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The cost to stay at Zemi Beach House was USD 11,887 (CAD 16,300) for 7 nights, or 110,000 Hilton points per night.
I went for the points rate, getting pretty outstanding value from them in relation to the cash price. In the end, I only needed to pay for 4 nights, since I booked 5 nights together with the 5th free, and used two Hilton Free Night Awards for the remaining two nights. These certificates were received from the US-issued Hilton American Express cards, such as the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, through which I also have Hilton Diamond status.
This resulted in a total cost of 440,000 Hilton points. The property books up quickly, and finding availability for standard rooms multiple nights in a row during peak season can be challenging. To ensure we got the dates we wanted, I booked it a full year in advance as soon as the calendar opened.
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In addition to the great welcome bonus on both cards, you’ll earn 2 points per dollar on all purchases and 5 points per dollar at Marriott locations. And each year, you’ll earn a certificate for one free hotel stay (35,000 point value) and 15 Elite nights toward your Marriott Bonvoy status.
Zemi Beach House is located right on Shoal Bay beach. And the area lives up to the hype – it is just stunning. The sand is a very soft white powder, with gorgeous turquoise waters lapping its shores. The island is pretty exclusive due to the high rates, so it’s also very quiet, and you don’t have to compete with any crowds. There’s even some very decent snorkeling right off the beach with a few coral areas you can swim around.
If you fly right into Anguilla airport, the hotel is only a 10-15 minute drive away. In fact, the island is relatively small, so nothing is really that far away. While the airport is currently undergoing a significant expansion, the commercial flights directly there are currently limited. Most people fly into St. Maarten and then take either a private or public ferry to the island. This is what we did, and we took the opportunity to stay at the JW Marriott St. Maarten Beach Resort & Spa for a couple of days to break up the trip. Either way, a representative from the hotel will meet you upon arrival on the island and help to arrange a rental car or taxi for you.
The grounds of the hotel are beautiful, with flowers all over the property and everything well-maintained. Even the reception area is lovely, featuring an immense local charm. This is a Hilton-affiliated hotel that doesn’t feel like a typical Hilton, in the best possible way.
I did not have any hope for a significant upgrade for us, as most of their inventory is standard rooms, and many upgraded rooms only fit two people, which wouldn’t work for a family of four. We were given the standard garden view room at check-in. The next day, I asked if an ocean-view room might be available since the view we got, I have to admit, wasn’t great. Fortunately, the hotel was able to move us to a higher floor overlooking a pool and the ocean, which was great.
The rooms also follow the theme of not feeling like a typical Hilton. They’re not over-the-top luxurious, but instead have a lot of local charm to them. There were two very comfortable queen beds, a fully stocked minibar area that the staff can keep stocked with water/drinks and ice for you, a huge bathroom with double sinks and a separate tub and marble shower, lots of storage, and it was 65 square meters, which is huge for a standard room. This was definitely one of the best non-suite hotel rooms we’ve ever stayed in as a family. We received a little welcome amenity of water, fruit, and chocolate treats for the kids. The balcony had terrific furniture, both for relaxing and for eating outdoors with room service, and the pool and ocean views were beautiful.
Both of my daughters received a bag of pool/beach toys, and nightly turndown service included bottled water and cookies each evening.
The property has two pools. The first is set away from the beach and is for adults only. It has loungers right in the water and even has a single-lane lap pool, which I used to get some exercise in. The family pool, located down by the beach, is perfect for kids. Both feature very comfortable chairs and loungers around them, umbrellas, and a kiosk with water, towels, and sunscreen. Despite being there on March Break with the hotel near full occupancy, there was never an issue finding somewhere to sit. Servers are available with whole food and drink menus at any time.
All the hotel’s restaurants and bars are clustered around the family pool near the beach. The main restaurant, 20 Knots, offers dining and drinks all day long, with indoor and outdoor seating. This is where the breakfast buffet is. We received complimentary breakfast due to our Hilton Diamond status. The breakfast offered a pretty good variety of Western/European food, including a station where you could get eggs and omelets made to order. They even had a wood-fired oven for pizzas served for lunch and supper. Each morning, they also featured à-la-carte items that you could order. The breakfast was pretty good, but far from the most memorable hotel breakfast you’ll ever have. There wasn’t much rotation in items either, so after a week it began to feel pretty repetitive.
Bohio Bar & Lounge is the main bar area, which also serves small plates and has a sushi bar, and sometimes has live entertainment in the evening. There’s a specialty lounge called the Rhum Room, which has great rum tastings and cocktails. There is also a fine dining restaurant called Stone; however, since we had our young children with us, we didn’t visit here.
All the rest of the food we had around the resort for lunches and suppers was delicious. It was all quite expensive, as you would imagine for a resort like this, but the service and quality were really as good as it gets for a resort hotel in the Caribbean. Everything was plated attractively, including casual meals around the pool.
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Down on the beach, they offer complimentary non-motorized sports, including snorkel equipment, which can also be found at the kiosk, along with additional water and sunscreen. And there is a terrific kids club which is also complementary and has some fun activities for the kids that they really liked, particularly dressing up like a mermaid in the pool, which my younger daughter loved.
There’s a gym next to the adult pool. It’s pretty well equipped and has towels, water, and other essentials. I checked in here a few times during my stay, but with two pools, including a lap lane, and water sports available in the gorgeous turquoise ocean, it wasn’t a surprise that I didn’t see anyone inside.
The hotel has a fairly unique spa as well, called the Zemi Thai House Spa. It has a real 300-year-old house from Thailand that was actually shipped to the Caribbean. Within the spa, you’ll find a tranquil atmosphere, multiple treatment rooms, a vitality pool, and even a hamman.
And finally, the overall service we got at the property was very good. I would call it more reactive rather than proactive; for example, I’d have to ask every day for our minibar and ice to be refilled in our room. Despite being there for a whole week at a relatively small boutique property, nobody ever called us by name. But they were very responsive to the chat via the Hilton app, and the staff were very friendly. We unfortunately had a sickness with a member of the family who needed to go to the hospital, and the girls working at reception were extraordinary, helping us organize it, and one of them even went to visit at the hospital to make sure everything was OK. You won’t want for anything while staying here!
Zemi Beach House is definitely one of the best resorts I have stayed at in the Caribbean. It has a perfect location on a stunning beach surrounded by turquoise water, delicious food, friendly staff, and great amenities like the pools, free kids club, gym, water sports, and spa. And one of the nicest and largest standard rooms we as a family have ever stayed in. I wouldn’t hesitate to come back here again, and as a hotel, it definitely makes the trip to Anguilla worthwhile.
Keep reading with our experience at JW Marriott St. Maarten Beach Resort & Spa.
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