travel review

A-List Luxury in Barbados: The House

Nestled on Barbados' pristine West Coast sits The House, a luxury boutique property with a beach-casual vibe that at first glimpse might be mistaken for more Miami hip than Caribbean cool. That couldn't be farther from the truth. This 34-room, all-suite, adults-only property has played host to celebs like Rihanna, Lionel Ritchie, Patti LaBelle, Daniel Craig and a hordes of British pop stars. The island, after all, calls UK residents about 70% of their annual tourist travelers.

Enter the property from the road and you feel almost as if you're stepping into a castle - a massive stone structure that requires one walk over a wooden bridge-like structure. But inside, you're home. Quite literally - the name implies what one gets, service that's as casual and unpretentious as if you were in the home of a good friend, albeit one with quite a bit of staff.

Settle into comfortable white couches arranged living-room style around dark wood coffee tables (the whole look is very Pottery Barn meets beach house) or opt for check-in in the comfort of your room.

Rooms are spacious, with expansive balconies or terraces, so we'd suggest opting for a junior suite, which offers a large living area, powerful air conditioning (a must), plus amenities like over-sized soaking tubs, flat-screen televisions and in-room Nespresso machines. Despite being almost on top of the beach, rooms are quiet and private, perhaps due to the hotel's small size.

Should the need for privacy really strike, ask for one of the four garden suites, facing inward towards the hotel's central courtyard. Each of these rooms comes complete with a private plunge pool, perfect for a late night dip.

Awaken each morning to a Champagne breakfast served buffet-style in the hotel's living room, including both hot and cold dishes that range from the expected (bacon and eggs) to the Bajan (fried flying fish or plantains with veggies and onions). Each booking comes with a short Jet Lag massage for each guest, which can be ordered at your convenience in a variety of locations throughout the hotel or its sister property, Tamarind, which recently re-opened after a $10 million renovation. If you're traveling with children, this property allows guests under 18.

Gallery: The House Barbados

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Luxist Gets a Lesson in Living Well at Lebua's Lake Okareka Lodge

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

When your bread and butter is acquired by trotting around the world to tell tales of man- and womankind's finest offerings, you get used to the finest. Akin to being a jeweler, when everything you touch sparkles because everything is a gem, it takes a jewel of the extraordinary variety to get your attention. After hopping on four planes to spend 24 hours in the air traveling from London to New Zealand, all to visit lebua's Lake Okareka Lodge, we expected to encounter another fine, shiny object.

What we did not expect – but what we got – was a the finest 4-day stretch of living we've had in years, and a persistent lesson in what the best living is like. We hadn't been on the property two minutes, and upon seeing the view from our suite we realized we had discovered one of the universe's finest secrets: this is where God goes on vacation.

Gallery: Lake Okareka Lodge by lebua