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Destination Management Services is the leading professional local organiser on St Barths. Using contacts built up over ten years and more, Melanie Smith and her team are able to arrange for you the very finest that St Barths has to offer, which is considerable, despite the island’s small size. Perhaps you would like a delivery of caviar and champagne to your yacht, to arrange a surprise birthday party for your mother-in-law, a board meeting for ten or a special event for 100. The team at Destination Management Services are used to working with VIP visitors from all over the globe, including many of the celebrities that visit the island of course. They co-ordinate with you to make sure that your wishes are fulfilled exactly.
St Barths is unlike any other island in the region. It is a chic and sophisticated combination of France and the Caribbean and for some it is an ideal place to hold a celebration or an event. The island is pricey to be sure, but it has excellent resources that can enable people to enact their dreams. In one thing, however, it is no different from the rest of the Caribbean. If you wish to make a celebration a success you will need local advice and help. Destination Management Services is a direct link into the very best of St Barths.
The company was founded by Melanie Smith, who arrived on St Barths from Atlanta, Georgia in 1991, accompanied by her young daughter, on what she told herself would be a one year adventure. She has been there ever since. In 1997, seeing a growing need for tailor-made services at a more personalised level than were currently available, she founded Destination Management Services and she has been instrumental in developing top level VIP services since then. She also organises group events on the island, ranging from family celebrations and special events to corporate activities, such as boardroom retreats and incentive trips. She will liaise with you and help you to realise any plan that you have, as well as provide ideas and suggestions.
Melanie works with a core staff and then brings in others with specific skills and personnel as needed from St Barths’ surprisingly deep pool of talent as well as from outside the island. She has a small army of “regulars”, calling on designers and decorators, construction workers, lighting and sound specialists, plant and flower suppliers and arrangers, tenting suppliers, chefs, caterers, massage therapists and beauty technicians, photographers and videographers, musicians and dancers, and officiants for marriages and renewal of vows ceremonies. The company maintains close working relationships with literally every better hotel, restaurant and villa management company on the island. The key is having extensive, up-to-date knowledge of the island and the wherewithal to be able to procure the best with each.
Pretty much anything is possible in St Barths if you are prepared to pay for it and over the years the island’s wealthy clientele have come up with some pretty exceptional requests. Some recent events organised by Destination Management Services include:
St Barths Wedding: 4-day beach wedding event, 105 guests from Europe, the Mid-east and the US with multiple dinners and parties as well as numerous technical elements.
St Barths Events: St. Barths Bucket – an annual 4-day event of racing, parties and owner camaraderie. Considered one of the most prestigious racing events in the world for mega yacht owners and the largest gathering of boats this size since the Millennium Cup race in Australia. Approximately 600 participants.
St Barths Birthday Party: 4-day 50th birthday gathering of American and European friends, culminating in a huge beach party for 125 participants complete with tenting, staging, professional entertainment and technical elements.
St Barths Corporate/Incentive: Automobile company Presidents Club Trip - top producers from the USA and CEO of world-wide office
Anguilla Wedding: Cap Juluca Hotel, Anguilla - 3-day, multi venue, 40 people exclusive wedding complete with sound systems, music, special lighting, extraordinary décor design. Programs for guests created in English, German, and Italian.
St Barths Photo Shoot: Cosmopolitan Magazine – 4-day shoot consisting of 2 models for two separate articles.
Private Caribbean Yacht Venue: "I love you" party onboard a private yacht honoring owner's wife. Music, tenting, special lighting etc. |
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Concierge/VIP Assistance Services
DMS fully understands the type of discerning client that visits St Barths and the level of service that they demand, offering a five star service delivered with the utmost discretion. The company often works with the ‘advance teams’ of private clients as well as with travel agents and tour operators to tailor in every aspect of a client’s visit to St Barths.
VIP/Concierge Services cover the full range, and include a meet and greet service and efficient transfer to a client’s chosen accommodation, orientation on St Barths, general advice about the island and recommendations of things to do, even procuring the best table at the best restaurants.
