New Year's Eve in St Barts: what to book early

Between Christmas and New Year's Day, St Barts is in great demand, and everything there gets organised earlier than during the rest of the year. In-villa services follow the same logic: the number of hair stylists, babysitters and practitioners does not grow with the number of visitors. What you would decide the day before in spring is planned here several weeks ahead.

Why book early

On 31 December, everybody wants the same thing at the same time: hair done in the late afternoon, the children looked after in the evening, a slow recovery the next day. There is no shortage of slots as such, but the one that suits you is also the one that suits everyone else.

Booking early means choosing your time rather than taking the one that is left.

It does not tie you down, though. When you book, your card is registered but nothing is charged: that only happens once you have chosen your provider. And cancellation stays free up to 48 hours before the service. If your plans change in the meantime, you cancel, and that is all there is to it.

Hair and beauty on the 31st

This is the request where timing matters most. In-villa hair styling offers a blow-dry, which takes from three quarters of an hour to an hour and a half depending on the length of your hair, and a one-hour up-do or styled look.

To set the time, start from the hour you leave the villa and work backwards: the length of the styling, the time to get dressed, a margin. If several of you are having your hair done, the lengths add up and the afternoon fills quickly.

Hand and lash treatments are better placed the day before, on the 30th, so that not everything lands on the same day. Our article on in-villa hair styling before a wedding or an evening goes through how to organise it.

Childcare for the evening

Babysitting comes in two options: one hour of childcare on a weekday, between 8 am and midnight, and a set evening of five hours.

A New Year's Eve party often runs past midnight. If yours will, write to us from the help button on the site before booking and give your times: it is a request to arrange in advance, not on the night.

Think of the children too. A babysitter they first met earlier in the week, for a short booking, is no longer a stranger on the evening of the 31st.

The days after

1 January is not a day for effort. An in-villa massage can be booked for one hour, an hour and a half or two hours, for the time the villa wakes up.

In the days that follow, anyone who wants to start the year on the right foot can plan a yoga or Pilates session, alone or with others.

How to go about it

Before you book, gather three things:

• your dates and times, even roughly;
• the exact address of the villa and directions for getting in, which your host or your agency can give you;
• the number of people concerned by each service.

Booking itself takes a few minutes per service. You choose the option, the date and the time, give the address and register your card. The providers who are available are notified, an email tells you as soon as one of them offers, and you choose. The final price is the one set by the provider you pick. They then message you to settle the details.

If no provider answers straight away, our concierge takes over your request and gets back to you. If nobody can come in the end, your card is not charged.

In short

Book first what depends on a precise time: hair on the 31st and childcare. Then add what makes the week gentler. And keep the 48-hour rule in mind, which leaves you time to change your mind.