You get what you pay for at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts Christophe Harbour: A lot.
Perched in one of the most scenic and intimate coves in the Caribbean, this lush and secluded Park Hyatt has everything you could want or need without feeling big or busy.
After three nights, I never wanted to leave the Park Hyatt St. Kitts – but I couldn’t afford to stay another day.
Even when you book your room with World of Hyatt points to avoid the nearly $1,000 per night price tag on this resort, the ultra-luxurious remote slice of paradise isn’t free … not even close. After three days and nights of $22 cocktails, $50 breakfast buffets, and $200 spa treatments, we signed a room bill that really stung.
But at no point during my stay did I think the experience we received wasn’t worth it. Would I go back to this luxury resort and do it all over again? 100%.
Here’s what we loved about the Park Hyatt St. Kitts, and what to watch for if you’re on a budget like me.
Read next: A Complete Guide to World of Hyatt: Free Nights, Credit Cards & More
How We Booked It
As with the case for nearly all Hyatt properties, the best way to book the top-tier Park Hyatt St. Kitts is with World of Hyatt points.
Hyatt points are some of the most valuable in award travel. You can earn them by staying at Hyatt hotels or spending on the World of Hyatt card (all information about the World of Hyatt Credit Card has been collected independently by Thrifty Traveler and has not be verified by the issuer). Or if you’ve got a Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning card like *chase sapphire preferred*, you can transfer those points to Hyatt to book.
Hyatt uses an award chart to determine how many points you’ll need to book a free night at a particular property. The St. Kitts property is a category 7 hotel with rates starting at just 25,000 points per night.
Best of all, the “Beachside” rooms are the same price in points as the regular rooms. That’s what my wife and I booked for our three-night stay and these rooms were significantly better located than the regular rooms.
Hyatt uses a peak/off-peak system to price its awards. As you can see from this calendar, the 25,000 points is the off-peak rate, while peak dates will run you 35,000 points per night. That’s what we paid for our room just after New Year. Thanks to my Hyatt Discoverist status I get with my Hyatt credit card, we did not pay the resort fee, saving us about $60 a day on our stay.
You use your World of Hyatt points to book suites, too – and at a pretty great rate, too. Those “Plunge Pool Rooftop” Suites could be found on every building on the property. Hyatt Globalists might luck into an upgrade and find themselves into one of those suites, but at just 50,000 points per night, you can just secure one without the extra status.
Booking with Hyatt points – and so few of them, too – is an incredible deal when compared to the cash price The lowest rates you can find for these same rooms will be in the $600s and $700s per night, with most of the most desirable dates coming in north of $1,000 per night.
These $1,295 rates were for the peak winter season, for instance.
Another way to get a room at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts by booking through Amex Travel and its Fine Hotels + Resorts collection. With *amex platinum* or the business version, *biz platinum*, you can get $200 off your booking and get other benefits like a guaranteed late checkout and free breakfast – which is a huge savings at this resort considering the breakfast buffet costs $50 per person not including coffee drinks!
You can also find this property bookable through other credit card platforms like Capital One Travel. With the *venture x* and the new *venture x business* you can get $300 off you booking with your $300 travel credit, too. Unlike Amex, there are no other special benefits when booking through Capital One, however.
At Thrifty Traveler, we don’t accept freebies. We use our own points, miles, or cash to pay for every single flight or hotel you see reviewed here – including this one!
Checking In
Upon arrival, you get this quick and easy map to the Park Hyatt St. Kitts. It’s a pretty simple setup that wraps around Banana Bay.
Reception starts off stylishly, walking guests along a well-stocked koi pond. Our visit was just after the New Year, which is why the resort was still decked out in Christmas gear.
Just past the tree is the reception room. Staff help you out at these tall desks and offer you a rum punch (or just punch) when you arrive.
My Room: The Oceanside King
The view from our Oceanside King window was screensaver-worthy, with the beach in front of us and the island of Nevis rising up behind that.
Plus, the room itself offered everything we could have wanted for a beachfront stay. A sitting area, a daybed, and tons of shelf and bench space lined the room on either side.
And, of course, this view.
Our building – number 16 – looked like this. Our room is the middle one on the ground floor.
The doors leading to the outside almost fully retract into the far wall, stacking as they slide. And behind them you can pull a screen the entire way across, too.
The bathroom was spacious and very comfortable, too. While I didn’t use the tub, it was an inviting option. The double sinks spaced a relationship-saving meter apart were a great touch.
Behind it, the shower was a full, vertical rain shower.
I did not know how fancy these Le Labo soaps and lotions were until I looked them up … turns out for three nights in January I got to experience how the other half bathes.
The toilet is in a separate water closet near the entrance of the room. It also has its own mini sink in there.
The closet was also huge and featured tons of storage space, hangars, and even a bench. There were two robes – replaced daily – for our use when we were at the resort.
