We were part of a group of six occupying three of Tainos Cottage’s six units for two nights. We thoroughly enjoyed the facility and would highly recommend it to anyone wishing to stay in a unique, small hotel.

The cottages are all lovely, beautifully furnished and very distinctive. They were built in Indonesia, taken apart and reassembled on site. The cottages are generally in excellent condition but the two story Caguama cottage will need some exterior maintenance in the near future.

The pool area s attractive and the views up the Grande Anse beach are spectacular. It is also a great location for the breakfast of fresh local fruit, yogurt, croissants and other pastries plus baggettes. Eggs are also available.

The service from the Bichara family was outstanding. Although, regrettably, the cook was off the two days we were there (Wednesday and Thursday) the staff recommended several excellent local restaurants and made reservations for us. They cheerfully answered all of our questions and provided a very relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.

The location is great – right on the end of a mile of beautiful, uncrowded beach. The town of Deshaies, with several good restaurants, is less that ten minutes away and don’t miss the Botanical Gardens which is about fifteen minutes away. The garden is well laid out, with good explanatory signs (albeit in French) and abundant flowers. Don’t miss the walk-in aviary where it’s possible to have several small parrots on your arm competing for a cup of nectar.

We stayed at the Tainos for a week in June, having chosen it after reading the NYT article and seen rave reviews of it in various other publications. The previous review is generally accurate -- the Tainos is located on a spectacular site by the lovely Grande Anse beach, and is made up of beautifully designed bungalows set into a well-landscaped hillside.

Our experience was colored by two big problems: June is the off-season, with more humidity and rain and hence more insects than usual -- and also the main building of the hotel was renovated, with limited staff on hand to clean things up. The owner/manager, Charles-Henry Bichara, is a very nice guy but very relaxed by American standards, and as he sheepishly admitted he really should have closed up for the renovation. (We were the only guests most of our 6 days there.) As it was, the poolside main building was a sawdust-covered worksite, and the otherwise lovely bungalow/bedrooms were in some disrepair and not very well cleaned. There were many small spiderwebs hidden in the woodwork and the mosquito netting, giving us many small spider bites at night, harmless but itchy and irritating. (There were relatively few mosquitos; the netting was mostly for show.)

I expect that Charles-Henry will have finished his renovations and hired more cleaning staff by the time anyone reading this will want to travel. But if you're attracted to this kind of place, when you make your bookings definitely ask him about the status of renovations and encourage him to redouble his cleaning efforts before your visit!

We have just got back from a sailing holiday in Guadeloupe. Before we boarded the yacht we stayed for four nights at Tainos Village Hotel which is in a beautiful location right at the end of Grande Anse beach, Deshaies, in its own tropical gardens from which you could step right onto the beach (which is gorgous, unspoilt and not busy)

Tainos Cottages give you a very different experience as they consist of 6 Thai style wooden buildings set in gardens. The cottages don't have glass windows but have wooden slatted shutters and are open between the top of the wall and the roof so that the air can circulate freely. This is all very well but it makes the rooms extremely dark and it is impossible to keep insects out. The beds had mosquito nets but were not 100% effective.

Our cottage was on one level with a separate bathroom which was very well appointed. We had to move to another cottage on the last night as we had been double booked and this one was even more interesting! The ground floor was completely open and you went up a ladder and through a trap door to the bedroom. The bathroom and bedroom were all one room which I didn't like very much.

The place is run by a very charming gentleman. Breakfast is served by the little swimming pool and is very nice. You can get salads at lunchtime and they serve good dinners (albeit very expensive) if you want to eat there.

All in all it was a positive experience but not one I would want to repeat, although I would highly recommend that part of Guadeloupe as a place to stay as it was very pretty and unspoilt with several empty beaches.