Bequia Beach Hotel

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Bequia Beach Hotel
  
General information
LocationFriendship Bay, Bequia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Opened1 January 2009
Other information
Number of rooms58
Website
https://www.bequiabeachhotel.com

Bequia Beach Hotel is a luxury hotel located in Friendship Bay on the island of Bequia in St Vincent & the Grenadines. Family-owned and run by Swedish owner Bengt Mortstedt.[1][2] it is the largest hotel in St Vincent & the Grenadines by number of rooms.

Bequia is known as one of the Caribbean's best-kept secrets[3][4] and does not have any chain hotels or restaurants[5] a magnet for the Caribbean cognoscenti[6] that wish to truly disconnect and enjoy an authentic Caribbean escape reminiscent of yesteryear.[7]

History

Built on the site of the former Friendship Sugar Estate sugar plantation, part of Bequia Beach Hotel sits on land granted to Alexander Hamilton's father James Hamilton, who lived on Bequia from 1774 until 1790.[8] After the demise of the West Indian sugar industry, Friendship Bay was later replanted as a coconut plantation.

The hotel borders former British Prime minister Anthony Eden's cottage[9] where he spent many winters with wife Clarissa Spencer-Churchill.[10] Clarissa's uncle Winston Churchill would visit when sailing the Caribbean on Aristotle Onassis' yacht Christina in March 1962.[11][12]

After first setting foot on Bequia New Year's Eve 1992, Mortstedt inspired by Herman Wouk's book Don't stop the carnival purchased two former bed & breakfasts; the Bequia Beach Club built by German football coach Bruno Fink in 1981[13] catering for German divers[14] and the former Blue Tropic Hotel. Construction commenced in 2005 and opened the first rooms in 2009.[15]

Features

The boutique resort property features 58 guest rooms made up of Suites along the beach, rooms and private villas, two swimming pools, spa, gym & two restaurants.[16]

Facing south towards Mustique on the mile-long beach at Friendship Bay, the hotel's design & architecture is inspired by Oliver Messel's villas[17] in Barbados & island neighbour Mustique, with interiors portraying an old world colonial elegance of a bygone era. Vintage travel luggage adorns the reception & library with many suites also decorated with individual vintage travel artwork.[18]

Jack's Beach Bar located on Princess Margaret Beach was acquired and refurbished in 2016[19] serving cocktails, drinks & food on the beach, a shuttle service for hotel guests is available. The beach renamed in honour of Princess Margaret, visited Bequia during her six-week honeymoon in the Caribbean aboard the royal yacht Britannia.[20][21]

In addition to snorkelling the reef in front of the hotel in Friendship Bay,[22] Bequia has two scuba diving stores with 28 identified dive sites around Bequia. There are several wrecks and shallow caves accessible to advanced divers. It is not unusual to see Hawksbill turtles, lobsters, moray eels and many kinds of fish when diving around Bequia[23]

The hotel offers guests the opportunity to visit neighbouring islands Mustique & Tobago Cays on day trips with the hotel's own yacht Star of the Sea.[24]

Travel

Bequia Beach Hotel in 2019 launched a guest-only luxury air shuttle service with the hotel's own aircraft Bequia Air,[25][26] a Beechcraft King Air B200 from Barbados to Bequia during winter.[27][28]

Bequia can be reached via air transport with daily connections from Bridgetown, Barbados serving J. F. Mitchell Airport. Local airlines such as SVG Air, Mustique Airways, Grenadine Airways serve Bequia.

Regularly scheduled ferries run from the main island of Kingstown, Saint Vincent to Bequia's capital Port Elizabeth, connecting tourists arriving at the international airport Argyle International Airport.

Yachts can anchor in Friendship Bay or Admiralty Bay on the leeward side, one of the Southern Caribbean's best known naturally shaped harbours.

Awards

  • 'Top 25 Hotels - Caribbean' #18, 2019 Travellers' Choice by Tripadvisor[29]

References

  1. ↑ "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  2. ↑ Lawley, Sue (2019-10-28). "'After decades of searching I've found the perfect Caribbean paradise'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  3. ↑ O'Kelly, Emma. "Inside Bequia, the Caribbean's Best-Kept Secret". Condé Nast Traveler. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  4. ↑ Mawer, Fred (2011-04-02). "Bequia: is this the perfect Caribbean island?". Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  5. ↑ Staff, Christopher Muther Globe; November 27, Updated; 2019; Comments, 1:11 p m Email to a Friend Share on Facebook Share on TwitterPrint this Article View. "Introducing Bequia, the Caribbean escape worth getting to know - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2020-05-11. {{cite web}}: |first4= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Tisdall, Nigel (2014-02-25). "St Vincent and The Grenadines". howtospendit.ft.com. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  7. ↑ Sands, Roger. "The World's Most Secluded Honeymoon Destinations". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  8. ↑ "Bequia", Wikipedia, 2020-03-29, retrieved 2020-05-10
  9. ↑ "Drift off to Bequia, the island of clouds". Evening Standard. 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  10. ↑ "Exclusive extracts from the memoirs of Clarissa Eden". Daily Telegraph. 2007-10-19. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  11. ↑ Lovell, Mary S. (2011-04-07). The Churchills: A Family at the Heart of History - from the Duke of Marlborough to Winston Churchill. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-7481-1711-6.
  12. ↑ Eden, Clarissa (2008-09-18). Clarissa Eden: A Memoir - From Churchill To Eden. Orion. ISBN 978-0-297-85632-0.
  13. ↑ Mitchell, Pat. (1994). Bequia sweet, sweet : a tribute and guide to the island of Bequia in the St. Vincent Grenadines. London: Macmillan Caribbean. ISBN 0-333-60952-2. OCLC 31168304.
  14. ↑ "Bequia Beach Club | Bequia Stories". 2018-08-17. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
  15. ↑ "History of Bequia Beach Hotel". www.bequiabeachhotel.com. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  16. ↑ Turner, Sarah. "30 coolest Caribbean hotels". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  17. ↑ "Oliver Messel's Style". House & Home. 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  18. ↑ "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  19. ↑ Tisdall, Nigel (2016-12-06). "Hot Hotels and Villas: St Vincent and The Grenadines". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  20. ↑ "Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon", Wikipedia, 2020-05-07, retrieved 2020-05-10
  21. ↑ Quirke, Antonia. "Bequia: the Caribbean island with all the greatest stories". CN Traveller. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  22. ↑ Mitchell, Pat. (1994). Bequia sweet, sweet : a tribute and guide to the island of Bequia in the St. Vincent Grenadines. London: Macmillan Caribbean. ISBN 0-333-60952-2. OCLC 31168304.
  23. ↑ "Bequia", Wikipedia, 2018-06-20, retrieved 2018-07-17
  24. ↑ "Best of both: Discovering the Caribbean on board the Bequia Beach Hotel's classic Benetti". Boat International. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  25. ↑ "In the Grenadines, You Can See and Be Seen — or Avoid Other People Entirely". Travel + Leisure. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  26. ↑ "A New Way to Fly to Bequia". Caribbean Journal. 2019-07-26. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  27. ↑ "Bequia resort to offer air service to guests: Travel Weekly". www.travelweekly.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  28. ↑ "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  29. ↑ "Top 25 Hotels in the Caribbean - Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice Awards". www.tripadvisor.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-05-10.

External Links

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