At Villa Beach Cottages, personalized service is a family tradition.Villa Beach Cottages is a unique boutique hotel situated on Choc Bay in the north of St. Lucia. Our philosophy is that travel is not just about seeing a place but says the hotel’s owner and manager, “about people meeting people; when you distil travel, it is really about that positive human connection.” This is something that has been celebrated from the hotel’s very inception.
The original Villa Beach Cottages has its beginnings rooted in US Naval Air Station at Beanfield, Vieux Fort in the south of the island. It was an important regional base established in the Caribbean by the American Government during World War II. Hamilton Gidharry, hotelier and owner of the Villa Hotel on Morne Fortune overlooking the city of Castries, and grandfather of the current manager of the Villa Beach Cottages, recognized the potential of the naval officer’s quarters in 1958 when the airbase was decommissioned. He bought two of the cottages and had them dismantled and re-assembled at the present Villa Beach Cottages site at Choc Bay. Initially the cottages were intended for use by guests of the Villa Hotel as a day beach retreat, but so popular was the arrangement that Hamilton Gidharry decided to establish a stand-alone property, building two additional cottages and opening a restaurant and clubhouse.
The property has grown and transformed over the years. The original cottages have given in to time, but on that very location a community of new cottage-like villa suites has been built in stages. The first set of ten villa suites, restaurant and plunge pool was completed in 2000. The last transformation taking place recently when an additional ten deluxe villa suites, a second swimming pool and three guest services cottages were added to the property. All the villa suites pay homage to the casual luxury and indigenous architectural features that characterized the original structures.
Over the last sixty years the property has hosted guests from all over the world, many of whom have become yearly repeat guest and family friends. Villa Beach Cottages, under the direction of the founder’s grandson continues to provide that intimate, homely atmosphere and commitment to maintaining the family ethos while at the same time updating and upgrading the facilities and services to meet the individual needs of the property’s guests. The personal touch provided by the team is always close at hand and the guests of the Villa Beach Cottages are treated like family.
