On our first night we were looking for a meal that would set the tone for our stay so we went to the hotel restaurant expecting the best. The waiter brought bread artfully arranged on a plate and when I picked up a piece the 15 or 20 ants that were comfortable under it scattered.

There was a weak apology, but a shocking return of an identical bread plate.

Fortunately, other guests recommended many excellent restaurants off the main road and at the Raddison just next door.

Needless to say we were very hungry in the morning but there wasn't even coffee in the room. Fortunately we brought some nuts and crackers. Out of morbid curiosity, we looked at the restaurant on our way to the beach and found an exorbitant price for an unattractive buffet.

The setting is lovely but this is not a 4 star hotel.

Jeremy is an excellent sports instructor with classes of Zumba, stretch, Yoga and swimming at the lovely resort with a beautiful pool
He makes the class fun and at your own pace with good music
He is very patient

I was staying at le Domaine for a weekend with a friend and my mother to celebrate her birthday. The place itself is outstanding : the hotel itself is situated in a little bay sharing a magnificent beach with the Radisson next door. It is very quiet and relaxing and this is exactly what we were looking for. The staff is very friendly as well and recommended us each night where we should eat. The hotel is about 5 minutes drive away from Gd Case, which is probably the best place to eat and go out in Saint-Martin; while there are no night club in Grand Case, unlike Maho, there are dozens of little restaurants and bars on the beach front where you can spend a wonderful evening. Finally, the hotel staff and concierge, Patricia, also organized for us a little boat tour of the Island with just us three and the boat skipper. About the hotel amenities, it's true the basic rooms that we had, are probably not on par with 4 stars hotel in the US, but I thought it was actually pretty good for the price we paid. Overall, we had a wonderful experience.

OUR REVEIW OF LE DOMAINE IN ST MAARTIN……
after reading such a mixed bag of reviews i have to set the record straight….

To start with I'm going to warn you that this review is going to be long but that doesn't mean negative.
We arrived in the Caribbean on Christmas eve 2012 after booking the holiday at the last minute , my teenage daughter and i ( mum ) were greeted warmly on this sunny afternoon and shown to our room. This was called tired in some of the trip adviser reviews and yes it was a bit dated but by no means was it without some charm, something we later discovered that ran throughout the whole hotel.

Our first evening was excellent and we enjoyed a beautiful 4 course dinner and cocktails in the restaurant after seeing Santa Claus making an appearance by jet sky no less.
Dropping presents to all the young residents. It was a very well organised evening as sometimes these events can be really tacky.

Over the next few days we enjoyed the sunshine and hotel to its full using the spa and beach facilities , Stefani at the spa was very lovely to my daughter and the treatments were excellent but
The system to book was a little confusing - best to book through reception. But what was becoming increasingly clear was the tightly run ship and amazing group of staff that work so closely together to keep the entire hotel not only charming but efficient and in our honest opinion one of the most friendly environments we have every stayed in.

As a business person i know how important staff are and whatever they are doing at LE DOMAINE is something that many other places, including the neighbouring RADISSON BLUE should go to see and learn from the guys at LE DOMAINE
( we happened to try the Radisson for dinner one evening and never returned - stuffy- American-stiff upper lip )

At the DOMAINE they have an amazing sense team-work and their heirachy system is run very smoothly and to full effect - when necessary the managers are not affaid to jump in and get there hands dirty ! This impressed me as most hotels aren't that flexible - it felt more like a family run business.

After having stayed at the hotel for a few days more we had a full understanding of how it works… There are a few of the 'manager' types of staff that constantly over see the hotel and after talking to our favourite bar manager 'Fabrice' we discovered that they all work closely together to navigate a smooth operation and ultimately the running of the whole hotel. I can't express enough how this makes you feel at home , relaxed and cared for .

This was very encouraging for the rest of our stay including New years eve. we opted out of the sit down dinner and chose one of the few little restaurants in the area but returned to the hotel for cocktails which i have to say are excellent - frozen mojhito or pina colada ( obviously ) were our tipple most days. Although you have to try the flavoured rum's like vanilla and banana or ginger !

We visited most of the islands hotspots for snorkelling and diving , Pinel island and Tintamarre for swimming with sea turtles has to be a must for every visitor.
But our beach at Anse Marcel is just about as good as it gets , so thankfully excursions every day are not necessary!

One of my concerns about staying in a hotel for 2 weeks was boredom and routine but surprisingly we never got bored, our friendly barman at the main bar 'fabrice' and the small beach bar owner 'Rashid' always kept us entertained with colourful and inventive cocktails, wisdom and stories. We completely fell in love with them both and they made us so welcome that we intend to visit Fabrice in his home town in France later this year.
We highly recommend the very reasonable lunches Rashid makes , wonderful salads to rival any good deli in London or Paris. And you must have virgin pina coladas to keep you cool on a hot day - Fabrices' are the best…. As for the main restaurant the lunches are amazing and very generous , we tried the salads - pasta- crab cakes - the whole lobster everything tasted fresh and everything else that went past on the trays looked as good !

Our experience of the evening menu wasn't as good, i have to say reluctantly :( it wasn't that the food itself wasn't fab but every day the menu seemed to be limited- we found heard that a lot of the produce is imported from France !!!! and this is the case for the whole island so things are sometimes difficult to source. But what we did have was always of a high standard!

Its obvious that people only seem to write reviews if they've come back from a holiday that was bad and they want to complain, but in this case i want to say that its the opposite and although i have jotted down the things I've noticed to be weaker, their is not a lot to complain about!!! my daughter and i both found it very difficult and emotional to leave the hotel with all the amazing hard working staff. So heres a big thank you to you all xxx Fabrice, Rashid, Sebastian, Zoe, Damian, Arianne and all the very attentive others .