Hotel Review: Zemi Beach House, Anguilla

Since many people in the points and miles community are considering a trip to Anguilla because of Zemi Beach House, I wanted to share my experience. My sister and I stayed at Zemi for two nights and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The property was beautiful; rooms were spacious and nicely appointed; and staff members were helpful and friendly without exception. As someone who has visited Anguilla before, I think that Zemi did a great job of providing an upscale experience and fitting into the casual Anguilla vibe.

Part 1: Introduction to the Anguilla Trip Report

Part 2: Hotel Review: Zemi Beach House, Anguilla

Zemi Beach House Overview

The Zemi Beach House is a luxury boutique hotel with 76 rooms and suites on Shoal Bay East in Anguilla. Formerly an independent property, Zemi Beach House joined Hilton’s LXR brand in 2019.

Like Anguilla itself, Zemi Beach House appeals to a variety of guests—couples, families, groups of friends and solo travelers—who appreciate gorgeous beaches and a more mellow island experience.

How to Book Zemi Beach House

I used free night certificates from my co-branded credit card to book our room. These certificates are issued annually as a benefit of the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card or after meeting a spending threshold on the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (see rates & fees) or the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (see rates & fees).

Hilton free night certificates provide great redemption value at Zemi Beach House. For example, the Aspire card’s $450 annual fee, which includes a free night annually and other valuable benefits, is less than one night’s room rate at Zemi.

An additional benefit for the Aspire card holders is that the annual $250 resort credit can be used at Zemi Beach House to cover room rates, food and beverage charges, spa charges and other resort incidentals.

Hilton Honors points also can be used to book rooms at Zemi. As of June 2022, standard rooms are 95,000 points per night (or 380,000 points for five nights with Hilton’s fifth night free benefit for elite members).

Many people in the points and miles community equate value with obtaining a high cents per point (cpp) value when redeeming points. Zemi certainly delivers on this measure when booking a standard room.

Pre-tax cash prices for garden rooms on random Saturday nights (checked during April 2022) were about $500 per night for October 2022 (off-season), almost $1,000 per night for late April 2022 and mid-April 2023, and about $1,200 per night for mid-January 2023. As of July 2022, taxes and fees add another 25% on paid room rates.

Based on a fairly standard valuation of Hilton points at 0.4 to 0.5 cents each, redemption value at Zemi is at least double (0.8 to 1 cent per point) most of the year. Keeping the calculation simple by ignoring taxes and points earned with paid stays, if the room cost is $950, that means that using 95,000 points yields a redemption value of 1 cent per point.

Premium room rates using points vary significantly but usually provide poor value, as shown in the example below. An ocean view room, which costs about $200 more in cash, costs more than five times the number of points.

Zemi Beach House Location

Zemi Beach House is located on the western part of Shoal Bay East, which arguably is one of the best beaches in Anguilla. Shoal Bay East is around a mile long, with several accommodation options and restaurants.

Anguilla is a small island, so you can get pretty much anywhere on the island in 30 minutes or less. Zemi is about a 10-minute drive from the Anguilla (AXA) airport and a little farther from the ferry terminal. Additional details about transportation are included in my Anguilla trip report.

Arrival and Check-In

My sister and I flew to Anguilla from Miami (MIA), and a Zemi representative greeted us at the airport after we cleared customs and immigration and exited to the area where taxis were waiting. He asked for our preference of fruit or rum punch, tagged our bags, provided a slip noting the taxi rate ($18) and walked us about 100 feet to the taxi. Within about 10 minutes, we arrived at Zemi.

The taxi dropped us off at a small, separate building where check-in and checkout occurred. While nice enough, this building was located near the property entrance away from the beach and ocean, and it didn’t prepare me for how beautiful the rest of the property would be.

We were offered cold towels and drinks, and different groups checking in were seated in separate areas of the room.

After completing paperwork, the Zemi representative took us to our room on a golf cart. She pointed out some key features of the property during the ride. Shortly after, our bags were delivered to the room.

Dining

Zemi offers room service, and it also has several onsite restaurants and bars. Zemi’s app has more details (including the in-room dining menu). I contacted Zemi before my trip and requested menus, and they shared pdf file menus for 20 Knots, Stone and sushi. (Note: sushi is offered at selected days and times at the Bohio Bar and Lounge.)

Zemi has the following restaurants and bars on its property:

• 20 Knots: This is the main restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. It mostly has outdoor seating with tables on the deck and in the sand. 20 Knots has a great beach and water view.
• Shoal Bay Zemi Beach Club: The hotel lists this as a separate all-day venue, but it serves the same food as 20 Knots.
• Stone: This is the fine dining restaurant that is open for dinner only on selected days. Stone has all indoor seating and no views.
• Rhum Room: This is another indoor location that offers rum tasting and may be available for private dining events.
• Bohio Bar and Lounge: This bar is located on the other side of the main pool from 20 Knots. Bohio has seating with beach and water views and a large television at the bar.

We had breakfast at 20 Knots but didn’t eat any other meals at Zemi. The buffet breakfast was delicious and offered the expected items (and a few surprises) for a North American buffet at an upscale hotel. After being seated, we were offered tea or coffee (including espresso-based drinks), juice and water.

