Over Thanksgiving, I spent five nights at the newly reopened Hermitage Bay, an SLH Hotel located in beautiful Antigua. I’ve been lucky enough to stay at some truly incredible island tropical resorts in the past (including multiple stays at both The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort and the Conrad Bora Bora Nui), and can say that Hermitage Bay deserve its spot in the upper echelon of luxury island resorts.
How I booked my Hermitage Bay stay
I’m a planner and booked my stay over a year in advance and am so glad that I did. I used 520,000 Hilton Honors points to book five nights in Garden Pool Villa Suite, one of the hotels standard rooms (after Hilton’s latest points devaluation, the same stay would now cost 920,000 points).
Even at 920,000 points, this would have still be an amazing deal. As a Diamond member, I was upgraded to a Hillside Garden Pool Villas, and the cash rate for the same stay was a whopping $26,593. This means that I was able to redeem my Hilton points for an impressive 5.1 cents per point.
Where is Hermitage Bay?
Hermitage Bay is a Caribbean resort located on the west coast of Antigua. The hotel is roughly a 45-minute drive from Antigua’s V.C. Bird International Airport — and it’s a bit of a bumpy, off-the-beaten path drive to the hotel.
The hotel itself is a bit isolated from other hotels and spots of interest on Antigua, which can be great if you’re looking for a relaxing getaway, but isn’t ideal if you’re looking to explore the island and dive more into its culture.
Some basic facts about Hermitage Bay
Hermitage Bay is a unique property and there are some basics you should know before booking a stay here:
- Hermitage Bay is an adults-only resort.
- The hotel has only 30 villas total and mostly caters to couples.
- It’s an all-inclusive hotel (but an elevated all-inclusive, with delicious food and a wide-variety of drinks).
- If you’re staying for three nights or more, your stay comes with free roundtrip transit from the airport and a hotel representative will meet you once you land to help whisk you through customs and immigration.
- There three villa types to choose from: nine Beachfront Villa Suites (1,301 sq ft), four Garden Pool Villa Suites (1,239 sq ft), and 17 Hillside Pool Villa Suites (1055 sq ft). If you’re booking using Hilton Honors points, both the Beachfront Villa Suits and the Garden Pool Villa Suites are both considered “standard rooms.” The Garden Pool Villa Suites and the Hillside Pool Villa Suites both, true to their name, come with your own private plunge pool.
So basically, it’s an amazing hotel if you’re looking for a laid-back stay with a lot of privacy.
Pre-arrival experience
Similar to other high-end luxury resorts, Hermitage Bay reaches out to guests well before their stay to find out information about your flights, dietary preferences, if you’re coming for a special occasion, and to try and learn more about you to help customize your stay.
While I did absolutely love my stay at Hermitage Bay, I will say that the biggest area that can improve on is the speed at which they respond to pre-arrival questions. I wanted to book a boat tour and some spa treatments and tried calling the hotel multiple times and was unable to reach anyone (I even called Hilton Diamond Desk to see if they could reach someone and they couldn’t either), and it took days for them to respond to e-mails.
While the pre-arrival experience was a bit frustrating, luckily everything worked out with the boat and the spa treatments.
Hermitage Bay property
The Hermitage Bay property itself was gorgeous, with an infinity pool right that was just a few feet from the beach, two restaurants, two bars, a spa, a gym, and a gorgeous beach.
Whoever designed the hotel did a fantastic job — the property was full of beautiful moments where you could easily just take a step back and appreciate the beauty and serenity of your surroundings.
The Caribbean is the centerpiece of the property, with all the rooms and restaurants facing towards the ocean (which is exactly what you’d want when you’re in the Caribbean). Interestingly, the hotel’s beach is technically public but the hotel is far enough away from other properties that in my five-night stay, I only once saw guests from outside the hotel trying to visit.
The property isn’t massive and I had no trouble walking around the property, though if you are in a Hillside Garden Pool Villa, you will have to hike up some stairs to get to your room.
My villa at Hermitage Bay
I absolutely loved the Hillside Garden Pool Villa that they put me in during my stay. It felt massive, with a huge, comfortable bed (including a mosquito net that they get ready for you during turn-down service), a mini bar (which is not only free, but each morning you get to select that you’d like the hotel to fill it with), an outdoor shower, a massive bathtub, a huge patio, a Bluetooth speaker, and your own private pool.
The private pool and outdoor balcony had amazing views of the ocean and the island’s topography.
The air conditioner could sometimes be a little wonky, but generally speaking, it did its job and kept the room as cold as I wanted it (and I usually put the temperature pretty low at night, so I was pretty happy).
Even though the hotel recently underwent a renovation, the room felt more comfortable than modern, which I think fit perfectly with the relaxing vibes the hotel was going for. During the stay, I had no issues with WiFi and found that there were plenty of plugs in all the places you’d want them to be.
Dining experience at Hermitage Bay
So admittedly, I am not a huge foodie but I found the food at Hermitage Bay to be delicious. Every meal was a sit-down, restaurant experience (which is important to point out since you may hear “all you can eat” and think of a buffet restaurant).
The one downside to this setup is that sometimes meals took longer than you’d want. For instance, I once asked for a refill of soda as I was getting close to finishing my meal and after waiting over ten minutes, decided to get up and leave.
One interesting quirk of the hotel is that while you can show up for breakfast whenever you want, at breakfast you have to let the hotel know when you want to come for lunch and for dinner. I didn’t love this, as I try to be a very prompt person and I kind of wanted to just got with the flow (and towards the latter part of my stay, even I reserved a 7pm dinner time, I would show up ten or 15 minutes late and not feel bad about it).
At lunch and dinner, they’d usually have musical guests perform and they were always quite talented (though sometimes a little loud). The menu changes every day, and even though I’m a bit of a picky eater, I was always able to find a dish that I liked (and enjoyed every meal that I had there). At check-in, they told me that the hotel expects guests to put on five pounds during their stay and while I don’t think I exactly hit that “goal,” I wouldn’t be surprised if I got close given all the delicious food.
Overall experience
Overall, I had very high expectations for my stay at Hermitage Bay and the hotel met and/or exceeded all of them. It was such a relaxing stay where my biggest worries each day was figuring out what time I wanted to eat and how much time I wanted to split between the main pool, ocean, and my villa’s private pool. If you have the points or cash and you’re looking for a relaxing Caribbean, adults-only getaway, definitely consider Hermitage Bay.
