I've stayed at Le Flamboyant before. And I was looking forward to staying there with my son and our extended family. Le Flamboyant has a wonderful beach with gorgeous views, Free water activities, great pools and grounds. Sadly, our rooms and the restaurant were dirty -- filthy -- and run down. The food on the breakfast buffet was infested with ants, The housekeeping staff tried to do a good job (I tipped) but our rooms probably hadn't been painted in 10 years, trim was coming off, and the rooms just generally felt dirty.

We spent our whole time there discussing how we would "fix" Le Flamboyant. It really wouldn't be hard. They have a lot to work with.

Do not waste your time and money to come here. You're better off sleeping in your car!!! I'm at this hotel as I type thus review now. For starters once my friends and I got here we had 2 twin beds pushed together. Then try told us we bad to pay more because there were more than just 2 people and it's for the breakfast package. I told them we'd opt out of eating breakfast and they told us no we still had to pay more money. We paid the money, then they gave us this wrist bands and told us that we had to keep them on for our entire stay so they could recognize who's guest and which plans you have. I have never in all the hotels we've stayed in had to put on a wrist band. But anyway we decide to try and make the best of it and go to the beach they have in the back and it's nothing but a bunch of boats out there. Walking onto the beach only to sink into the sand. It's like a clay or mud, it is NOT sand!!!!! The water is not blue and green the way the show in the pictures. You can not see 3 inches threw the water because of the "sand". It feels like quick sand every time you walk. So we decided well just stay in the pool. Later on that night as I attempted to lie in my twin bed and watch tv, web learned that everything is in french and Spanish. We had 1 channel in English which was HBO with Spanish subtitles. The remote has 4 buttons so you cannot remove the subtitle or change the language. I woke up in the middle of the night with aching back pains and couldn't breathe. I called the front desk and he moved us to a larger room that had 2 double size beds and 1 twin bed, which we asked for at first. We finally made it to sleep at 5 and had to be up in a few hours for this breakfast buffet which was the worse! The food is horrible!!! I do recommend the pizza parlor up the street! Great pizza! Keep in mind this is only day one. If you want to enjoy St. Maarten do NOT come to Le Flamboyant because there isn't anything flamboyant about this hotel!!!!!

The Bad:
Beautiful property and island, horrible customer service. Never greeted with a smile, every question you ask anyone is never kindly answered. When we asked for towels at 9pm at night we were rudely told they had none, and that our room was supplied with enough (4 towels were enough for a 6 person room). This happened two days in a row and according to the front desk agent extra towels were available from 10:00am - 10:30am... really? Bartender was very rude and was actually angry she had to make us our first beverage at the property (welcome to our hotel), which ended up costing us $45USD total for one drink for 5 people. While we did enjoy one (very expensive) dinner on property, the portion size was an absolute joke and we ended up driving to a Dominos pizza afterwards for more food! Don't even get me started about their cocktail singer who was obviously tone deaf. This place is not very close to the airport, so be prepared for a $20 cab far to SXM!

The Good:
All of the things listed above are a bummer, because in reality this hotel is absolutely beautiful. Smaller then some of the resorts on the island, this property is unique because it faces a lagoon. Free water sport rentals and tours are offered daily. Two large pools all surrounded by beautiful landscape make you really feel like you are on vacation on a beautiful island. Our room was nice then expected, as we had a two-floor duplex that was more then adequate for 6 people. A large master bedroom with a king size bed and another large bedroom upstairs with three beds. Two large bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, washer and three air conditioning units made us very comfortable during our stay. The very large balcony was perfect for watching the sunset and hanging our clothes out to dry.

Did we have an awesome trip otherwise? YES! St Maarten is beautiful, rent a car (you can do this in the lobby) and just drive around the island. Going to Maho Beach is an absolute must-do to see some of the worlds largest aircraft take off and land less then 100 feet above you. An extremely amazing and liberating feeling. Enjoy meals on the less expensive Dutch side, rather then the stuffy and expensive French side.

Reservation Staff and front desk Staff allways very helpful grounds are well maintained and clean As a long time returning customer it is allways a pleasure to return We have noticed that we are not the only return couples as there are usually a few familiar faces whenever we are there
J & E New york