We’ve stayed in the Orient Bay area several times per year for 12 years. The Palm Court has changed owners several times but the buildings stay the same. Pleasant and a flavor of French Caribbean charm, yet not 5 star crazy opulent and sterile. The rooms could use a little updating but we didn’t pay $400 per night either. It’s a very nice small hotel and the rooms are large.

We love the Orient Bay area, with the village center just 100 yards walk. 5 or 6 restaurants, a convenience store (with awesome fresh Baguettes), and a large grocery store just 5 minutes drive back towards Grand Case. 10 minutes walk on the beach to Club Orient. The location couldn’t be better. At night, there’s usually one or more beach bars that has something going. Since the beach isn’t overcrowded, at night the beach bars don’t have enough business to all stay open so they alternate who’s open, you just have to ask at the bars in the daytime to know who’s open each night.

More specific about the hotel, the pool is clean and well maintained. The have a small bar/breakfast area around the pool which is simply wonderful if you don’t feel like walking to the beach. Everything is as well maintained as constant wind blown salty air will allow. Just about everything rusts in a year or two, including the refrigerators, what can you do short of throwing them out every two years? The grounds are lush with local vegetation and well maintained too. OK, a few chameleons running around and occasion bug or snail. I guess one could spray insecticide endlessly to be ride of them. We choose to tolerate a few bugs. OFF with deet is always good for the ankles anyway because sand flees are prevalent on any Caribbean island. So are a few mosquitoes, but nothing like we’re accustomed to in the hinterland of Wisconsin!

In regards to security that other’s have mentioned, as any traveler should do, don’t let your guard down! Compared to other islands or tourist areas we’ve visited, Orient Bay is safe BUT, you can’t always assume it’s paradise in all ways. We asked one of the owners (Cécile, she owns several of the rooms under OrientBayLodge dot com) about recent security issues. She told us they are working on the repair of several lights around the parking area that have been out for sometime. She was confident proper lighting will push a few derelict local teens back home to play video games instead of bothering guests. Also, being a smaller hotel, they simply can’t afford to keep someone at the front desk 24 hours per day. Ask for a managers cell number if you think you might need help in off hours. They’ve always been happy to give one.

We asked for and received a 2nd floor room. It was clean, Not a five star but that does not exist in the Orient Bay area. After reading some of the reviews I considered canceling my reservation. I'm glad i didn't.  Alex could not have been more helpful. She went out of her way to be sure we had everything we needed. We felt safe within the property and while walking to the village and the beach. Breakfast was as expected, coffee, juice, bread and pastries. They also have an "egg cooker", basically a crock pot filled with hot water and little wire baskets to hold the eggs. You put in what you want, and set a timer. Breakfast is supposed to start at 8:00. The Saturday girl, Nathalie, who sets up breakfast was just starting to set up at 8. Egg cooker water never did get hot. My wife tried an egg and even after 10 minutes of cooking, it was still completely raw. Coffee and pastries were good. Sunday through Friday there is a different girl, Julian, setting up breakfast. She is a sweetheart. She remembers what you like and makes sure you are happy. Julian was a wealth of local knowledge. Everything from where to shop for groceries and wine, to some of the local attractions. She had everything ready on time. She was very pleasant and suggested that we try 7 minutes on the egg timer. This will give you a soft boiled egg, the equivalent of about 3 minutes in boiling water. Afternoons, about 4:00 to 6:00 they have Crepes and drinks in the same area that they serve breakfast. No beer or wine, just mixed drinks. The Crepes are good with a variety to choose from. Crepes and drinks are not included in the room price like breakfast is. The same girl who does breakfast does the afternoon Crepes and drinks. Poopy, their dog os very nice. She took a liking to us. She would follow us to the beach and lay under my wife's chair. The nice thing is that when someone would try to sell us some useless trinkets, the dog would bark at them and scare them away. if I could add one thing to would be a clock in the room.
The beach chairs at Waikiki are included with the room at Palm Court. After reading some of the reviews about pushy beach attendants, and poor beach chair positions for the palm court guests, I was fully prepared to find the best location on the beach and just pay for the chairs. We walked the entire beach from the area known as Palm Beach, all the way to Pedro's. As far as I am concerned, the Waikiki area is among the best. We picked a couple of chairs that were already set up in the front row. Put our palm court towels on them and enjoyed the beach. About 10 minutes later Bengiman came by just to confirm we were staying at Palm Court and to see if we needed anything. He was available throughout the day, but not at all pushy. I noticed a few "reserved" signs at some of the chairs. I asked him how we could do the same. He asked how long we would be there and said that if we like where we were, those would be our chairs for the week. Simple as that. We had lunch at Waikiki. My wife had a large salad with grilled shrimp, I had the salad with grilled chicken. The food is OK, not anything special, but not bad. €20 each for lunch, €7 each for drinks . With the $ to € conversion $68 plug tip for lunch. Yes it's a bit high, but the chairs are free and you'r on vacation. The next day, our chairs were reserved for us as promised.

