Your St Barts -Villa Rental in St Barths, Saint Barthélémy

Lovely Swim at Gouverneur Beach

Thibault from St Barts — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:59:13 +0000

I had yesterday a lovely swim at Gouverneur beach. Like all of St Barts' beaches, Gouverneur was hit by the recent high seas. But for some reason, I find that the beach was improved as a result.

If you have been to Gouverneur, you know that the beach is located in a beautiful private cove, owned by software-genius-turned-St-Barts-musician Jeet. The beach remains beautiful. Yet, over the years, it was getting harder and harder to get into the water from the beach : big rocks (called "cailles" in local parlance) were showing and hurting feet quite a bit when getting in or out of the water.

The high seas hit the beach in Gouverneur just like everywhere else. The result was that sand was pulled down from the beach and covered the cailles. Hence, I was able yesterday to get into the water from any point of the beach. This is just great.

As usual, some people were naked, at the farthest end of the beach. There were at most 20 of us on the beach at 3pm. Gouverneur is a small Salines to me, beautiful, free. Just more houses overlooking the bay … and the naked sun seekers

La nostalgie n'est plus ce qu'elle était …

Thibault from St Barts — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:21:02 +0000

This is a hard one to translate : " La nostalgie n'est plus ce qu'elle était" . "Nostalgia is not what it used to be" … sort of …

When I hit the island a few days ago, I met some people at the airport that I know a bit. As I usually do, I asked "How was the high season for you this year?". They looked at me and said " The island is changind. And not in a good way".

In my head, I was like "Here we go again, the ritual refrain about things not being the same anymore". Anyone who has come more than twice on the island feels like a regular and will readily tell you about how much the island has changed in 20 years, in 10 years, in 5 years, or in 2 months.

But this time around, very sad news was hitting home: a man working on the island had raped two women, a local resident and a tourist. The guy was caught in less then 24 hours by the local gendarmerie and deported to a prison on another island. I am very sorry for these two women.

This was shocking to me on several levels. First, these crimes were depictable : the tourist was hitchhiking and the resident was sleeping at home. Second, this kind of things never happen in St Barts. It is one of the most secure places that I know. I can walk into my friends' villas easily, as they usually do not lock their doors. Same for cars, I never lock mine : where could a thief go with my car, on such a tiny island?

Yet, recently, there has also been a break-in in the local hardware store (I know, big deal compared to Rio de Janeiro or even to Paris or NYC). And tourists have reported personal items being stolen here and there.

So, how safe is St Barts? Well, I guess that tourism officials would say that it is 100% safe. I would say 98%. I am not playing with numbers here. St Barts is one of the only places in the world where you can parade in the street in your Louboutin shoes, your Birkin bag in hand, and feel super safe. It is precisely becauce these isolated crimes are unusual that they are shocking to us.

My advice? Well, do as I do: when leaving your villa, just put your valuables (jewels, watches, iPhone, etc.) in a safe. In our villa, there is a safe in every bedroom. This is it. Lock the villa if you want to. And just remember that this is a very safe island where terrible things can happen once in a while, like anywhere else.

Just arrived in St Barts - weather and morale improving

Thibault from St Barts — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:14:13 +0000

I will shortly write a few posts about this new trip to our villa. Today is a beautiful day, temperature is rising, the high seas are over, and I am in a better mood.

But the rising euro and a ~~wave of crimes~~ a few recent isolated crimes have made our arrival to St Barts less pleasant than usual.

Here is a quick view from where I am sitting, while writing this blog entry from our St Barts villa. Not bad

St. Barts Villa Rental Agencies :: Wimco

Thibault M. — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:16:26 +0000

St. Barts Villa Rental Agencies :: Wimco

In my never ending quest to bring you the very best that St. Barts has to offer, I recently interviewed Stiles Bennet, Director of Marketing at Wimco, one of the best St Barts villa rental agencies on the island!

1. Who is Wimco?

Wimco was established in 1983 as the US based marketing, reservations and finance arm of Sibarth villa rentals in St Barts. Over time Wimco added other destinations in the Caribbean and Europe to its portfolio. St Barts remains the company's core focus. In all we represent 260 villas in St Barts, and we have exclusive marketing and reservations rights to 150 of those. Filling the 150 exclusive villas we represent along with Sibarth is our top goal.

Wimco is widely recognized as one of the top villa rental companies in the world due to its product expertise, the experience of its reservations agents, its product selection process insuring that we represent only the best homes in each destination, and its high quality of customer service.

2. Why is Wimco/Sibarth so strong on St Barts?

Sibarth was the first villa rental company on the island, established in 1976. Wimco was the first US based company dedicated to marketing St Barts. Over the years Wimco has invested heavily in marketing St Barts as a vacation destination, first through print ads, public relations, direct mail and trade shows, and more recently adding email and search engine marketing and website promotion. Each year Wimco pays for top travel writers from US and European magazines to come down to the island to learn about, and experience, St Barts, and to see the quality of our villas. In effect Wimco has acted as the unofficial Ministry of Tourism for the island since the '80's. This translates to greater awareness, and a large client base.

3. Why should people seeking out a villa in St Barts choose you?

There are several reasons who people interested in renting a villa in St Barts should use Wimco. Our agents know the villas intimately, we have 150 villas that are exclusively represented by Wimco/Sibarth, so we have the largest selection overall. we can arrange almost anything on the island, and our local partner Sibarth has the largest and most experienced on-island staff to get the clients to their villas from the airport, to deliver all the services the client requested, and to manage any issues that come up while the client is on the island.

4. How are bookings handled ? Do customers get an immediate answer?

Clients calling Wimco about a specific villa get an immediate answer to their booking request if they are asking for availability for one of our 150 exclusive villas. We can book those on the spot. That is the advantage of exclusivity.

For the other 110 villas we represent on a non-exclusive basis, we have live availability online so we can easily tell the client which dates the villa is available - that is an advantage over most local villa companies. That said, we still have to check first with the owner before we can confirm the villa booking with the client. This is the same process any other villa rental company has to go through for non-exclusive villas.

5. New villa rental agencies are popping up on the island; do you feel that customers in search of something "new" would prefer a new competitor to good ol' Wimco ?

There are several reasons to choose Wimco over a new villa rental company. A new company only has access to the non-exclusive villas that every other agency on the island has access to, no advantage there. Most new companies have only a small customer service and reservations staff. Wimco/Sibarth have a 50+ person staff on the island managing airport pick-ups, concierge services, villa maintenance and so much more, plus Wimco's 50+ person staff in the US managing reservations, customer service etc. Wimco/Sibarth have deep and long standing relationships with every restaurant and service provider on the island, so we can get that tough restaurant reservation, and can arrange a service that goes above and beyond the call of duty.

6. Let's talk a little bit about villa owners: why should they give you the keys to their villas?

Wimco/Sibarth together have the largest client base of any villa rental agency, and the largest marketing budget for attracting new clients to St Barts. As a general rule, owners come to Sibarth very early in the construction process to inquire about listing their villa with Sibarth because they understand that Wimco/Sibarth has the ability to fill their villa better than any other agency. We work closely with Sibarth Real Estate as well, so owners who are buying a villa in St Barts understand the advantages of putting their villa into the Wimco/Sibarth villa rental program. The number of villas that are exclusive to Sibarth/Wimco is growing, a sign that the owners understand the advantages of listing with us.

7. Do you feel that the villas in St Barts are moving to become "more upscale," quickly enough to compete with, say, Anguilla?

There are two issues here, one, how is the island of St Barts developing, and two, how does the quality of the villas on the island compare with villas on other islands. The island enjoys a unique advantage over most islands in the Caribbean. It is uncrowded, crime free, sophisticated in an understated way, and is stunningly beautiful. The shops and restaurants are second to none, and the French culture is a plus for most visitors.

The villas on St Barts are increasingly sophisticated, while still remaining comfortable. Its important that there always be a good selection of moderately priced villas so first time visitors to St Barts have a reasonably priced option. The villas at the high end of the market are smaller than those on Anguilla, Barbados or St Martin, but are not inferior from a features and amenities standpoint. One of the biggest issues clients bring to our attention is the intermittent electrical problems, which is out of the control of many villa owners. While there is some construction on the island, it is less than in many other islands, so the complaints about noise are no more than they'd be in Anguilla for instance.

8. So what does "a-day-on-the-job" look like for you? I don't want to give away the secret sauce for having a successful villa rental business in St Barts, however I will say that it's a pleasure marketing St Barts as a destination, so my job is very enjoyable

9. St Barts: new taxes, rising euro … what is the impact on vacationers?Everything in St Barts is priced in euros, so for the US based client the island has become more expensive than some neighboring islands in the Caribbean. The tax de sejour also increased the cost of coming to the island. Our villa rental business continues to grow, but we have heard that clients are eating out less often, and may be shopping less during their vacations.

St. Barts Villa Rentals :: SIBARTH

Thibault M. — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:39:24 +0000

SIBARTH happens to be the biggest rental agency on the island. With over 200 available rental properties on their roster, they easily have the largest inventory of rentals available on the island. Additionally, their counterpart, SIBARTH Real Estate keeps a wonderful stock of properties for purchase as well.

With 30+ years of experience, the owners of SIBARTH, Brook and Roger Lacour, are quite famous around these parts. Everyone on the island knows them and enjoys them tremendously. Wonderful people, they will make your stay on the island extra-special by setting you up with the finest, and most secluded, villas available.

Each year, SIBARTH makes sure that some 10,000 guests are accomodated and well taken care of. Their on island services include a wonderful concierge service that will secure restaurant reservations, massages, provision deliveries, plane charters, car rentals, home help with chefs, babysitters, and anything else you can imagine. Additionally, they have a 24-hour service, manned by a bilingual supervisor, just in case of an emergency.

