The Insiders' Guide to St. Barths: South Beach Meets St. Barts in Anguilla

Anguilla's planned pace is a bit curious. In fact, several islands are adopting a similar strategy. Nevis, for instance, has just approved two more five star hotels to share Pinney Beach with the Four Seasons. So long as these are a couple hundred rooms or so, that should not be too big a deal. But islands that heretofor have been known for being quiet and laidback (Anguilla and Nevis for instance) are really picking up the pace.

It seems that some of this is chasing after The Glitterati. Within six months of reading "Oprah loved Nevis" or "Oprah is buying a house on Anguilla, as is Tom Cruise" both islands are building Bigger And Better.

I find it curious, myself. Because, to me, there are several models you can adopt:

1. The St Croix Model

Having not been a favorite haunt of The Glitterati for some time, they have made their living on second-home owners, divers, marathon runners and folks who like hotels and condos. Their future plans are for large-scale casino resorts chasing middle class americans wanting a good time and a little action. Not everyone's cup of tea - but it will probably be successful.

2. The St Barts Model:

Keep it small, mostly villas and a few boutique hotels, some quite high end. Cater to a monied crowd with sophisticated tastes and offer a little flare with an otherwise sedate experience

3. The St Martin Model:

Bring 'em en. Plane, boat, ship, whatever. We want 'em and we will build accomodations for them. Clearly this brings a lot of money to your shores. But it also brings relatively uncontrolled growth, guest workers and a loss of identity.

4. The Exclusive Glitterati Model:

Very similar to The St Barts Model. Try to bring in Big Money by offering a fine but relatively serene experience not appealing to the mass markets. This is the Parrot Key or the Harbor Island model. No cruise ships need apply.

5. The Mass Market Glitterati Model:

This is the one model that does not make sense to me. It is as this thread says - South Beach Meets St Barts. On the one hand, I see where it is going. Now that Hollywood and Big Money have discovered you, take your game up a notch. On Anguilla, you had Malliouhana, Cuisinart and Cap Juluca to tend to that. And clearly The Glitterati have seen this and responded. As Anguilla likes to advertise "Stars go to St Barts to be seen and Anguilla to escape". But now they are going to put Anguilla on the map. Big resorts, lotsa people, etc. And with less of a villa market, I wonder if Anguilla will quickly chase away the peace-seeking Big Money folks who go there now. And can you make a go of it with High End Mass Market? Perhaps.

The Caribbean in general seems to be on a big growing spree. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.