It has been 25 years since we were in St. Martin and having traveled all over the Caribbean and read Trip Adviser reviews as I always do to make good decisions before choosing places to stay. Well this time it was a really bad decision to choose Palm Court. If you are expecting to see pink cheeked French ladies with flowers and fresh baked bread in their bicycle baskets smiling as they pass you are in the wrong place. This dump is smack dab in the middle of a gypsy ghetto and you will see scars ,missing teeth,tatoos,squinty eyes and smell poor hygiene. Now when you go through the security gate you will notice razor wire strung out and shining in the sunlight and if you look at the small window in the toilet room it is screwed shut from the inside and there is no vent fan. This joke of a hotel has no security and the office is only open for a few hours each day and is staffed by people who are not experienced in the hospitality business. My wife and I went for a 10 day vacation centered around our 38th anniversary which was 5/30/12 we arrived 5/26/12 and were given room #13 on the first floor. The first night when Kathy tried to shower there was no pressure or hot water and the office was closed for the evening,she and I cleaned up as best as we could using the shower near the pool area. Waking up the next morning we were covered with ant bites and found them all over the room. When the office finally opened we mentioned this to the girl on duty, she reached under the counter and slammed down a can of insect spray an told us to return it when finished . We told the chamber maid about the problem and she changed the sheets and sprayed the room. The next night i woke up to find a large cockroach crawling over my arm,we went to the local market they had plenty of roach spray, it took us two days to kill the family of them that lived under the sink. When we told the management about this problem they responded that the person who takes care of that will not be there until Monday because this is a small French hotel she snapped back at us. We went to the beach which was pretty good and loved Bikini Beach bar. We were looking forward to celebrate our anniversary on tues. 5/30. Monday evening we went to the food court and had a pricey hamburger at Happy Days and it was pretty good. We left our room at about 6;30 to eat and upon our return at 8:30 we unlocked the door and decided to watch a movie on the laptop computer, when Kathy went to get it she could not find the bag that it was hidden near the suitcases. On the floor we found our passports and magazines which were in the computer bag, looking around the room other items were missing and a sick feeling came over us...WE GOT BROKEN INTO AND ROBBED! Our money and small valuables were locked in the room safe, but they got the Mac laptop,Ipad,Ipod,amplifier dock,voltage adapters and a bone handled German switch blade knife. The sneaky gypsy weasles had entered the room through the 11x22 inch toilet window and ripped us off. Now what to do? we did not know how to contact the police and Kathy went to Bikini Beach bar where Corina helped call them. The Gendarmes arrived quickly and called a forensic team to take finger prints. They told us that there is a lot of trouble in that area and have been to Palm Court before. Look at some of the pictures other people took of the front of the rooms and you can see the small window to left of the door. The next morning when the office opened they knew of the break in ,but did not come to our room to express any regrets and when we asked what they were going to do we did not receive a sincere apology . Next we asked about their insurance and were told that a police report with serial numbers and receipts of the stolen items would be necessary.. We went to the police station the following day and Kathy was able to obtain some for the laptop and the Ipad. We requested to change our room which was done because the shower drain would back up when the toilet was flushed and the a/c was not working well. Being very angry about the bad situation we walked around the area to check out the surroundings that shocked us when we saw where we were. We considered going to another hotel but thought that Palm Court might comp us for the stay...wrong they only took off for the night of the break in.
Chapter 2 "The French runaround"
Upon our return back to the US after a lousy vacation we gave PC hotel all serial numbers ,receipts etc.and emailed them about what their ins. co. was doing and when we could expect an answer and payment after all we did nothing wrong and did not leave anything out in the open an securely locked the room it was lack of security and no video to protect it's guests. Well email after email, stall and delay we finally got an answer"the amount of the stolen objects is less then their franchise?" but we will cover you for the cost of the damaged window in the amount of $398.00...we lost over $4000.00 of electronics and that is all we get! When asked about refunding part of our stay they forgot how to speak English. I contacted the St. Martin tourist bureau and was told by a Mr. Sam Fusco that he hears many times about robberies and the police never solve the crime or retrieve the stolen property. I got the $398.00 yesterday.
Chapter 3 Moral of the story stay away from Palm Court unless you are French because they don't care much for Americans and don't have good plumbing. Before you book any place that you have not seen ask about security and safety. The French have strange ideas about integrity and fairness and we were victims of that kind of thinking. What kind of hotel has razor wire to keep out vandals and crooks, if you ever see that turn around and run. I do not plan on returning to St. Martin.And thoughts in closing ..who knew exactly when we left for dinner that night and when we would return? Who knew that we had an expensive computer and ipad that was not in plain view? Who knew that the ipad had a GPS but never turned it on? Maybe this was an inside job made to look like a random robbery? Everything stated here is fact and can be documented...what smart answers do you have now Palm Court! Dick Kalaman

Where to begin...

1. The owner is not a people friendly person.
2. This place is advertised as a full kitchenet, but the cooking top did not work, the mini fridge was not cool enough to keep food.
3. The toilet is in it's own seperate room and the owner had bolted the bathroom window shut so you could not open it.
4. There were ants all over in the room and I have received multiple bug bites from the room.
5. There is not a constant person at the front desk to assist you even though there is a sign that says the reception is open from 8:30 am to 7 pm.
6. Most of the TV channels in the room are in french and 3 channels at the most in english.
7. Most of the night life happens on the Dutch side down by the airport which is way to far to drive back to the hotel if you have been drinking.
8. Orient Beach is like the wild west, Very busy and happening during the day, but once dusk comes, all of the beach bars close down and everyone heads inside.

I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy.