- Typology
- Hospitality
- Components
- BOH, Branded Residences, Entertainment / Sports, F&B, Golf, Resort / Hotel, Single Family, Spa / Wellness
- Attributes
- Cultural Heritage, Destination, Island, Sustainability, Ultra-Luxury, UNESCO, Waterfront
- Scale
- 122 keys, 90 branded condominiums, 6 estate residences, 7-acre site
limestone, rebuilt pink sand between two forts the road moved behind
Place
Place: Between two forts
Achilles Bay sits on the northeast tip of St George's Island in Bermuda, a horseshoe of pink sand held between two eighteenth-century forts, Fort St Catherine and Fort Albert, within one of the island's UNESCO World Heritage areas. This is where the survivors of the wrecked Sea Venture came ashore in 1609 and went on to settle the territory. Building a five-star hotel here meant working inside a protected landscape with little room to move.
Challenge
Challenge: Giving the shore back
One constraint shaped the design: a public road running along the oceanfront. OBMI worked with the Bermudian government and the local planning codes to move it to the back of the site, where it now serves the museum and the beach. The relocation improved public access to St Catherine's Beach and the connection to the fort while keeping the UNESCO designation intact, and it let the hotel settle onto the bay with the privacy the brand asks for.
Approach
Approach: Limestone, rebuilt
OBMI led the master plan, architecture and interior design, coordinating developer, community and government across a single scheme. Geometric lines in the architecture answer the geometry of the forts on either side, and the design takes the heritage limestone of Bermudian tradition and rebuilds it in modern materials, with insulated roofs, rainwater collection, airtight construction, sacrificial overhangs against hurricanes, and floor levels set well above sea-level minimums. The result reads as Bermudian vernacular while standing up to the island's weather and its future.
“OBMI understood how important the history of the site is for the island, and they have tried to deliver a product that is effective operationally and economically, and from an architectural standpoint, amazing.”
Experience
Experience: Sea green and hot pink
Inside, the interiors carry the elegance of an urban St. Regis while bringing the beach in. A biophilic approach sets vivid tropical hues against otherwise cool, neutral rooms: sea green tiles make a statement in the Drawing Room's fireplace and carry through to the residential showers and countertops, a nod to the water outside. In the Great Hall, the formality of white columns and rich wood beams is lightened with hot pink cushions and green carpeting that draws the island's gardens indoors.
Outcome
Outcome: A beach for everyone
The hotel now sits on Achilles Bay anchored by Fort St Catherine and Fort Albert, opening onto a beach that is once again public, with the town of St George's a few minutes away. It opened in 2022 and was named among Condé Nast Traveler's Best New Hotels in the World that year, one of a run of awards the property has since collected.
Awards
- 2026
- Forbes Travel Guide, Recommended
- 2025
- AAA, Four Diamond Award
- 2024
- World Travel Awards, Bermuda’s Leading Resort
- Travel + Leisure, The Best Resorts in Bermuda
- Forbes, Best Hotels in Bermuda
- 2023
- Travel + Leisure, World’s Best Hotels
- US Travel News, Best Hotel Bermuda
- 2022
- Condé Nast Traveler, Best New Hotels in the World
- Condé Nast Traveler, Hot List, Caribbean and North America
- Condé Nast Traveler, Readers’ Choice Award
- LIV Hospitality Design Awards, Architectural Design Winner, North America
- World Travel Awards, Leading Resort, Bermuda
- Town & Country, Must-Visit Hotels
- 2021
- Forbes, Most Anticipated Hotel Openings
