{"id":17331,"date":"2018-05-29T00:28:48","date_gmt":"2018-05-28T21:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/?p=17331"},"modified":"2018-05-29T00:28:48","modified_gmt":"2018-05-28T21:28:48","slug":"this-private-island-hotel-has-only-one-suite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/archives\/17331","title":{"rendered":"This Private Island Hotel Has Only One Suite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fitness executive Jim Worthington had one goal for the luxury trip he was planning to celebrate the birthday of his girlfriend, Kim Levins: privacy. \u201cI wanted to be 100 percent away from everybody,\u201d he says from his office in Bucks County, Pa. \u201cIt was her 30th birthday, and I didn\u2019t want to share it with anybody but her.\u201d<\/p>\n

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So he booked the couple into\u00a0Gladden Private Island<\/a>, a tiny hotel off the coast of Belize that opened in December. It consists of a single two-bedroom villa. The island \u201cis less than an acre. You could walk from one tip to the other, and it would take less than 30 seconds,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cIt was like being Robinson Crusoe\u2014you have no idea the staff is even there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He and Levins spent their days enjoying the solitude, sitting at the edge of the water for four or five hours straight, saying perhaps three words.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe beauty of where you are is unbelievable,\u201d Worthington says. Indeed, the two were so impressed that they\u2019re planning to make the island a regular vacation spot, taking a week to decompress there every 18 months or so.<\/p>\n

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The Gladden Private Island resort is actually two islands\u2014one for you and one for staff.<\/div>\n
Source: Gladden Private Island<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It might sound like a risky proposition: rather than a vacation villa, a personal hotel with a full cadre of staff to cater to a couple\u2019s every whim (from $2,950 per night for two, all-inclusive). But this is the hottest new niche in high-end travel\u2014not a penthouse suite but an entire island just for you.<\/p>\n

Gladden is the brainchild of Chris Krolow, the host of HGTV\u2019s\u00a0Island Hunters<\/em>, who\u2019s spent the past 20 years selling and leasing private islands. \u201cIt\u2019s my baby,\u201d he says. The idea was simple: Create the ultimate couples-only (make that: couple-only) hotel, a luxe hideaway for barefoot sojourners at which all evidence of other humans is concealed.<\/p>\n

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The view from the pool deck at Gladden, where you\u00a0never have to see another human if you don\u2019t want to.<\/div>\n
Photographer: Benedict Kim<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Set on a pair of mangrove-fringed islands a few miles off the southern coast of Belize, Gladden is accessible from the capital, Belize City, itself a nonstop flight from several hubs in North America. From there it\u2019s a 30-minute helicopter transfer to the resort, making Gladden workable as a long weekend getaway.<\/p>\n

The setting is superb. The coast of this Central American nation is fringed with a low-lying archipelago of more than 400 atolls set in crystal blue waters reminiscent of the Maldives or the South Pacific.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis part of Belize is insanely beautiful. It\u2019s like a jewelry box of blue all the way around,\u201d Krolow says. \u201cThe color, the clarity of the water\u2014it\u2019s like nowhere on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Al fresco massages are on offer, whenever you like.<\/div>\n
Source: Gladden Private Island<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Having two islands is key to pulling off the concept, he says. It allows him to keep staff accommodations, buildings for generators, and other infrastructure on the second, smaller island, so guests can feel completely alone. The employees consist of two couples who tag-team on everything from cooking (one of the women is a certified Le Cordon Bleu chef) to spa treatments (massages are offered, gratis, as often as guests wish). And to prevent visitors from getting startled by the staff, there are small warning lights in every room of the hotel that flash red when support team members are venturing across from their standalone islet.<\/p>\n

Although Gladden has two bedrooms and can accommodate four guests, 70 percent of Krolow\u2019s bookings have come from couples like Worthington and Levins who are often celebrating birthdays or anniversaries. In an overconnected world,\u00a0seclusion has become even more of a benchmark of luxury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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One of the suite\u2019s two bedrooms.<\/div>\n
Source: Gladden Private Island<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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At Gladden, everything takes place with a view of the water.<\/div>\n
Source: Gladden Private Island<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among other private-island resorts is\u00a0Little Peter Oasis<\/a>\u00a0($4,995 for a four-night package), also in Belize, which has space for four guests in a two-bedroom villa built over the edge of a private lagoon protected by a reef. It\u2019s a place where you can channel your inner Brooke Shields, with or without a bikini.<\/p>\n

In the Maldives,\u00a0Cheval Blanc Randheli<\/a>, the tropical offshoot of French resort Courchevel 1850, has 45 traditional villas on one site but also operates a three-bedroom \u201cowner\u2019s villa\u201d (price upon request) on a nearby private island only a five-minute sail away. Thirty staff are available to either pamper you or ignore you, whichever your preference.<\/p>\n