Late last month, Le Journal de St. Barth, the weekly newspaper on the fabled island, reacted strongly (see bottom item) to my report on the island in the latest issue of Palmer: The Palm Beach Reader. For those of you who don’t read French, here’s an annotated machine translation of their comment on the story:
An investigation against Saint-Barth
On August 8, an article published on the website of the Florida magazine Palmer (Palm Beach Reader) attracted the attention of many Saint-Barth residents. Written by its editor-in-chief [actually, I’m editor-at-large], Michael Gross, a best-selling author and contributor to many prestigious titles such as the New York Times, New York Magazine and Vanity Fair, the article is a veritable scorcher against Saint-Barthélemy and its many and varied excesses. [Against is a strong word but they’re entitled to their opinion.] Under the headline “Clouds on the horizon in Saint-Barth”, the former New York Time columnist describes an island “lost at sea” due to overdevelopment, “flashy investors and $70 shrimp pasta”. And that’s just the introduction… With road traffic now oppressive, “the hills full of construction”, the invasive presence of influencers, Michael Gross takes care, through numerous testimonials, to describe an island that no longer seems at all like the one his interlocutors once knew and loved. He also mentions “hotel groups from Miami to Saint-Tropez, via Paris and Boston, who are more interested in financial engineering in a lax regulatory environment than in the well-being of their clientele”. And let’s not forget the forced tips, the service that isn’t always up to scratch and the ever-rising rates. “For those who knew Saint-Barth years ago, it all stinks worse than sargassum that’s been stranded for over a week,” writes the author, who adds: “Just because your clientele is rich doesn’t mean they’re smart. And so, in fits and starts over the past dozen years, the inhabitants and the Collectivité have experienced the ransom of success. The carefree island is a microcosm, a window on trends in high-end travel and leisure, on the evolution of the jet set, on the effects of the concentration of wealth, the decline of social standards and the harmful effects of it all.” In short, he has no soft spot for the 2023 version of Saint-Barthélemy [Yes, he does, have a soft spot for–and reservations to return too–St. Barth]. Knowing that he has a relatively large audience, there’s little doubt that his pamphlet has been read by more than just the island’s elected representatives and residents…