St Lucia’s newest luxury Boutique Hotel to open next March

Cap Maison, one of the Caribbean’s most interesting new boutique hotel developments is on course to open in St Lucia in March next year. It will be the first luxury residence-style boutique property on the island and on completion will be an elegant 50 room luxury hotel with accommodation arranged across 22 beautifully designed villas.

Accommodation will be in villa suites, studio/junior suites and rooms, all of which will have butler service.

The villa sizes vary and can offer up to three separate hotel bedrooms and can be booked exclusively making them perfect for families and small groups. Ocean View Grand Villa Suites measure up to 3,000sq ft, making them among the largest in the Eastern Caribbean, and they come with a large ensuite bedroom with private balcony, kitchen, separate living/ dining room with verandah and a private roof terrace with swimming pool and bar.

All rooms and suites will have the 21st century convenience of plasma screen televisions, DVD players, stereos and wireless internet.

The hotel is being built on St Lucia’s exclusive Cap Estate, atop an ocean bluff above a secluded sandy beach and will offer magical views over to historic Pigeon Island and across to neighbouring Martinique. Its elevated setting affords panoramic land and sea views, by day it is breathtaking and after dark the unobstructed views of the night sky are seriously romantic.

Guests will be pampered by resort butlers and private chefs, available to cook in the suite and serve dinner on the roof terrace. Other services and facilities will include a cliff top restaurant serving French Caribbean cuisine and a walk-in wine cellar open to guests, which will stock impressive collections not found elsewhere on the island and will offer wine tastings. Guests may even choose to dine privately in the cellar surrounded by the wines. A spa, gym, beach and water sports facilities will also feature along with a luxury motor yacht available to take guests on day trips and sunset cruises.

Venezuelan-American architect Lane Pettigrew brings a blend of Caribbean and Mexican inspired design to the project. The hotel is being constructed by a team of local and international craftsmen, using coral stonework, hand painted tiles, exotic woods and natural finishes. The terracotta roof tiled villas, with multi tiered balconies and terraces overflowing with flowers, are being built round a central entry courtyard and fountain.

Rooms will be large and airy in floral inspired hues with many handmade textiles and furnishings. They will be enclosed by beautiful wooden jalousie doors and windows. Elegant bathrooms will be featured in all suites and rooms.

The British born Caribbean landscape designer Veronica Shingleton-Smith is overseeing the design and planting of the three and half acre tropical gardens.

Guests will be able to play golf at the nearby St Lucia Golf and Country Club. A new Jack Nicklaus designed course is being constructed five minutes away from the resort and is scheduled to open in 2009. Those wishing to explore beyond the property can visit the lively seaside village of Gros Islet or the nearby attractions of Rodney Bay, which offers a diverse range of Caribbean and international dining as well as a thriving nightlife and shopping district. Rodney Bay’s Marina is the departure point for yacht charters and sightseeing trips.

The popularity of St Lucia for holidaymakers and property investors alike seems unstoppable. Johnny Depp, Oprah Winfrey and Harrison Ford are amongst the celebrities who have chosen to buy homes on the island and in addition to the Jack Nicklaus course three other new 18-hole signature golf courses (by Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman and Christie O’Connor Jnr) are currently being constructed. This means that St Lucia will be well placed to become the Caribbean’s number one golfing destination.

For more details on Cap Maison, visit Capmaison.co.uk.