Park Hyatt St. Kitts Christophe Harbour

The Park Hyatt St. Kitts is a beautiful, well-maintained property. The grounds are immaculate, the architecture blends well with the natural surroundings, and the rooms are spacious and thoughtfully designed. One small but much-appreciated detail: the toilet is separate from the bathroom, which makes sharing a room far easier and more convenient. As an avid traveler who has stayed in properties worldwide, I tend to be pretty laid-back when on vacation. I don’t demand perfection, but I do expect basic standards of service from a 5-star property charging $700–$800 a night. Unfortunately, while the resort itself is stunning, the service did not consistently meet those expectations. The positives: Food: Overall, the food was good - well seasoned flavorful and worth trying Drinks: Cocktails at the pool bar were good and consistent Spa Treatments: Massages and facials were really good. Would recommend booking Staff: The staff we interacted with were always friendly, warm and apologetic when issues arose The Challenges: Service Speed: Food service was extremely slow. Even a simple order of wings or burger for two people took over an hour Pool Experience: At the adults-only pool there was no drink or chair service. Guests were expected to set up their own loungers and we found it easier/faster to just walk down to the pool bar and fetch our own drinks, fine for a casual beach hotel but not a luxury resort charging 3K for 4 nights Day Pass/Spa Pass Policy: I purchased passes for a visiting friend so we could enjoy a relaxing day together, but no one ever checked them which made the expense feel pointless Payment issues at the spa: What should have been a seamless experience turned into 45 minutes of confusion, followed by being called back from the pool because staff forgot to charge for products. That call, and dripping back into the spa in frustration completely undermined what was supposed to be a relaxing finale to our trip. Food Delays again: On that same "relaxing day", a food order placed at the pool still hadn't arrived after an hour and had to be canceled before dinner. To managements credit, they sent a fruit platter to our room which we appreciated Overall Food and beverage delivery needs to be tightened up considerable. Waiting an hour for bar snacks at a luxury resort is unacceptable. Both pools should have consistent staff support for drinks and loungers. Guests shouldn't be left to fend for themselves. I want to stress: this review isn't about the friendliness of the staff, they were always kind. The shortfall was in training, consistency and systems. For a property of this caliber and price point, those details matter. Would I recommend the Park Hyatt St. Kitts? Yes, for the property itself, the spa and the island experience. But if service is your top priority, you may be as frustrated as I was.

The real review of the Park Hyatt St. Kitts. Must read! This is a gem. Have seen a few reviewers write negative things, and I’m not sure if there were teething issues, but I have glowing things to say about this property. The most bizarre comment that makes no sense is the view that this shouldn’t be a Park Hyatt. The property, room quality, service, and experiences are every bit at the top end of luxury within Hyatt and rival other top properties and brands - it’s deserving of its brand. I hope others write about their experiences more going forward, because a few old experiences or disappointing experiences should not be what remains written about this great property. I’ve stayed at many great hotels and resorts around the World, and this one is up there. The property itself - stunning! Ocean views overlooking Nevis in the distance, beautiful grounds, great restaurants. The lobby upon entering the property overlooks the ocean and the walk to the “Living Room” where you check in is surrounded by a koi pond on both sides. It’s beautiful. You can get fish food to feed the koi from the front desk. The main pool with its infinity edge and zero entry is great. There’s a little interior sand beach area too if you want to stay at the pool, but have some beach feel too. The adults pool is quiet as it should be and is relaxing and picturesque. Both pools overlook the ocean and Nevis in the distance. There are plenty of chairs and umbrellas too, and it lacks the vibe of reserving chairs, which is a huge plus. None of that took place during our stay, and we always had choices of shady spots. They provide towels that stretch over the lounge chairs, which is a nice plus too. Staff frequently come by to offer drinks, food, or simply some cold water. The restaurants all offer a lot of choice and different