The Rise of the Villa Resort
As a specialist villa tour operator, our sister company, The Villa Collection, sells to a wide range of clients….from honeymooners looking for that ultra-special romantic celebration, to groups of friends seeking a fun getaway, to extended families finding time to enjoy happy get-togethers.
Clients looking for villa accommodation often prioritise privacy, space and independence above what is usually offered in traditional hotel stays which often prove to provide the opposite experience. Individual private villas cannot always offer the social aspects of a hotel stay, where guests meet and mingle with each other, or all the facilities enjoyed at resorts. However, many villas do have impressive facilities including pools, gyms, tennis courts and even cinemas and games rooms.
For those seeking to combine privacy with an array of on-site facilities and the chance to meet new friends, the choice of a villa resort may be the ideal option.
Many resorts have come to realise that many travellers are looking to get away from the standard cookie-cutter hotel room located along a corridor. The privacy of staying in detached accommodation, oftentimes with your own garden, driveway, pool, staff and some even beachfront, really is something to crave. Hence the rise of the villa resort!
Resorts come in many compositions, some are composed of a selection of private villas within a gated community offering a small selection of services on site, such as a communal pool, restaurant and reception. Golf courses can often be part of these resorts, for example at Royal Westmoreland in Barbados and Tryall Club in Jamaica. The villas are usually privately owned and will offer unique interiors but will most commonly have similar footprints, such as those found at  Sugar Hill Barbados –  compare the two similar villas of Oceana and Half Century pictured below:
Oceana Sugar Hill Barbados
Half Century Sugar Hill Barbados
Another type of villa resort will offer full scale hotel accommodations with a small selection of exclusive private villas. An example of this type of resort can be found at St Regis Villa at the St Regis Resort Mauritius , where guests enjoy complete privacy, a private staff, pool, beach access and even a separate entrance but with the addition of close access to the resort’s restaurants, spa, kids’ club and communal pools.
St Regis Mauritius
There are other villa resorts however that will offer full facilities for all their different individual villas, which range in size according to the number of bedrooms and the location – Windjammer Landing in St. Lucia is an example of this style of resort. There is even the option of adding meal plans such as bed-and-breakfast or all-inclusive. It succeeds in blending villa accommodation with a family friendly and sociable setting.
Windjammer Landing St Lucia
So there is a varied choice of types of villa resorts but one thing they all have to offer is the exclusive pleasant blend of privacy and space of a villa with the services and facilities of a resort!
About the Author
Gemma Lewis
Gemma has a BSc Business Administration, an Executive MBA and a Professional Diploma in Tourism Marketing with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), London. She developed a career and passion for tourism marketing whilst spending ten years living in Barbados. She pioneered the management and marketing for several properties and has been involved in the set up and consultancy of several companies. Her experience, knowledge and extensive connections within the tourism industry make her an ideal candidate to professionally market and provide an unrivalled UK representative for her clients. Gemma is a member of the Association of Women Travel Executives.