Full time VIP assistance staffing is available. Security services are also available. |
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Yacht Services
DMS is one of the longest established full service yacht agencies on the island. Working primarily with private yachts that are 100 feet long and over, the company handles all the logistics, needs and services for yacht and crew while the yacht is in port. In addition, they can provide a full scope of services for guests, ranging from car rental (with or without a driver awaiting the arrival of the yacht) to the reservation of top tables at the island’s restaurants or arranging security, and from island excursions to finding local medical help and so on. In addition, the company specialises in planning and organizing on-board parties and functions in a style as extravagant as you wish.
DMS has been recognized as a ‘Captain’s Recommended Service’ each year in the prestigious SuperYacht Guide since its inception. |
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Tours
For its clientele, Destination Management Services is able to arrange many activities on island, catering for groups of any size. Activities include island taxi tours, water sports, snorkelling outings, sunset cruises, horseback riding, scuba diving and day trips to offshore islands, among others. In addition, DMS maintains an excellent working relationship with resorts and suppliers on nearby islands, which enables a client to incorporate additional activities into their programmes. These may include a day of golf or gambling, a hike into a rain forest or simply a lunch and afternoon of tennis. |
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Weddings & Event Planning
Weddings
Destination Management Services was the first professional wedding planner/organisation company in St Barths and continues to be the leader in the field. Over the years, they have organised and managed dozens of weddings, ranging in size from just the couple to over a 100.
Services include providing assistance/planning for every aspect of the wedding, from the moment of its inception. Melanie will liaise with you to discuss your ideas, make sure that they are achievable within the budget, and then she will oversee the planning and management of the event itself. Usually this includes scheduling the officiant of the ceremony, reserving the wedding site, all the restaurant venues, assisting with the flowers and decoration, arranging rental supplies, booking the musicians, photographers, videographers, caterers etc. She can also make appointments for hair, manicure and massage, and usually orders the wedding cake and plans and supervises the rehearsal dinner and the reception itself. As most weddings are multi-day events, she will also assist with the arrangement of other activities such as sunset sails, fishing trips and other outings for wedding guests.
The scope of services varies with each couple according to their wishes. DMS can put together anything from a simple ceremony to a full on production costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Event Planning
St Barths has become one of the most fashionable places in the world to hold a special event. Destination Management Services is happy to plan any celebration or event for you on the island, from a simple party to a full production event staged over a single or multiple days. These can include staging, custom designed and specially built components, sound systems, special effect lighting, fireworks, and over-all venue transformation. They can also bring in video, photographers, professional entertainment and so on. DMS will help you select the most appropriate venue, which may be at a villa, on board a private yacht, on the beach, in a restaurant or hotel, or any combination of these. They will work closely with you to make sure that plans are workable and make recommendations on how to do all in the best St Barths style. |
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Corporate Travel / Incentives
Destination Management Services not only organises groups and arranges events, but understands that it is important to keep the overall objective of a function in the forefront (eg. maintaining corporate loyalty, showing company appreciation, providing a ‘perk’ location in which to hold a conference or retreat). St Barths already has a certain prestige. DMS can put you in the very finest locations in order to increase the effect.
Destination Management Services maintains an inventory of equipment and supplies. This includes Chivari chairs, many vases, table under-lays, table over-lays, and candle-holders, etc. In addition, sound equipment, tenting and other stage components can be sourced. |
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Pricing
Due to the highly individualised nature of the services offered to clients coming to St Barths, pricing is quoted per scale and scope of services to be rendered. Please contact the company for a quotation. |
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Contact
If you wish to make further enquiries or a reservation, please use the DIRECT EMAIL ENQUIRIES facility at the top of this page to make contact with Melanie Smith/Destination Management Services, or if you wish to telephone them, please click on TELEPHONE CONTACT to reveal the number |
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All the information on this page comes to you free of charge. Please don’t forget to mention DefinitiveCaribbean when you contact DESTINATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES to organise your St Barths VIP or yacht services, St Barths weddings & events and St Barths tours as our service to you may depend on how frequently our name comes up as a point of reference. |
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