vibes. Fisherman’s Village is along the ocean with a pier, thatched roof, and outdoor bar. You hear the water coming up along the beach under the dock, which is a nice vibe. Food was excellent, especially the spiny lobster! They also cooked the snapper grilled even though that wasn’t the choice on the menu. The Stone Barn is cozy and more romantic. In the summer, the Stone Barn wasn’t open every night and different “pop ups” were available. While the Great House has three meals a day and is along the ocean with excellent food. I found the Great House high quality for all three meals, including dinner. With three dinner restaurant choices, the property provides a nice number of options for a longer stay. The pool bar has great salads and fish tacos - there’s more in the menu at the pool bar, but that’s what we enjoyed. There’s also a gelato and smoothie “shack” on the beach. Wish it was opened at night too for a late night dessert! We loved the coffee gelato that should be called “coffee chip” as there are a small chocolate pieces mixed in. Our favorite drinks at the bars were the Spice Trader and the Rum-Fashioned, but there are plenty of others to try. They’ll also offer you rum punch as a welcome drink upon check-in. Note: Globalist breakfast benefit during low season was “at least” $65pp off the menu (though this $65 is after service and tax, so it’s really $50 of menu spend per person before this). The breakfast buffet is not offered in low season. $50 can go plenty far though. One morning, my wife and I each ordered an entree, shared a smoothie, shared a pastry basket, and each had iced lattes, and I thought we had to cover $1.30 of the $131.30! The front desk removed the breakfast from the online bill right away. By checkout, they even removed the $1.30 from our first day. The other days came to under $130 for the two of us. Loved the breakfast food items all around. The front desk on check in actually said you can get anything you want at breakfast except the Mimosa’s and they’d remove it, which ended up being the case, as they removed the $1.30. One other note was when we got hot coffees, it was never even a part of our breakfast bill - even though it was included anyway, I’d just thought I’d mention. Not sure if it will be offered going forward, but on select nights this summer, they were offering a Sushi/Japanese dinner in Stone Barn. Loved the atmosphere and service, but we didn’t love the Japanese food we ordered (but we’re from NYC with some well-rated Sushi restaurants, so we might not too critical). On select Sunday’s, there is a Sunday Brunch in the Great House from 12-3pm. This is not included as part of the Globalist breakfast benefit. That said, we had breakfast a little earlier and sat down at 1:30 for the brunch. The Brunch was incredible. It looked like a lot of locals also came from across the area to experience it. I thought the hotel under-advertised how great the Brunch is. There was better Sushi than the pop-up from Stone Barn! And lots of great dishes like lobster salad, crabmeat salad, shrimp ceviche, and a beet salad. There was short rib, pasta, and more traditional American dishes. A selection of local dishes like oxtail (that I really liked), salt fish, and Johnny Cakes. And an amazing dessert buffet of fresh cakes, crème brûlée, tiramisu, gelato, and more. I’m not listing everything, but you get the point. It was impressive in its offering and food quality. We also did the afternoon tea one of our days. It’s offered in the Great House. The food offered was over-the-top. The sandwiches were unique versus what I’ve experienced in London, but all were enjoyable. There were three scone choices (plain, raisin, and cheese). And the dessert selection was so vast, that my wife and I shared bites of one of each of the choices and brought the rest to another guest we met on our stay to enjoy. The tea was prepared tableside with fresh tea leaves (3 choices offered). We liked the tea, but it was a hot day, so we had less tea than usual! Some of the items like the lobster roll sandwich and some of the desserts were repeats from the Brunch selection - we were ok with that and it was a nice experience to try the afternoon tea and the Brunch during our stay. There are also other restaurant options nearby. We happened to experience Spice Mill, just outside the entrance to the Park Hyatt grounds as well as Reggae Beach Bar. Reggae Beach Bar has a popular Lobster Fest dinner on Fridays starting at 6pm. Make a reservation. It is a super casual restaurant on the beach with some seating in an open air environment or on plastic tables and chairs on the beach itself - really casual like I said. They have live music on Fridays that’s very