La Samanna, A Belmond Hotel

La Samanna holds fifty-five acres on the limestone bluffs above Baie Longue, at the southwestern tip of the French side of Saint Martin, with about two miles of crescent beach below. James Frankel and his wife Nicole bought the ground in the early seventies to build a house for the family's holidays, and had a Barbados architect draw them a white Mediterranean villa. Then Frankel learned the plot was zoned for commercial use, and asked for a resort instead. The estate exists in its present form because of a line on a planning map, and that is worth stating in a register about ground.

The resort opened in 1973, named by joining the names of the Frankels' three daughters. Orient-Express took it in 1996 and it became Belmond's in 2014. Hurricane Irma closed it in 2017 and it reopened after a redesign by MuzaLab reported at twenty to twenty-five million dollars. It is counted at eighty-three rooms and suites and eight villas, many with plunge pools, in white stucco under terracotta, strung along the bluff. The house closes from August to mid-November, through the heart of the hurricane season. Paths between the buildings run through gardens of poinsettia and bougainvillea planted by the original architect, and the cellar has held around twelve thousand bottles.

Zoning decided the form. The owner wanted a home and the planning classification made it a hotel. Few estates in this register can point to the regulation that determined what stands on them.

A bluff above a long beach. The holding is the high ground; the two miles of sand below are what it looks at. On the French side the foreshore is generally held in public, and the entry reads the published word private accordingly.

Sources

• Encyclopaedic and trade record - estate of fifty-five acres above Baie Longue on the French side of Saint Martin; bought by James and Nicole Frankel for a family house, redesigned as a resort after the plot was found to be zoned for commercial use; opened 1973, named from the Frankels' daughters Samantha, Anouk and Nathalie
• Operator and trade coverage - acquired by Orient-Express Hotels in 1996, Belmond from 2014; reopened after Hurricane Irma following a redesign by MuzaLab; eighty-three rooms and suites and eight villas; closed August to mid-November; gardens of poinsettia and bougainvillea laid out by the original architect Happy Ward; a wine cellar reported at about twelve thousand bottles

Verification

Official source

Not yet checked

Sources disagree

the opening is given as 1973 and as 1974; the post-Irma renovation is reported at twenty and at twenty-five million dollars.

Property confirmation

Pending

Last verified

—

Booking

Private Resorts arranges each stay on request, quoting the rates available for the resort and dates. No benefit should be assumed unless it is confirmed in writing for the individual reservation.

Classified by The Resort Collection House · The Register · Edition 2026 · LHL-E-277
Report a correction · How this is verified