Staff also set out fresh waters for us every day, and sometimes twice a day. There was a regular housekeeping service and a turn down service while we were at dinner each night, too. If we didn’t leave a water box out, the staff would replace it with a new one of these custom-printed Park Hyatt St. Kitts bottles.
The mini bar was also properly stocked when we arrived. The card with a QR code on the right had a menu with all of the prices, which were very reasonable compared to the rest of the resort in many cases.
The Nespresso machine worked like a charm and the espresso pods were replenished daily.
The snack drawer was modest and had some bars, some candies, and some nut varieties as well as a can of Pringles.
The bar was stocked with ginger ales, juices, a soda called “Ting” that is local to St. Kitts (it’s like Fresca with a little more ginger) and some beers, including the St. Kitts beer Carib, which I fell in love with during the trip due to it being the cheapest drink on the menu at $8 a bottle.
The bottles of booze and the wine were on the pricier side, but most of the individual snack and drink items were $9 or less, making it a great value compared to some of the rest of the resort.
The Beach and Pools
The Park Hyatt St. Kitts is a stunning property from reception to the pickleball courts, but the highlights are – of course – the beach, the massive pool, and the stylish adults-only pool.
The most picturesque area of the resort is this adults-only pool with the iconic stone arches jutting out from the pool over the cabanas below.
We spent several hours at this pool one day. Servers are routinely walking the pool deck taking orders from the pool bar and offering all guests free lemon ice waters all the time.
Below the adults pool is the main pool (both open 24 hours). This photo, taken from the beach back up at the resort, shows just how wide the pool spans.
On the other side of the pool is a small pool beach, where the sand gently slopes into wading pool. This area was full of families with young children.
Below the adults pool are these six rentable cabanas. For a few hundred dollars a day, you could secure these floating cabanas each equipped with a waterfall backdrop, small private wading pool, beach chairs, a day bed, and a full stocked cooler, too.
This next feature shouldn’t have made me so excited…but this pale, red-headed travel writer made the absolute most of the free sunscreen and cooling aloe stations that dotted the resort.
The banana-scented SPF 30 sunscreen protected me throughout my stay, even when I fell asleep in hammocks like this.
The beach – facing St. Kitts’ sister island of Nevis and the Caribbean Sea – was beautiful. The swimming area was sandy and gentle. Plus, there were dozens of these beach chairs facing the ocean.
This area was shockingly quiet during our trip. At no point did we have any problem getting a beach or pool chair. In fact, we never even sat next to anyone.
Next to the beach is the activities shack and a gelato and smoothie cafe next to it. Both were open all day every day. Kayak and paddleboard rentals are included in the resort fee and don’t cost guests a thing. You can also play cornhole, grab a soccer ball, and more.
Other Amenities: Spa, Gym, Camp Hyatt & More
Gym & Spa
The Sugar Mill Spa & Sanctuary really earns that “Sanctuary” moniker. It’s a sun-soaked, serene escape at the top of the hill away from the beach. The whole spa feels like it’s floating on these pools and offers a true retreat in a resort that already feels peaceful at every corner.
If you’re interested in a spa treatment, I had a 50-minute massage ($180) that was the most expensive of my life and by far the best, too. It was the best money I spent at the resort. My wife had a similarly well-reviewed facial treatment.
Inside the spa, there are men’s and women’s locker rooms that are available to all guests – not just spa guests. This wasn’t really advertised anywhere. We only found out because we had spa treatments booked, but I returned to use this area several times during the stay.
The men’s “Relaxation Area” looked like this. This plunge pool’s waterfalls was the acoustic backdrop for these loungers that lined the area beneath a sun shade and in front of the stone walls.
Behind the stone arches was a steam room and a sauna. Next to those were these unbelievably cool outdoor showers. Equipped with fancy Le Labo soaps, these amazing waterfall showers surrounded by stone were open to the Caribbean sun above. Again, these areas were available to all guests – not just those who had booked a spa treatment.
I used those showers after a quick workout in this gym. It was plenty large and featured everything you could want in a hotel gym and more. The area at the back of this image was for yoga mats and even had an outdoor patio behind it.
A common thing in hotels, the gym offers free waters, too. If you want to grab a few extra boxed waters for an outing or any other reason, head to the gym for a cooler full of free ones.
Note: The tap water is good to drink in St. Kitts. They have similar water standards to the U.S. Some people online complain about the taste, but I had no such qualms.
Camp Hyatt, Activities, & More
This resort felt extremely serene and the guests there when we were seemed intent on lounging, but that’s not for a lack of activities. Throughout the property, there were several ways to entertain yourself.
This stone mill, for instance, is a small event space where you can take yoga classes (yes inside the mill), and next to it are two pickleball courts and a half-court basketball area. Both were fancy sport court surfaces.
The same sport court surfaces could be found near the pool where a hopscotch setup and this World of Hyatt-branded shuffleboard court next to the pool.
There was also this massive chess game poolside, too.
On the right side of this image, you could see the “Island Fort” which is what they call their Camp Hyatt kids area.
