What it’s like to stay at Lovango in the US Virgin Islands

Even on a stormy day, Lovango, a small semi-private island resort in the US Virgin Islands, is beautiful. I arrived on the last rainy day in a week of rainy days. Picture-perfect tropical weather would come later, but the rain created colorful first impressions of deep greens and vibrant flowers.

Listening to the rain on the jungle canopy, I spent the afternoon drinking coffee in a low-slung chair on the porch of my private “tree house.”

In fact, the wooden cabin was tucked into the hillside, looking down at cerulean waves breaking on the private beach and Congo Cay, a restricted and undeveloped island bird sanctuary across the channel. I felt like I was the only person on the island.

Privacy was one of the big draws for the Snider family, Lovango’s owners and operators. Part of Little Gem Resorts, the Snider portfolio includes the Nantucket Hotel & Resort and the Winnetu Oceanside Resort in Martha’s Vineyard. Here, they’ve created an increasingly rare no-passport-necessary Caribbean sanctuary contrasting with the hulking cruise ships docked in nearby St. Thomas and the crowded beaches of St. John.

Lovango is the first newly built hotel in the US Virgin Islands in over 20 years and was designed to blend into the landscape, maximizing privacy while offering excellent and eco-friendly accommodations in varying levels of luxury.

From glamping tree houses to the private three-bedroom villa, the architecture blends brutalism with island whimsy. Poured-concrete rainfall showers, both indoor and outdoor, offer a modernist counterpoint to the soft wooden touches that allow the lodgings to disappear into the foliage.

The 20-room (and growing) resort — it debuted two new one-bedroom cottages this year — sits on 55 acres, roughly half the island.

It has two restaurants and a hilltop breakfast service, a bar, a private guest-only infinity pool overlooking the beach club, a group of small boutique shops, two famous snorkeling locations, hiking trails for those who want to walk and transportation for those who don’t. There are scuba charters, day trips to the British Virgin Islands and complimentary ferry service to and from nearby St. Thomas and St. John, should you feel trapped.

The Sniders have a laudable focus on sustainability that touches all parts of their operation. Everything from the plumbing to the sunscreen is designed to keep the island’s ecosystem healthy and restore inherited damage to the reefs.

They have also entered into a unique long-term partnership with Reef Response, a task force from the University of the Virgin Islands focused on studying resilience within reefs and rebuilding with climate change-resistant corals that encourage biodiversity. The project director, Dr. Marilyn Brandt, said that if things go well, Lovango’s reefs will be on track to be self-sustaining in just a few years.

Building in an eco-friendly manner on an isolated island is a Herculean effort and Matt Snider has spent the better part of four years working to build the relaxed luxury destination it is today.

“Sustainability is at the heart of the Virgin Islands,” he explained. “We’ve painstakingly re-permitted everything to be in tune with the environment. The coral restoration is a part of that. It’s a no-brainer for us and the right way to do business. It even shows us that we can do better in Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.”

But the synergy between their northeastern properties and the Caribbean is stronger than just eco-consciousness; many staff members work across Little Gem’s properties, offering familiar faces to repeat guests.

What comes out of the pot is a resort that by its very nature isn’t five-star everything. That’s not the point. The tree houses and glamping tents offer low-key access to slow tourism, while the new cottages and villas are more traditional high-end hideaways. The result is a new type of resort built for the 21st century (from $795).