We've been staying at Alamanda every year for five or six years now. It is not fancy, but by St Martin standards it is among the best. It had been getting run down, but it has had a lot of needed revisions in the last year - new air conditioning, TV, safes, and fresh paint. The bathroom is odd but clean. Staff is friendly and reliable. The location is the best on St Martin, right on Orient Beach,with Orient village right there with a good selection of excellent restaurants. It is a simple hotel, but I cannot imagine staying anywhere else on St Martin - we've stayed at La Samanna and Le Meridien (now Radisson) in the past - both lovely, but we'll take Alamanda, thank you. We'll be back there next December.

There is probably no better location for a hotel on St. Martin than the Alamanda. The staff is very friendly and helpful but the bed in room 102 was rock hard. We asked for a pad but they had already given out the 2 they had (just 2 for a 42 room hotel?). They ended up giving us several velour blankets which helped some. We ended up buying a mattress pad, and they thankfully credited us the cost of the pad.

It is just across the road from Orient Beach, which is one of the nicest beaches I have ever been to. Also within a few seconds walking distance to some very good restaurants.

Just spent a week at the Alamanda Resort in Orient Bay. It is a small hotel and very quiet but the beach is very active and that is where you will spend most of your time. We rented the Presidential suite which was very nice and faced the ocean. Probably the best view in the whole resort and the most roomiest balcony. Very clean resort although be prepared for a very hard bed.

Breakfast was a frest fruit cup, pastries and wonderful toasted bagettes plus your coffee and juice. However the room has a small kitchenette with a fridge and stove top (no oven) which you can bring in a few groceries and make sandwiches etc. to help cut costs.

The beach was spectacular although left natural with the usual looking weeds washing up on shore with high tide. They just try to bury the weeds in the sand every now and again. Great for taking nice walks up and down the beach though.

Pool was very quiet and not used too often. We would usually finish our day at the beach there to rinse off and get a nice cool swim before going to our room. Usually we were the only ones there.

Be careful as the French side uses Euros and for the life of us we could figure out the conversions they were using. It seemed everywhere had there own conversion system. It would be wise to bring Euros and $ and pay in Euros when asked for. I think we lost quite a bit when using our $.

Also need to mention early mornings be warned the nudists come up and down the beach for their morning strolls. This was not the case in the later morning and afternoons though.

All in all loved St. Maarten and would likely go back but want to see what else is out there before sticking to one island.

We have stayed at the Alamanda for many years. Our last visit on 11/19 was perfect. We always request a first floor room and always get it. Hard for my hubby to go up the stairs, for the other rooms. The staff, including Vincent, Geraldyne, Matilda, Franklin, Agnes and every one else, is a pleasure to deal with. We start with the breakfast they serve, and all have a smile on their face. Our room was spotless, and is the property. We dined every night at Bikini Beach, Spiga's, Tai Chi, LaVilla, Piazza Pascal, LePressoir, L'Estaminent, LeTastevin, Lescapade and L'Auberge Gourmande and each night when we returned, we were welcomed with a giant smile. We cannot ask for a better staff. They treat us with hugs when we arrive and I have tears, when we leave. It is a wonderful property and we cannot wait to go back.