arrived on may 16th to jardin de chevrise carrying all of our luggage and groceries to our upstairs room only to find out the air condition didn`t work and the toilet was running. contacted the office and was told to gather up our belongings and we would be taken to the sister hotel orient up the road. needless to say the road on cul de sac where orient and jardin de chevrise are located is nothing but one big pothole. orient hotel was very nice and modern with a kitchenette and loft where the bedroom was.distance to orient beach was basically not walkable if you planned to go to the beach with your beach stuff. in conclusion it depends on what you are looking for,orient hotel was nice but this frequent st. martin traveler will not stay there again because of the location from the beach and the terrible road leading to it.

I went to St. Martin by myself to get away from it all. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the studio as it was very bright and very cheery. Having a small kitchen was a plus and the small terrace was a bonus too. The staff was very pleasant and friendly. The hotel is located in a residential area and was very quiet. I felt very safe (there is a security guard at night) which is important when you are a female traveling alone. The only thing I can complain about is the low water pressure - which I quickly got used to and honestly, overall, wasn't a big deal. The boulangerie up the street was fantastic, as were the two restaurants which were both in walking distance. There is also a great creole restaurant on Grand Case called Hercules. For those of you who are interested, the clothes-optional area of Orient Beach was just a three minute drive (you could walk it but it's 1.5 miles one way). The hotel was great from a budget standpoint. All-in-all a very cute, charming and very french hotel. Which by the way - the French side of the island is the place to stay - cute, charming and has great restaurants. Though the Dutch side offers lots of shopping, it is somewhat dirty and there were many American-Style Strip Malls and high-rise hotels (you won't find those on the French Side due to building codes - they don't allow anything to be built over two or three stories).

I would highly recommend this hotel and plan on going back next year.

We stayed at Jardin de Chevrise for 5 days in March 2008. The room was large with a king size bed and a small cooking area, which included a 2 burner stove and small fridge. It wasn't fancy but we still cooked a dinner and breakfast. There was a nice balcony with table and chairs for outside dining. The bathroom was as small as some reviews indicated. There was only a hand held shower but it worked fine. Everything was very clean and it was quiet and safe. The TV is only 13" and only gets 3 stations, 2 are in French. But who goes to the islands to watch TV! We only had 1 mosquito in our room. I have found all of St Martin to be bad with mosquitoes each time we are there. I spray myself all over before going out a night. The hotel is 2 floors and there is no elevator so you have to carry your bags upstairs yourself if you are on the 2nd floor.

The staff at the sister hotel up the hill (Orient Bay Hotel) confirmed our flights for us. You can pay extra for breakfast the night before. It is served at the pool. We didn't try it so I can't comment on the food.

The web says Orient beach is 900 feet away. You can walk there but I wouldn't want to be carrying anything, it's not a simple walk. It seemed faster to just drive over there which was less than 10 minutes.

There is a wonderful bakery just up street from the hotel, which you can walk to. We had warm fresh croissants and 1 cup of espresso for $5 (tip included).

So if you want a 4 star luxury room with every amenity and fancy furnishings this isn't the place for you, however if you want a nice, clean, safe room within 10 minutes of Orient Beach, Marigot and Grand Case, it is great. This is not for a demanding or high maintenance individual, LAID BACK is the order of the day. One website said it's a "charming place with a relaxing, friendly atmosphere". We agree.

We had a 2 day window from finishing our sailing trip and wanted to stay a bit on the french side becasue we LOVED Ile Pinet. We booked online and took a cab over from Oyster Pond. When we arrived, we calld on the hotel phone located outside of the receptions area that wasn't open. A gal from the sister hotel- Orient Bay Hotel-drove over to let us in.

When she opened the door she walked over to the refrigerator and poured a premade carafe of Rum Punch and welcomed us. She pointed to maps and said feel free to call if we had any questions. We inquired about making phone calls as we had to confirm our other reservations back on the other side of the island. At that moment, I was appreciative...

Five minutes after walking in, toasting my fiance to our fresh glassof Rum Punch, putting our bags down...we noticed a HUGE family-infestation of mosquitos. At first we though, oh no!, but then we figured we would make the best of the situation and make a game of it. We both used our smal hand towels to kill them off of the ceiling, kitchen area, windows, doors, bed, bathroom, and then....each other.

We found the staff to be very unhelpful when we simply requested help when the numbers werent going through properly. Different side of the island require different pre-fixes. We ended up having to walk up to another hotel and they helped us.

We used our bath towels to cover the lounge chairs at the pool as they werent clean. Wet and starting to mold! Not to mention the units by the pool seem to be from local renting as apartments so you get the kids screaming out of frustration and the parent who was in the unit yelling at the child and not parenting. No talking to calm down- just ignoring all the while- we left due to frustration. ( We have three children so it's not like we dont have patience!)
Can't read by the pool!

The best part of the trip was the bakery that was within walkng distance. The owner was soooo nice and we met nice people on our walk there. We went there on three occasions. Fabulous pastriesin the morning with espresso. Yum!

The food within walking distance was very accomodating as well.

Keep in mind, we are pretty rustic when it comes to traveling. During our 3 week trip to St. Martin/St, Maarten/Anguilla/St. Barths by Sailboat and land....this was the one that I decided to spend a moment to write a review about!