Here, you can see a sample of activities going on during our stay that guests could book, as well as some prices. There were $25 morning yoga sessions and $70 pickleball court rentals. The mixology and stargazing classes also piqued our interest. As is the case with seemingly all Hyatts nowadays, there was also a TopGolf Swing Suite golf simulator on property.
Dining
The dining was exorbitantly expensive at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts, but it was also worth it in most cases. The Park Hyatt St. Kitts was good on the stomach, even if its prices weren’t.
Note: For all food and drink items at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts, the resort adds an 18% service charge on every bill that is split among the staff. The remainder of your tip goes to the server. Be sure to take this into account!
The Great House (& Breakfast)
The Great House is an all-three-meals restaurant that makes up the brunt of this main building of the resort.
This photo, taken after dinner from the beach, shows the beautiful building in all its glory. Our dinner there was on our first night as we were still getting used to the prices, but being the first day of vacation, I did not balk at this $22 Hibiscus Margarita. My wife’s Rosé was $18.
I ordered a rigatoni bolognese and my wife got a seafood risotto, both of which were excellent and well-portioned. The rigatoni was $18 and the seafood risotto was $35.
This banoffee pie that closed out our meal was $16 and was the best part. The deserts, in general, were amazing at every restaurant.
Breakfast was also served in The Great House, and you can either book the buffet for $50 or a la carte, which is how we opted to do things during our stay because it was significantly less expensive.
The buffet did look good, but we wouldn’t have eaten enough to justify the $50 per person, which doesn’t even include coffee drinks.
In the end, we shared a fruit plate, a side of bacon, a stack of pancakes, an egg dish, and two cappuccinos for less than $80 total. If you can get free breakfast by booking through Amex’s Fine Hotels & Resorts or with top-tier Hyatt Globalist status, take full advantage!
The Stone Barn
This was an unbelievably fancy and expensive meal that we weren’t prepared for, but it was so, so tasty.
For $145 per person, you get an eight-course tasting menu. For another $100 on top of that, you can have the wine pairing. We opted to split a wine pairing (which came with some extremely generous pours thanks to a well-humored and fun waitress).
I’m typically not one for what I call “tweezer food,” but many of these dishes left an impression on me, including this amuse-bouche (a hilariously pretentious word for a small appetizer) that featured beef tartar in a small waffle cone that blew my mind.
This tuna sashimi dish was also a show-stopper.
As was this duck dish, which might have been my favorite few bites of the entire stay.
The bill came in over $500 with the service charge. I’m uncomfortable paying half that, but for a special meal in a special setting, we happily signed it.
Fisherman’s Wharf
Our final dinner at the resort was at the Fisherman’s Wharf, the seafood restaurant and bar built out on a pier over the ocean where the hotel’s boat dock sits.
This Spice Hunter rum cocktail ($22) was special to this restaurant.
We also ordered these delicious conch fritters ($22).
My wife had a shrimp caesar salad ($31) that she loved. My order of ribs ($42) didn’t last long enough for a photo, which I regret. It was one of the best things I had on the trip and I highly recommend the well-portioned dish to my fellow oft-hungry travelers.
The Bar, Poolside and In-Room Dining, and the Market
Next to the Great Room is this room they simply call “The Bar” which serves drinks in an informal setting. There were also outdoor seats lining those windows where you could order drinks all day long while looking out over the pool or ocean, too.
The menu served there and that of the Rampart Pool Bar could be ordered to nearly every outdoor seat on the property, to your room, and to both pools and on the beach. Servers were in constant rotation serving drinks and food to guests. The service was prompt and friendly everywhere on the property.
One of the best values we had dining at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts was in our room on the first day. For less than $60 total, we had this spread delivered to our room so we could eat in front of the beach and the island of Nevis.
Shockingly, room service might help you save on breakfast at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts!
A Note About Service
The service was uniformly excellent at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts, which I’ve come to expect from Park Hyatts all over the world. The friendly staff made countless small gestures to make us feel special.
Whether it was reception helping me with a late checkout to accommodate a late evening flight out, the landscaping staff stopping their machines as I walked by on a path, or watching bell staff give fish food to a little girl who was obsessed with the koi pond, it was an impressive resort-wide hospitality effort.
As you can expect from the Caribbean, sometimes service was a little casual…meaning it was on the slow side – but we were never left waiting and nothing was egregious enough to have us worried about an order.
It’s a Park Hyatt. Expect the best.
Bottom Line
The Park Hyatt St. Kitts Christophe Harbour is not easy on the wallet, but the pristine, secluded resort offers an experience that is well worth the high price tag (especially if you’re paying in points).
The varied and delicious dining options, two epic pools, a secluded beach, and an low-key but elegant Caribbean vibe combine to create one of the best hotel options in the Caribbean.
Because it’s so expensive, the best way to book the Park Hyatt St. Kitts is using World of Hyatt points or the Chase Ultimate Rewards you can transfer to World of Hyatt.