Breakfast is primarily self-service from the buffet. There are three main areas for food:

• A table in the middle of the room has bakery items and other foods that don’t require refrigeration or heating (e.g., nuts, dried fruit, homemade granola bars). Shots of a special juice also were available here.
• An area along the wall has yogurt, fruit, salad items, milk, individual cereal boxes, meats, cheese, smoked salmon, hot items, grilled vegetables and bread items. The hot items in serving trays varied daily. On our first day, the hot items included turkey and cheese quesadillas, scrambled eggs and pancakes. On day 2, there were curried potatoes, scrambled eggs and some small sweet buns. Bacon, turkey sausage and pork sausage were available each day.
• A station where guests can order eggs, which are delivered to your table.

Elite and Hilton Honors Benefits

All Zemi guests receive complimentary breakfast, bottled water and Wi-Fi, so this is a good place to stay with or without Hilton Honors Gold or Diamond elite status.

I have Hilton status and was thanked for being a Diamond member and provided a welcome letter and amenity (a bottle of Prosecco, two large bottles of Voss water and a plate with some sweet treats) in the room.

Standard rooms that can be booked for 95,000 Hilton points or free night certificates are garden view rooms, with one king or two queen beds. We weren’t upgraded, but I appreciated that the hotel accommodated my pre-arrival request for a room with two queen beds instead of one king bed. From other reviews I’ve read, Diamond guests sometimes receive upgrades to ocean view rooms. Despite being called a garden view room, our room had a partial ocean view.

Zemi was unable to accommodate my request for a late checkout. The guest services representative said that other guests arriving that day were assigned to our room. Zemi did offer an option of moving to a different room, but I declined since it wasn’t worth the effort for the short amount of time we were going to be there.

I also received a 1,000 point “MyWay” bonus (choice for LXR brand) and 2,500 points from the “Points Unlimited” promotion.

Property Details and Amenities

Part of Zemi’s property is built on a hill, with the entrance, some amenities and most accommodations buildings elevated from the beach level. The parking area is located near the check-in building closer to the road. The Thai House Spa and tennis court are near that area. I didn’t see the spa until shortly before leaving, but I thought it was gorgeous and loved the Asian style.

I also was impressed by Zemi’s beautiful landscaping, particularly the bright flowers and tropical feel (Anguilla naturally is kind of scrubby).

There are five buildings with guest rooms, suites and “residences.” One building is beachfront, and the others are elevated from the beach and main resort facilities.

On the road between the accommodation buildings and the main resort amenities, there’s a boutique and the Kid’s Club. The boutique had a mix of clothing items, jewelry and souvenirs.

Besides the small pools at the spa and private pools with some suites, there are two large infinity pools on the property:

• The adults-only Tranquility Pool is located closer to the accommodation buildings. I saw people using this pool only once. This pool doesn’t overlook the beach and has a limited ocean view towards the side, but it seems peaceful.
• The main pool is located down more stairs on the same level as the restaurants and guest services area.

Both pool areas have padded lounge chairs, some cabanas and amenities. There are a few stations set up with beach towels, water (fruit infused spa water in large jugs and/or bottled water), and a dispenser with SPF 30 sunscreen.

Chairs and umbrellas also are set up on the beach. There seemed to be plenty of chairs, and they were distributed over a large enough area that the beach didn’t feel crowded.

There is a nicely equipped fitness room in building 2. It has a cardio section with two bikes, three treadmills and three elliptical trainers. The strength training section has multiple weight machines and free weights, balls and mats. There’s a balcony, and bottled water is available here too.

Rooms

We stayed in a garden view room with two queen beds on the first floor in building 2. The room had a partial ocean view.

The room is about 600 square feet and nicely appointed. The style is contemporary and beachy. There’s a bar area with a coffee maker and supplies, minibar items and a small refrigerator in the entry hallway.

The room has two closets (one contains a safe), two queen beds, a nightstand, a desk with two chairs, a wall-mounted television and an upholstered chair. The room also contains Zemi branded flip flops and a beach bag (for guests to keep) and two robes (available for purchase). The balcony is furnished with a dining table with four chairs and two padded chairs with a side table.

The bathroom has five areas and is stylish and airy. However, the openness and glass partition separating the toilet limits privacy. On one side, there’s a vanity with two custom sinks. On the opposite side, there’s an area with a counter and mirror. On the back wall, there’s a large shower, standalone soaking tub and toilet. Malin+Goetz toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap and body lotion) are provided.

Service

Our interactions with Zemi staff were positive. Staff members were friendly, polite and helpful. A nice personal touch is that, on our last day, we were given a card that the breakfast staff signed thanking us.

The level of service offered at Zemi is appropriate for the price point and style of the property. At the beach and main pool, staff prepare lounge chairs with larger covers and bring complimentary water (four bottles in a plastic bag of ice) and stop by periodically to see if guests need more water or want to order food and beverages.

Guest rooms were cleaned during the day, and evening turndown service was provided. One minor but odd thing was that the turndown service seemed to miss that two people were staying in the room. Staff only prepared one bed and left one bottle of water and one cookie on the bedside table.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed staying at Zemi Beach House and appreciate how Hilton has created an upscale resort that feels like it belongs in Anguilla. Using points and free nights certificates at Zemi made this an affordable way to enjoy beautiful Shoal Bay East without spending more than $1,000 per night on accommodations.