StolenTime is a premium adults-only, all-inclusive resort in St Lucia, welcoming solo travellers, families, friends, and groups from around the globe.
At StolenTime, we are proud of our exceptional hospitality at an exclusive location. But, would you like to know how it all started, because it’s actually a terrific story, worthy of telling.
Maybe there’s a movie in there somewhere!
StolenTime was originally a family home to Craig and Andrew Barnard, who still own and run the resort to this day.
The history of the Barnard’s contribution to tourism in Saint Lucia began when their ancestor Samuel Barnard first set foot on a Saint Lucian beach in 1833. He came as a missionary to set up a school in what was then the old capital of Vieux Fort.
Long before him, John Barnard set sail from Plymouth, England in 1652 to start a new life in the colony of Jamaica as Accountant General for the British government.
The story of hospitality, however starts a little later. Craig’s father, Dennis, was a successful planter of sugar cane and a distiller of rum when in 1948 he bought a plot of land on Malabar Beach as a family getaway. The house he built had a large tiled bar that opened onto the beach. Travellers exploring the beach would mistakenly think it was a public bar and would walk in to order drinks.
This amused Dennis, who was gregarious by nature. He enjoyed people so much, he would end up inviting them for lunch or dinner served by his faithful butler, Lionel. When the guests asked for the bill, they were astonished to discover they were actually in a private home with no charge whatsoever!
Spurred on by this accidental introduction to hospitality, Dennis then decided to build a few beachside cottages to accommodate the growing number of visitors to the island, and Saint Lucia’s first boutique hotel was brought to life.
This tradition of hospitality started by Dennis remains as the driving inspiration behind the resort today. By the time Craig took over the management of the property in the 1960s it was considerably bigger than the few beach cottages that even today remain lining a portion of the beach with their gingerbread charm.
Saint Lucia’s tropical beauty began to attract larger and larger numbers of tourists, which in turn required a great many more hotels, and while the Malabar Beach property was doing well, Craig recognised the need to separate the family business from the standard hotel fare
He wanted to create a difference in both style and substance that would attract guests who want more than a room, a hotel key and a pleasant ambience. He found it in the concept of a holiday for couples only where everything the hotel had to offer, including food, drinks, and sports with expert instruction, was included in what you paid your travel agent. It was a largely novel concept in those days originating in Jamaica and certainly new to Saint Lucia.
It seemed to Craig that going on a first-class holiday where you do not need pockets or any concern for what things cost would be appealing to couples who need to steal time to get away from the concern of busy lives – in short, to rediscover and celebrate what made them want to be a couple in the first place.
The lush gardens on inviting Malabar Beach provided an ideally romantic ambience for such a dream experience. This was the genesis of what was the aptly named Rendezvous, a name which was chosen because it suggests two people going on an intimate date. Today the boutique tradition inadvertently started by his father over fifty years ago is alive and well in one of the island’s most preferred holiday venues.
The Barnard family continues to play an important role in Saint Lucia’s tourism history. It would be difficult to count the number of new people who have been attracted to this friendly little island paradise because of a desire to experience the sybaritic pleasures of Rendezvous. This is particularly true when you consider that many of guests came back year after year for a repeat performance.
Denis Barnard would no doubt be amused to know that guests can still go to the bar and dine in our three restaurants without being presented with a bill.
And if by chance or choice you find yourself enjoying a rum punch in the piano bar that stays open until the last guest goes to bed, just think: you are enjoying a drink in the little stone building that was once Craig’s childhood school house!
And so to the most recent incarnation of Malabar, StolenTime. In 1988, the Barnard family acquired the Steigenberger hotel, at the Northern tip of the island. An ambitious rebuild included one of the largest “Spas” in the world, dubbed the “Oasis”. The enormous spa was necessary for the equally ambitious new holiday concept, Craig called “LeSPORT”. Why, because he turned the allinclusive package on its head by the inclusion of spa treatments……for every guest!
The LeSPORT holiday was a brave gamble. In the early days, It targeted the “Baby Boomer” market. They had money, leisure time and with a ‘bit-late-in- theday’ need to attempt some form of looking after themselves better than they had.
It was an unmitigated success. But as LeSPORT morphed into the “BodyHoliday” and the guest profile seemed more into fitness and getting into shape than anything else, there was a perceived need for somewhere, a little more peaceful, with activities more aligned with mindfulness. Think Yoga, Tai Chi, Meditation, Sound Therapy, Better Sleep retreats and in general a focus on relaxing and renewing the mind.
And so out of Rendezvous’ natural ability to tick those boxes, came the idea for StolenTime, which had brand references already in place.
No longer couples only, which seems to align with the times we live in, it remains adults only but now welcomes solo travellers and groups and older families with adult children.
