We just completed a one-week stay at this hotel. It was nice but not luxurious.

Being on the French side of St. Martin feels more like being in France than in the Caribbean. Almost everyone speaks English well but there is very little Caribbean flavor to the restaurants and atmosphere.

Pros:
The large rooms were kept clean and included a fridge and microwave. A lovely continental breakfast was served outdoors by the pool. Clean beach towels were provided daily. Beach chairs and umbrella were included at no additional charge at Waikiki Beach at Orient Bay. Helpful reception staff was available from 9-1 and 3-7pm. It’s just a short walk to a beautiful beach. The hotel’s swimming pool was nice and long enough for short lap swimming.

Cons:
Our room’s water pressure often dropped during times of high usage. On several days, we had no water at all for several hours. This seemed to be a recurring problem for the hotel. The hotel is located on a small property surrounded by apartments and condos. This makes for a noisy environment with barking dogs, loud motorcycles and occasional loud music in the evenings. The hotel’s free WiFi occasionally did not work.

The hotel was very difficult to find in our rental car as there are no directions on the hotel website. This is made worse as most of the streets on the island have no names! The local people are friendly when you stop to ask directions but not all speak English.

Other travel tips: You can take the ferry from nearby Oyster Pond to St. Barths on Wednesdays and Thursdays with an advance reservation. To us, a day trip to St. Barths wasn’t worth the money. There are no sights to see other than a two-block shopping area. There are several nice beaches, but the same is true of St. Martin. Even if you take the first ferry of the day, by the time you arrive at St. Barths and get your rental car, it’s almost 11am. You have to return the rental car at 4:30pm in order to get back to the ferry on time. This only gives you five and half hours on the island. Save yourselves the time and effort and skip this day trip.

We were surprised by the decor - a very Indian theme with a lot of bright colors, brass decorations and incense. It is private with a nice pool (very cold water). A short walk to the beach not a problem. The security gate was broken our entire stay and there was some sort of altercation one night in a room above us. The staff seemed agitated most of the time. You have to ask for a hair dryer but the office closes mid day so hard to work around. Won't stay again.

Stayed on Orient many times over last 5 years and the Palm may well be the best overall place to stay. Nothing fancy just nice people, peaceful setting and clean. Gated entrance for a secure feeling. Not that we have ever had security problems ever on Orient. We never leave anything in the rental car . No room anyway in the tiny rental cars.

We have typically stayed at the Alamanda because of it's perfect location across from the beach. The last several visits were disappointing there due to maintenance issues, mold in restroom and lack of room updates. And did I mention the hard bed. So on our visit to Grand Case we got a tour of Palm and will stay here in spring of 2012. This place has much nicer rooms. And the security features are nice. Rooms little more like a small condo than smallish rooms at Alamanda. Do yourself a favor stay here and rent a car. If can't handle the health benefits of the 5-10 min walk to beach take the car . Stock up on food and goodies at new food mart on short ride to Grand Case. Definitely explore the delights of whole island and eat in Grand Case. Although little more expensive the restaurants in Orient Village are all excellent choices. Drop the inhibitions and enjoy the many places to party eat and drink at the Carabeans most popular beach.

We had a layover in St.Maarten and decided to drive to Orient Bay for an overnight. The palm Court was perfect. 5 minutes walk to the Orient beach. Nice garden with decent pool. Fenced property. Secure parking. Large rooms in 3 storey buildings well appointed. Looks like the property is extremely well maintained compared to the rest of the island. You either have a balcony or a garden terrace but each has its own chaise-longue etc...overall very comfortable.
We saw other properties around but most of them offer bungalows type of construction and more far away from the beach.
Breakfast is by the pool which is nice. Wifi through out the property is free. I would recommend this hotel.