good. The spiny lobster was huge in portion size and excellent. It comes with two other proteins you pick from and a buffet of sides. It’s a good value. One other note, it’s a 15 minute walk from the Park Hyatt lobby but the bellman also drives guests there - we tipped him, but the shuttle is free, and we called and he picked us up after dinner. The restaurant can call if you don’t have a phone. The Spice Mill is a 5 minute walk from the lobby, but we took the shuttle again. I’d call it upscale casual at Spice Mill if that makes any sense! The service was great, as was the food and rumtini’s (the rumtini was a recommendation from someone at the Park Hyatt front desk). This might be a theme, but we ordered the spiny lobster again! We found it a little less chewy than Maine lobster and had to have it again. There are a number of “experiences” that are included with the resort fee. As typical, Globalists get the resort fee waived as well. These are the ones we enjoyed, all of which I’d highly recommend, and all again were included as part of the resort fee. 1. Mixology class. Jose, the bartender at Flemings Bar inside the Great House teaches this class. He is so nice, knowledgable, a great teacher, and a great mixologist. He taught us about all the different bar tools he uses, how to use them, why you use them, etc. we made two cocktails that are signature items on the bar menu. And he had members from the group volunteer to make the drinks for everyone. 2. Rum Tasting. Jose taught this class too. He poured three different brands of rum. We learned a lot about the history of rum and how each of the choices we tasted varied and “attempted” to analyze the rums as we tried them. 3. Cooking demonstration. We helped and observed a chef making a curried snapper and potstickers. It was a pretty hot afternoon in the open-air Fisherman’s Village (and we were tired from a big day), so I felt a little less into it, but still glad to have experienced this. 4. Bonfire. This was offered on one of the nights during our stay. Free smores kits near the beach surrounded by string lights. Was a nice little snack and a fun time! The fitness center was nice. We used it every morning. It had a selection of equipment, weight machines, free weights, and a Peloton (with toe holder so you don’t need to bring your Peloton shoes). There were cold water bottles and plenty of towels. We did not do the fitness classes, but several were offered on mornings during our stay (yoga, cross-fit). The Spa seemed very nice. A lot of guests experienced it, and we heard really amazing things, but we did not use it. The service was so friendly, it was an absolute joy to experience getting to know so many of the talented Park Hyatt team members that work on property. I saw some reviews say the service at the restaurants was slow. We did not experience this. And the restaurant staff was helpful and wanted to share their views on dishes to help us decide. One server at breakfast even said to my wife if she didn’t like her choice, she’d bring out a different entree for her. They custom prepared the fish entree at Fisherman’s Village and brought us a side of Johnny Cakes at the Great House for breakfast. Even the grounds staff was super friendly. They keep up the property really well. And we saw two guests with fresh coconuts and straws. They said the ground crew will get you a coconut and cut it open for you to drink fresh coconut water! There are staff with golf carts that can take you around. They drove us to our room from check-in with a little property tour, and they also scheduled a late check-out and luggage pick-up, and were right on time for the luggage (and they drove us back in the golf cart to the lobby with our bags). The property is entirely walkable, but you can request a cart anytime. One time we were walking to dinner and a cart was passing by, and they offered us a ride. The staff pull to the side and wait for guests to walk past to not disturb anyone with the golf carts that are walking around the property. Our room. We stayed in a Pool View Suite. This is very conservatively labeled by the property, as it had a full-on ocean view beyond the pool. We really liked our room. We used a Suite Upgrade Award from the standard room. I didn’t bother asking for a plunge pool suite as these are premium suites, and many prior guests reported about paying a fee to upgrade to one. That said, the plunge pools did look very nice, so it may be worth it. We loved the pools on the property, so we didn’t mind not having a private one. The pool view suites also walked right out to the main pool, so we liked our easy access to the pool even if it wasn’t a private plunge pool! The room had