Fifty Five Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico The Caribbean’s newest boutique hotel is also the sexiest hotel in the Caribbean right now, with a contemporary, voluptuous, avant-garde design that takes the best of urban hotels in New York or London and inserts them into a spirited Puerto Rican environment. From the rooftop hot tub with a view of the Condado Lagoon to Chef Mario Pagan’s superb Raya restaurant, it’s a destination boutique hotel in the heart of Condado, one of the Caribbean’s capitals of chic.
Boutique Beach Hotel of the Year: The House, Barbados It’s hard to stand out on Barbados’ Platinum Coast, but that’s precisely what Elegant Hotels has managed to do with their tiny jewel of a hotel, The House. There are 34 rooms in this luxurious but hip retreat on a prized sliver of beach on the West Coast, with lovely little touches like Nespresso machines and a unlimited complimentary champagne to start each day. And it doesn’t hurt that the house restaurant is Daphne’s, the Italian eatery that’s one of Barbados’ best.
The Southern Cross Club.
Boutique Adventure Hotel of the Year: Southern Cross Club, Little Cayman Still one of the best-kept secrets in the entire Caribbean, tiny Little Cayman is paradise for adventure seekers, with some of the world’s best diving and fishing at your fingertips. And that sense of adventure has been distilled into the Southern Cross Club, a boutique retreat that began life in 1958 as a fishing and has now turned into one of the Caribbean’s adventure Meccas. The hotel is a mix of toes-in-the-sand, colorful beach bungalows that marry with a Caribbean-fusion eatery and the kind of lodge-style community feel that’s a rather hard thing to find these days.
Boutique Culinary Hotel of the Year: Graycliff, Nassau, Bahamas In Graycliff, we have the Caribbean Boutique Hotel Awards’ first-ever two-time winner, and it more than deserves the honor. This historic boutique in the heart of downtown Nassau understands that there is more to the world culinary than simply foodie gimmicks. Those who love cuisine love the world of cuisine, love the world of the gourmet. And this hotel is designed precisely for that. There are three main eateries: the world-class namesake restaurant, among the Caribbean’s best; an authentic Neapolitan pizzeria; a Brazilian churrascaria. And that’s just the beginning. There’s a full-fledged winery, a magnificent chocolate factory; the world’s third-largest private wine cellar and a renowned cigar factory. If you love food, if you love the good life, this is Mecca. And nothing else really comes close.
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Boutique City Hotel of the Year: Casas del XVI, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic It’s shocking that Santo Domingo still largely remains off the radar of most travelers, but those who journey to the old colonial heart of the Dominican Republic’s capital are handsomely rewarded. And that’s in large part thanks to its surfeit of terrific boutique hotels, none more charismatic than the Casas del XVI, an exquisitely restored group of six buildings dating back, as the name suggests, to the 16th century. Each “casa” is completely different, with an eclectic but authentic character, and a different “concept:” the “Casa de Los Mapas,” for example,
Boutique Design Hotel of the Year: French Coco, Martinique The French Caribbean island of Martinique is one of the region’s most fascinating destinations, unsurprisingly drawing the most in-the-know and advanced travelers, those who can appreciate its sophisticated charms. And that’s what makes the French Coco so special, a boutique in the rugged fishing village of Tartane that exemplifies the lush, beautiful wonder of Martinique. The design is a welcoming mix of French hip and Martinique cool, and its build-out accentuates the natural beauty of its hillside location. If you want to experience Martinique, this design-focused hotel is the way to go — and one of the region’s best-kept secrets.
Palm Island.
Boutique All-Inclusive of the Year: Palm Island, St Vincent and the Grenadines The Caribbean is filled with large-scale all-inclusives, places where the emphasis is on quantity and not quality. Here, things are different. This is the essence of the Caribbean fantasy, the untouched beaches, the views for miles, the fresh fish and the unimaginable serenity. Yes, it’s an all-inclusive, but it’s also the Caribbean dream, the castaway-style that often lives only in our imagination. Here, though, it’s real.
Sweetfield Manor.
Boutique Wellness Hotel of the Year: Sweetfield Manor, Barbados You feel the tranquility the minute you arrive, the quiet, the calm, the Zen. This centuries-old property, once home to the founder of Barbados’ legendary Cockspur Rum, is one of the region’s great wellness destinations, where the impressive slate of spa treatments and yoga classes and mindfulness getaways are matched by an inherent calm, one that has only been strengthened by the thoughtful, detail-oriented design. It’s the essence of wellness: physical, mental and environmental.
Small Hope Bay Lodge.
Boutique Hotelier of the Year: Jeff Birch, Small Hope Bay Lodge, Andros, Bahamas A Caribbean hotel that has been around for six decades is clearly doing something right. And that’s precisely the case for Jeff Birch and his beloved Small Hope Bay Lodge, a resort set among the raw, almost impossibly beautiful environment of Andros Island, the largest island in The Bahamas and its most mysterious. Birch has cultivated a boutique hotel that is everything to everyone, a beach resort for sand lovers, a diving resort for scuba enthusiasts and a dream for those looking for a slice of a Caribbean that hardly exists anymore. Doing this on a remote corner of the far reaches of the Out Islands of The Bahamas is beyond impressive. Birch exemplifies the best of Caribbean hospitality.