bc9913, i agree that the Club O chalets were not what i consider rustic. People have different standards for sure, and while they were not five star, i preferred them, and the experience to anywhere i have ever stayed.

---

Life's a beach!

---

Life's a beach! P.S nice story deputy

---

Life's a beach!

I'm with you, sxmbeacher. Stayed in them on five occasions and never, ever had a better time. My wife and I have no better memories. Is there such a thing as 6 star?

I can only hope that it gets rebuilt because we would love to experience the resort. By rustic I believe they meant things like not hving the typical branded hotel feel. One of the long time vacationers was a retired pilot who said it was like going to camp as a kid. Don't shoot the messenger just describing what was said to us on our 1st visit there, and definitely not our last.

Originally posted by bc9913 To me, "Rustic" implies things like a lack of indoor plumbing, so I wouldn't describe Club O that way. Each unit had air conditioning, a full bath, and a small (but very usable) kitchen. They eventually added telephones and TVs. The WiFi was horrible, maybe that's what made it rustic?

To me, rustic is more of an appearance thing, so I would describe the resort formerly known as Club Orient as rustic.* Especially rustic were the wooden buildings. I would say the lack of indoor plumbing is going beyond rustic, and more along the lines of primitive or uninhabitable.

The Wi Fi was a big step up from what they had before: nothing. In the waterfront chalets the transmitters were at or near the front porch, so signal strength in the day room or on the patio at the rear could be weak when many guests were using the system. I would just move to the picnic table on the front porch if I wanted a stronger signal. The signal was usually fine for emails and message boards, which is what I used it for

As to the air conditioning in the chalets, only the bedroom was air conditioned in most of the units.** For me this was a major design flaw, approaching primitive. I don't like living indoors at 85 + degrees. A fan placed toward the end of the hallway, pointed into the dayroom, would cool it down after a few hours. Of course when housekeeping came in, they would open all doors, negating our hard earned dayroom cool down. I hope all of those kind souls have found jobs elsewhere.

On our trip to the Island this year, as was last year, there will be no need to go by Ace Hardware to get a fan. The resort formerly known as Club Orient is gone, reduced to rubble, and we are again forced to stay elsewhere.
________
* synonyms: plain · simple · homely · unsophisticated · homespun.
** We stayed in one waterfront chalet that had an air conditioner in the day room as well as the bedroom. I think it was #52. Of course that was the trip we stopped at Ace Hardware and bought a fan, in anticipation of there being no fan in our unit. Unfortunately, that was our last trip to Club O in 2017.

---

Paragraphs Are A Reader's Best Friend.

We have only stayed in the mini-suites that are half the size of the chalets. I thought they had improved the air conditioning situation in the chalets, but I guess not.

Not that it matters now since they're gone, but we never had any issue in the Chalets. Maybe a little warm sometimes, but we went there to be warm. In our opinion, they were perfect. Can't wait until May 1 to see if anything at all is being done on the property.

I will be at orient Beach on February 21st.