a sitting area with a big sofa and 2nd TV. The bathroom was very nice, with a high end shower, double sinks, and a soaking tub. The bathroom and master BR use sliding doors to close it off from the sitting area and bathroom. Two robes are provided, as are slippers. There are plenty of towel hooks in the bathroom to hang towels if you’re ok to re-use them the next day. The room stayed nice and cool from the AC. Housekeeping was fine enough, but not a standout. They cleaned the room once per day, usually early afternoon. They only leave three bath towels. There was not a turndown service, which would have been a good addition. They do come back in the early evening to re-fill an ice bucket and leave some really good chocolates each night. Wish they’d freshen up the bathroom early evening when they revisit though. The beach was fine. Not the best Caribbean beach I’ve been to, but still a beautiful beach, and the views across to Nevis are really nice. The entry to the ocean has a really soft, fine black sand that was really nice experience versus what I’ve usually seen. We found the water a bit rough on most days. It had times where it was a nice turquoise blue, but not all day. There was some seaweed (it’s been a tough summer this year for a lot of beaches), but it wasn’t overwhelming. The staff cleans the seaweed each day. We brought water shoes because we were told it can be a little pebbly. We forgot to take them with us to the beach though, and it was fine enough without them, though there are some small rocks in places, but I wouldn’t call it rocky by any means. The beach overlooks Nevis and is a really nice setting. There is a shady area with some tree cover right on the beach and plenty of lounge chairs either in that shady area or across the beachfront (with umbrellas if want shade out in the open area too). If you have a longer stay, there are a number of excursions to choose from. We just enjoyed a relaxing break at the property, but if you want more action, you can find it. There are catamaran cruises, snorkeling trips, jet ski rentals. There’s a casino in the Marriott a short taxi away. And some guests had taxi drivers take them around St Kitts for tours of the island for a half-day. It was actually pretty reasonable. You can also go to other beaches on St Kitts. There is a boat pier right at the hotel if you want to visit Nevis. I think it was $60 round trip per person and leaves frequently. There are some excursions to do on Nevis as well. The boat ride to Nevis is less than 10 minutes as the hotel faces Nevis along the “narrows”, so it’s a short boat ride. Travel to/from the airport was easy. We didn’t pre-order a car, but the hotel will do that for you. There is a small upcharge if the hotel reserves you a car. We had the hotel pre-book us a car for the return to the airport to be sure we had one ready. When we arrived, there’s a taxi stand right outside, and we got a taxi quickly. The rate was $40 one-way, plus $1 per suitcase. The hotel will charge $55 one-way, but no added fee per suitcase. Overall, I’d highly recommend this property, and we really enjoyed our stay.

Park Hyatt is nothing short of phenomenal. Amenities are amazing! Michael in concierge was the best when we checked in. We went during off season and hardly anyone was there (only downside is staff was a little slow at times). We had the resort mostly to ourselves. We upgraded to a plunge pool at a fraction of the price. Can't wait to visit again!! Breathtaking views of Nevis. Luxury trip at its finest!!

One of if not the most stunning resorts I’ve ever been too. Best resort in St Kitts and Nevis - I stopped by to check out Four Seasons in Nevis, Park Hyatt is much better.

This is a great hotel. Beautiful place and the grounds are immaculate. Can’t say enough about the service as well. A couple of things created challenges. First, while the quality of the food was fantastic, and while we expect to pay higher prices at a) a resort and b) an island … expect to pay mandatory 30% for tax and service above already very high prices. Omakase dinner for two, with wine pairings … $637? Seems excessive. Or a water taxi that costs $23 online … the hotel charges its guests $60 and tells me “It for the convenience of being picked up at the hotel”? Taxis into the main part of town are also very expensive. $70 round trip into town, before spending similar amounts on dinner. Mind you, we were just a party of two. Would hate to see a bill for parents and 3 or 4 kids. Again, excellent, but very expensive experiences. I admit we weren’t expecting that level of expense, but if you are prepared for the expense of it all, it’s a wonderful place and some unforgettable experiences.