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A last-minute, five-star room in the Caribbean over the Christmas season used to be as elusive (and expensive) as a Birkin bag. But this year, take your pick at the luxe proper ties there — you’ll likely find a room at many resorts, even with mere weeks to go.
“Festive space is plentiful, which is unusual,” said Embark Beyond’s Jack Ezon. “Almost ev ery resort in the Caribbean and Mexico has space, even the ones that are the first to book up six months in advance.”
Experts like Ezon say it’s thanks to a complex collision of challenges. For one thing, said Gray & Co.’s Cari Gray, there’s Caribbean fatigue post-COVID, since it was the go-to destination for sun when flying felt riskier.
“People are look ing for a change, and it’s tracking to be a snow year, so perhaps opti mists are hoping for a ski holiday,” the adventure specialist said. Long stay minimums are discouraging too, as many properties have hiked their bookings to require up to 14 days. “That’s silly on an island with limited things to do.”
Price is a major driver, too, of course. In the pandemic’s wake, hotels greedily hiked rates both to claw back losses from their monthslong closures and to tap into surging demand. That fancy room that cost $361.29 in March 2019 was $517.95 the same month this year, or 43% more, per data tracker CoStar. No wonder travel ers are fighting back. “It’s not a decline in luxury spending, it’s that so many clients are fed up with the exorbitant rates,” Ezon said. “There’s not much value out there.”
Notably, Marriott’s Luxury Group just released its starting rates to agents including Ezon, who notes that rooms over the festive period are 10% to 12% cheaper than the same time last year. “Hotels are getting humble. They are reducing those minimum stays and also offering perks, which is unheard of for festive.”
The other issue? Flights. There’s a major mismatch between the schedules or capacity and traveler demand. Jules Maury, of travel company Scott Dunn Private, said she’s had several clients switch from St. Barts to Asia, including Thailand or Langkawi, because they couldn’t score premium seats on the dates they needed, however hard they searched. “The jigsaw doesn’t match for a lot of destinations,” Maury said.
Overall, air traffic to the Caribbean may be higher than pre-pandemic: Total scheduled flights from theUS to the region in the first quarter of this year were up 19% since 2019, per data analyst Cirium Diio.
The problem is routes, as flights expert Paul Tumpowsky explains. There’s plenty of extra capacity to places like San Juan or Jamaica, but it doesn’t match where new rooms have been built. “It’s a logistics issue,” he said. “You don’t need tons of availability year-round, [just] on a couple of daysper year when people are heading down and back to make festive work.”
Plus, there’s been a surge of new inventory across the region that flights seem not to echo. Total number of available rooms is up significantly, with almost 12,000 more luxury berths this year versus 2019, per CoStar. Too much hotel capacity combined with flights to the wrong places, or at the wrong times, result in loads of last-minute space.
So what’s still available? Maury raves about the Four Seasons Ocean Club in the Bahamas for its “timeless glamour, Bahamian charm and prime beachfront location” and, of course, plentiful commercial flights to and from Nassau. Consider, too, Saint Lucia’s Sugar Beach, run by the Viceroy group, which still has 3- or 4-bedroom residences open — ideal for multigenerational holiday getaways.
Likewise, Ezon recommends two properties within easy reach of well-serviced airports. The just-rebuilt Belmond Maroma is one. “It’s the most beautiful beach on the Mexican Riviera, with redone roomsby LVMH that walk right onto the sand.” The Ritz-Carlton Reserve at Dorado Beach just outside San Juan is another contender, too. “It has oversize rooms, an exceptional spa and two world-class golf courses.”
If you’re traveling with teens or adults, there’s even more capacity, said Gray, who’s a fan of Antigua’sHermitage Bay — a new owner there has just completed a major renovation — and Jade Mountain in Saint Lucia. Both have ample space for the holidays.
She also said that Le Toiny in St. Barts has rooms, rare in peak season, as even its regulars seem tobe holding off booking until the last minute. It’s a prime find if you’re willing to charter down, or hop on a ferry from St. Martin. Just bring Dramamine for the choppy crossing, and be ready to party.
