Just got back from our stay last night - overall a great experience!

We thought the construction was a complete non-issue at the resort - it could be heard a bit when not at the beach or pool (ie, at the tennis court), but faded into the background very quickly. At the beach, we couldn't hear it at all - granted, the ocean was particularly rough (I think we saw one brave soul snorkeling once, sadly) and we tended to stay on the side further from construction where our room was (101), so that may have been blocking out the sound some. Its definitely more noticeable at Gwen's unfortunately, but didn't stop us from going and enjoying a few more rum punches than perhaps advisable.

As others mentioned, renting a car is very easy, and overall driving on the island is quite easy. Google Maps is a little spotty with accuracy though - good luck with finding the arch in the west end (we took numerous wrong turns/guesses to find it), and if you drive to the resort, make sure you put in 20 Knots or one of the other restaurants. The actual resort is in the Atlantic according to Google! Also, if you rent a vehicle, would definitely recommend spending some time at Rendezvous Bay. The water there was very calm, great for swimming, and you have a wonderful view of St Maarten. We found some public parking near the Old Caribe restaurant, and had a couple drinks at Sunshine Shack.

Food at the resort was very good, we in particular really enjoyed the sushi at Bohio and the tacos at 20 Knots. The breakfast spread is excellent there as well. Outside of the Rhum Room, I thought the cocktails were just ok, especially given the price and that Gwen's is a 2 minute beach walk away with better drinks for lower prices. Rhum Room drinks were very creative and quite good, unfortunately a bit of small menu though, only 6 or 8 cocktails if memory serves. If you enjoy rum tastings though, there is quite a variety.

Only a couple small things we would have liked to see changed at the resort, and probably the biggest was some kind of chat with the front desk - whether its via WhatsApp, the Hilton app, or similar. Perhaps its intentional, but there were a number of times I would have liked to chat with them, but being a millennial, I'm not inclined to call at all . Also would have liked if the rooms were set up a bit better for a couple. It was kind of odd, but it felt almost like it was intended for a single person instead. Some example include:

• Only one chair on the patio
• No good way to eat together in the room
• No open outlets around the bed, but one side had a wireless charger
• Single luggage rack

Nothing huge obviously, but the patio chair in particular was unfortunate - would have used that space quite a bit more probably. We were upgraded to a Deluxe Garden View room, if it matters. I think the only difference in the Deluxe room was that the patio was slightly more private (more greenery, rather than direct view of a walking path) and the patio had a partial ocean view. Seems the same as the normal garden view otherwise. We didn't expect much of an upgrade though, so it was totally fine.

Oh, one final thought - I think someone up thread said that going through SXM to get there was a "bit of a faff" - agree 100%. Flying direct in and out of AXA is definitely the way to go if it works with your schedule.