Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The veranda of a beach suite It’s the new beach bar built around the trunk of an enormous tree that does it. The small, no-fuss intervention is one of the first things arriving guests see when they pass the revamped reception at Antigua’s Hermitage Bay resort, which is reopening this weekend after a multimillion-dollar renovation. It neatly sums up the changes that have taken place in the iconic hotel in the past year.
It’s still not flashy or expensive-looking. It’s not all shiny and new. Its spirit is the same as ever, but it looks a bit better: lighter, more expansive, more lush.
To be sure, Hermitage Bay isn’t one of those Caribbean resorts with decades and decades of history. It opened less than 20 years ago with just a couple dozen rooms but quickly found a devoted following. They liked the local character and intimate scale—both of which, they find lacking at some of the island’s bigger, better-known luxury resorts—and the deep Caribbean authenticity.
The new tree bar at Hermitage Bay Among that devoted following was Daniel Shamoon, the co-owner and director of Luxury Hotel Partners , a family business that owns and operates storied hotels like the Marbella Club and Puente Romano Beach Resort in Spain’s Costa del Sol, several Nobu hotels in places like Ibiza and Marrakech, and the Small Luxury Hotels of the World brand. For him, the love affair blossomed quickly. “Over the years, I have enjoyed ma.
