By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Caribbean’s fastest-growing hotel brand is coming to the French side of St Martin.

The highly-anticipated Secrets St Martin Resort and Spa will be making its debut on Feb. 1, 2020, Caribbean Journal has learned.

The adults-only, all-inclusive resort is the latest for Apple Leisure Group’s surging AMResorts subsidiary, which closed the first half of this year with almost 9,000 hotel rooms in development in the wider Caribbean-Mexico region.

A rendering of a suite at the new Secrets St Martin.

The resort, which is set on Anse Marcel in St Martin, is a transformation of the former Riu Palace St Martin, which shuttered in the wake of Hurricane Irma in 2017.

While the all-inclusive concept is unique in St Martin, the marketing power and infrastructure of AMResorts and Apple Leisure could be a significant injection of energy into the French side of the island.

The property has been in the midst of a $20 million renovation project that began shortly after AMResorts signed the management deal with property owner Sole Resorts in the summer of 2018.

The all-inclusive resort will have a total of 258 suites, with amenities like 24-hour room service, twice-daily housekeeping and a daily refreshed minibar, among others, along with the Secrets brand’s signature Pevonia spa.

Anse Marcel, a spectacular beach in St Martin.

Secrets St Martin will have six dining concepts. ranging from a poolside grill to a coffee bar to the Italian-inspired Portofino.

It will mark the first-ever AMResorts property in the French Caribbean, and a big addition to a corner of the Caribbean with a small room stock largely comprised of mostly tiny hotels (along with the beloved Grand Case Club, St Martin’s most popular place to stay).

Secrets St Martin “takes its inspiration from the island’s radiant surroundings, steeped in Caribbean-European and French roots,” the company said.

The property will also include an exceptionally large infinity pool, according to the company.

Secrets St Martin will join existing Secrets resorts in four other destinations in the Caribbean Basin, including the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica.

For more, visit Secrets St Martin.

— CJ