At the next table, one visitor bemoaned his situation to another. 

“I wanted to stay here but they were full,” he said. “So I had to stay at La Samanna.”

There’s perhaps no better distillation of the allure — and quality — of the Grand Case Beach Club in St Martin, a 71-room beach hotel that has developed a cult following among lovers of the Caribbean, many of whom would readily choose it over far more expensive luxury resorts. 

There’s just something magnetic about this place, home to two sparkling white-sand beaches at the end of Grand Case Boulevard.

Much of it has to do with Stephen Wright, the resort’s longtime general manager, who honed his craft at some of the world’s greatest luxury resorts and took his magnanimous, kind-hearted hospitality to Grand Case. 

It’s a simple formula here: sleek, crisply-appointed residential-style rooms (filled with local art master Sir Roland Richardson’s paintings); a prime perch right at the edge of two beaches; a stunning rooftop pool in view of Anguilla and the Creole Rock; and an endlessly warm staff, all of whom readily share Wright’s guest-first focus. 

And the there’s the on-site Sunset Cafe, one of Grand Case’s best restaurants, which serves three meals each day in an elevated location where you feel like you’re floating above the water. 

Indeed, Grand Case’s unrivaled culinary scene, just a short stroll away, is among the major draws: in-the-know travelers have long made a beeline for Grand Case and its almost dizzying array of Michelin-quality eateries, the greatest concentration of fine-dining restaurants in one place anywhere in the Caribbean. 

And it all adds up to a lovely, easy-to-repeat daily routine: oceanside breakfast and coffee at Sunset; hours bobbing in the sea and lounging on beach chairs, with either a lunch or dinner in Grand Case, with the odd excursion to Orient Bay or Marigot or Pinel Island thrown in. 

It’s the essence of what we’re all looking for in a Caribbean vacation: a charming, pretty hotel; friendly service; authentic food; and beautiful beaches. 

It’s simple, really. But nobody does it better. 

Because if you love the Caribbean, this is precisely your kind of hotel. 

For more, visit the Grand Case Beach Club.