My friends and I have never been to St. Maarten and wanted a nice place that wasn't too far from the airport and in close proximity to stores, restaurants and a beach. This place had it all. It was an absolutely beautiful villa, clean, nicely decorated, with everything you needed including a well stocked kitchen, a beautiful pool, and beach towels and chairs for days at the beach. There was even a day we never left because we just enjoyed hanging out at the house relaxing by the pool and enjoying the beautiful view. I must say you do need to drive to go anywhere to eat, but that was fine for us since we rented a car to move about the island anyway. Right down the road ~10-15 min is the Simpson Bay area with lots of places to eat. The beach is a bit far to walk since it's down and back up a steep hill, but if you went to the beach for some time, you would want to drive anyway to take chairs and everything else you need. We liked to take a nice morning walk to the beach with a lovely swim for our morning exercise. Danielle was an excellent host, meet us at the villa as soon as we arrived, and was a wealth of information for some great recommendations on the island. Readily available if anything came up as well. If I ever come back to St. Maarten, which I hope to one day, I would definitely rent this house again. Absolutely loved it!