If you're looking for top-notch service on this island, call SIBARTH before you book a villa. They will, literally, take care of everything!

St. Barts Island Villa Services :: St Barth Chef Bernard Javelle

Thibault M. — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 03:54:15 +0000

St Barts Villa Services :: Chef Bernard Javelle

St. Barts island villa services get even better with Chef Bernard Javelle at your disposal. One of the finest French chefs on the island, he acquired his skills by working in restaurants all around the world.

For the last 15 years, Bernard has graced us with his creations in the restaurant setting; now, he's bringing it to a more personal level, right in to your villa. He's well connected and knows all the local vendors from produce to seafood.

Whether you want a casual dinner buffet party or a more formal affair, Chef Bernard can get it done. Here's a sampling of what he offers up for your feasting pleasure. Homemade lobster ravioli, sweetbread medallions served with a fresh tarragon sauce, or grilled local spiny lobster.

In the mood for something a little sweeter? Try the bananas pancake dressed in hot chocolate sauce or a fruit combination sprinkled with an old dark rum sabayon.

Whatever you choose to have served to your family and friends, everyone will thank you for such a wonderful choice. I don't know about you, but my mouth is watering!!

St Barts Villa Services :: Cordon Bleu

Thibault M. — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:17:33 +0000

If you're looking for phenomenal St Barts villa services, check out Cordon Bleu. A subtle and surprising mix of different flavors and cultures, Cordon Bleu brings traditional French gourmet, Creole island cooking and the famous Alain Ducasse cuisine to the table.

The concoctions of Christine and Jean-Jacques have pleased many a pallet and they're sure to make yours sing too! With 30 years of experience, they are quick to please their clients and guests. Not only that, they know wines and will suggest and buy only the best for their clients to compliment their meals.

So what will you be feasting on? Chilled beet soup, pink and black radish laced - small fried artichoke on spinach shoot salad with parmesean and pine nuts - Black tiger shrimp skewer citrus sauce - loin beef with special sauce and "ratte potatoes salted fleur de sel"……it all sounds good doesn't it? Finish it off with a chocolate tart truffle and coffee ice cream or caramelized banana, cinnamon bread and spicy ice cream.

Delectable confections for the most discerning of food lovers…….contact Cordon Bleu via phone at 590 690 587898 or email stbarthcordonbleu@yahoo.fr. Bon Appetite!

St. Barts Villa Services :: Food Lover

Thibault M. — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:47:38 +0000

Food Lover :: Bertrand Dantec Cooking for His Family

Bertrand Dantec is the creative genius behind Food Lover, a private catering agency here on the island of St. Barts. Food Lover was established in 1985, and has been fantastic since the day it started. Bertrand's team comes up with dishes for all sorts of events - just tell them what you like! French, provencale, vegetarian, creole…the choice is yours. And to make your life even easier, they'll even do your grocery shopping in advance when you are coming to the island!!

On the menu? How about "Cold island gaspacho and Parmesan cheese petals?" Or, "Orange carpaccio in saffron syrup, green olive marmalade?" Sounds de-lish, doesn't it? But he doesn't stop there. Choose "local Mahi Mahi in a curry coriander and grappes sauce" or "grilled prawns, lime "aioli", served on a banana tree leave."

Whatever your desire, Food Lover can whip it up. You won't be disappointed!

St. Barts Villa Rental Agencies :: Sprimbarth

Thibault M. — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:33:51 +0000

Sprimbarth is one of St. Barts island villa rental agencies that deals with villa management and matching up villa rental hopefuls and villa owners to faciliate the best possible experience for everyone involved. With two locations, one on St. Barts and one on St. Maarten, they have 25 years of experience and are well known with plenty of connections.

Currently, they have many villas listed on their site, two of which are for sale on our island, both 1 bedroom and 1 bath room for 1.3 million euros….each offer a view of the lagoon of Cul de Sac. They also have several apartments for sale if you were so inclined.

If you're an American looking for a rental, you might want to call their office at 590.590.27.70.19 because all of their rental information seems to be in French…..unless of course, you speak the language! You can also email their sales rep, Christophe Schot, at christophesacot@orange.fr.

St Barts Villa Rental Agencies :: New Agency

Thibault M. — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 05:21:12 +0000

The New Agency has been doing business here on the island of St Barts for nearly 30 years and is committed to bringing you the most beautiful villas both for sale and for rent. With a user-friendly website that lets you search based on bedrooms, location, or villa name, you can find any property!

The folks at New Agency will pick you up at the airport and during your stay, they will assist you with concierge services to set up dinner reservations, boat outings, car rentals, or anything else you might want to do. You can contact them via phone at 011 590 590 27 81 14 or through email at info@new-agency.com.