Joshua W
Google
My family and I just departed The Christopher after a week’s stay. We had a decidedly mixed but overall disappointing experience, as described further below. ||The Good: The scenery of the well-maintained property is stunning. It is perched next to the rocky beautiful coastline with lovely views of the ocean and outlying islands. The swimming pool is clearly the draw for many at this hotel, looking out onto the ocean (note there is no beach access at the hotel). We saw an assortment of wildlife at the hotel, including an iguana and a tortoise. The sunset views are very pretty and the consensus from everyone we spoke to is that they are the best on the island. Our rooms were also quite comfortable, clean, and generally spacious (we booked a junior ocean suite and another normal garden view room). One employee in particular was a standout for all the right reasons: Manu at the restaurant was attentive, kind, and wonderful with our children. She is definitely the star of the restaurant dining operation and it is only because of her and the beautiful surroundings that we give this hotel two stars instead of one. The gentlemen at the valet stand were also very pleasant and helpful, and we appreciated their help with our baggage. ||The Bad: It became evident from the very beginning that there are serious challenges with the quality of service at this hotel and a weak management oversight of some of the most important staff. Our stay was book-ended at the start and end by some of the most outrageously rude treatment I’ve ever experienced at a hotel anywhere in the world. The first incident occurred our first morning when we were in the swimming pool with our children. I tried waving down a waiter who was bringing another couple their drinks before asking him politely to see a drink menu. He ignored me for a moment and then turned around and snapped “we have no menus for the water!” I was shocked, as I’ve never been spoken to before like that at any hotel let alone one that purports to be 5 star. I told him I would get out of the water to review the menu and asked him to bring one to me and my husband at our chairs, pointing out where we were sitting. We waited 45 minutes and no menu came despite the fact that he repeatedly looked in our direction and made eye contact with me but never brought the menus. Finally, I had to get up, dry off, and go to the lobby to speak with the food and beverage manager (who was not on site of the bar or restaurant) and ask her for her involvement in order for my family to be served. Her excuse was that “he was new and had only been there two weeks.” While a different waiter stepped in after the food and beverage manager came to the pool with me to find someone to help us and service was more responsive after that, we were astounded that we were presented for the full bill for the day’s drinks and food before we left given the egregious nature of the disrespect we were shown. Additionally, breakfast (food was of poor quality) and dinner (food was much better than breakfast) service can be described as inattentive at best. The waitresses spend a lot of their time chatting with each other at the restaurant bar, and we witnessed multiple guests (and ultimately had to ourselves) get up from our tables to ask for assistance such as getting the check or a refill of drinks during our dining. The wait staff is comprised of young people from France who are clearly here to experience St. Barth’s and seem to view working at The Christopher as the price they pay to live there, rather than actually viewing this as a job to be taken seriously and done well. One evening, we witnessed a waitress asking a couple who had just sat down whether they were ready to order appetizers before they had even received their menus. Embarassing incidents like that didn’t seem unusual at the restaurant here. The wait staff’s English is hit or miss, leading to mixups and misunderstandings that were a frequent interruption to our dining. For example, I speak basic French and was able to help translate for another guest who was simply trying to order tomato juice much to the confusion of their waitress. The wrong drinks were regularly brought to us and had to be remade. ||Disruptions in the evenings were common. From the bass of someone playing music starting at 11pm to guests’ dogs barking and howling, I was hoping that the hotel’s remote location would mean quieter evenings for our family to sleep. One night, an outdoor fire alarm near our room went off at 5:30 in the morning and woke up me and my family. We had to call the front desk after a while to have it turned off and no apology was given. ||Speaking of its remote location on the island, I would also highlight is that this is probably not a hotel you should stay at if you aren’t planning to rent a car. It is located on the other side of the island from Gustavia and far from St. Jean. We had to order taxis to go anywhere, which ranged in price from about €55-65 per ride. One night we were stranded in Gustavia and unable to get a cab. After waiting an hour, we were thankful that the hotel van was able to pick us up along with other guests who must have also been stranded. When I asked the driver what other guests do to get around and avoid being stranded, he simply said “rent cars.” Consider carefully renting a car here given how narrow and windy the roads are, especially at night when everything is extremely dark.||Finally, check your hotel bill meticulously if you stay here. They tried to add a €130 transportation fee on our last day arguing that it was for our shuttle to and from the airport. Luckily, I had already inquired via email before our stay about the cost of transport to/from the airport to the hotel and was told it was included in our lodging. The front desk manager argued with me until I showed her the email from a few weeks ago which said it was included, after which she relented. The whole exchange felt unseemly, as if she was insistent that we should pay more than what we had been told. ||Management, both during our horrific experience our first morning with the rude waiter at the pool and then again on our last day, clearly doesn’t take a “guests first” attitude to their roles and it felt that they were most focused on how to charge the most amount of money - justified or not - for the hotel. In particular, the front desk manager at the check out was disrespectful, rude, and kept trying to add charges that were not discussed or authorized by us beforehand. She spoke to me so dismissively and started arguing with me in such a nasty way that my husband had to take our children away from the lobby so as they would not witness the outrageous exchange. She was so rude that my young daughter was upset by her behavior and told us that it ruined her last day on St. Barth’s. As the old saying goes, “the fish rots from the head” and clearly the front desk manager’s attitude and ill treatment of guests sets the tone for how The Christopher views service, which is “we will take advantage of you if we can and chastise you if you try to stop us.” It’s disappointing that the hotel general manager was no where to be found and his subordinates, unsupervised and apathetic, seemed either unwilling or unable to provide the kind of service one expects at a three star hotel, let alone a five star one.||Overall, we enjoyed the rooms, the views, and the surroundings but were quite disappointed with the service, especially at the restaurant, pool, and front desk. With the exception of the wonderful Manu, the staff give off the impression that they are here to enjoy St. Barth’s and working at The Christopher is the price they pay to live here. ||This isn’t the kind of experience you want when paying a tremendous amount of money for a visit to St. Barth’s when there are so many more options with apparently better service on the island. For example, we spent the day at the nearby Rosewood and the difference in staff attentiveness and respect for guests was palpable. Gypsea Beach was another place where we spent a day with attentive and wonderful wait staff. You may pay a little more elsewhere but perhaps you would be glad you did for a smoother, better hospitality experience than at The Christopher. Luckily this was not a honeymoon or anniversary trip for us. We would have been devastated to have this kind of experience if it were for a special occasion. We may be back to St. Barth’s, but like many I take my family on vacation to relax without problems and feeling like we are being exploited. That was impossible to do at this beautiful but deeply flawed hotel, and I hope the General Manager - who was no where to be seen the entire week - takes this feedback seriously and considers carefully the extent to which he has the right team in place to provide a five star experience.
