St. John resorts or a villa?
St. John resorts are few. Three are run as resorts, on their operators' own pages as of October 2026: Gallows Point Resort in Cruz Bay, Lovango Resort & Beach Club on its cay and the Westin at Great Cruz Bay. Caneel Bay has had no overnight guests since 2017, per the National Park Service.
Written by Virgin Islands Villas · Facts checked Oct 2026
Which resorts on St. John take overnight guests?
Three, on their operators' own pages as of October 9, 2026, and a fourth name that still appears on most lists but takes no one overnight.
| Resort | Where | What you get | Status, per its operator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gallows Point Resort | Cruz Bay | One-bedroom suites with a kitchen, a pool, the Ocean 362 restaurant | Open; partially closes most Septembers |
| Lovango Resort & Beach Club | Lovango Cay, off St. John | Treehouses, villas and glamping, a waterfront restaurant and beach club | Books on its own site |
| The Westin St. John Resort Villas | Great Cruz Bay | A Marriott Vacation Clubs resort | Taking rental reservations |
| Caneel Bay | North Shore, inside the park | Beach only | No overnight stays since 2017, per the National Park Service |
Resort night or villa night: what each covers
The nights are priced differently, and the comparison is about what each one includes rather than a single number.
| Resort | Villa | |
|---|---|---|
| Space | A suite or room, shared pool and grounds | The whole house, its deck and its pool where it has one |
| Kitchen | A suite kitchen at Gallows Point; a restaurant on site | A full kitchen; you shop in Cruz Bay |
| The rate | The resort's own rate for your dates | The owner's nightly rate, shown on the listing for your dates |
| Fees on top | Parking at the Westin from June 2026 | A cleaning fee, a deposit and a minimum stay, each set by the owner and shown before you write |
| Room tax | 12.5% | 12.5% |
| Getting around | A shuttle at Gallows Point, a ferry at Lovango | A car in most areas |
| Who answers | The front desk | The owner, by name |
The room tax is the line people get wrong. The Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue, in its tax structure booklet read October 2026, applies 12.5% of the gross room rate to a hotel or guest house and equally to an apartment, condominium or house rented for under 90 days, and it includes extra charges such as a maintenance fee while leaving out food, drink and tips. A villa is not a way round it. On this site the estimate on each villa page adds the tax to the owner's rate, and the owner confirms the total, with tax and cleaning fee, before you pay them. There is no service fee.
Gallows Point Resort, a walk from Cruz Bay
Gallows Point Resort is four kinds of one-bedroom suite, harbor view or ocean view, lower or upper, each with a king bed, a kitchen and a full bathroom; the upper suites add a loft with a half-bath and a balcony, per the resort's own site as of October 2026. There is an oceanfront pool and hot tub, Ocean 362 for dinner, and a gift and coffee shop, open daily in season.
The practical part is the transport. Gallows Point runs a free shuttle to the Cruz Bay ferry terminal and parks rental cars at no charge, so a couple can arrive on the boat and decide day by day whether to rent a jeep. The tradeoff: the resort partially closes most Septembers, when Ocean 362 shuts and only a few rooms stay bookable, so ask before booking early in the fall, and every suite is one bedroom. A family of five is two suites.
Lovango Resort & Beach Club, reached by boat
Lovango Resort & Beach Club sits on Lovango Cay, a small island off St. John, and its own page lists treehouses, villas and glamping tents with a waterfront restaurant and beach club. Guests cross on the resort's scheduled ferry, which Lovango calls ten minutes to St. John or St. Thomas, or arrive on their own boat.
That ferry is the whole arrangement. Dinner in Cruz Bay, a grocery run or a North Shore beach means the boat timetable, not a car key, which suits a stay built around the cay and the water and does not suit a week of driving to trailheads.
Where the Westin fits
The Westin St. John Resort Villas is a Marriott Vacation Clubs resort at the head of Great Cruz Bay, 14 minutes by car from the Cruz Bay ferry on our measurement. It is the resort most guests weigh against a house, so it has a page of its own. Two facts belong here. From June 2026 it charges rental guests $25 a day per car to park, per Marriott Vacation Clubs, while owners and vacation-ownership package guests park free. And it is a vacation-ownership resort, so some guests are owners on their own week and others rent from them, which makes the line between resort and villa thinner there than anywhere else on St. John.
Is Caneel Bay open for overnight stays?
No. The National Park Service says the resort is no longer operating and that overnight accommodations did not resume after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. The land is the park's: the Service ran a request for proposals to rebuild and run lodging there, which closed on August 10, 2026, and it says the offeror it rates highest will be invited to negotiate a lease in the fall or winter of 2026. No reopening date has been published, so there is no room to book.
The beach is a different matter. Caneel Beach reopened to the public on August 1, 2024, and the parking lot is open from 7 am to 5 pm, locked outside those hours, per the National Park Service. A villa in Cruz Bay or on the hills above it is the nearest place to sleep.
Do you need a car at a St. John resort?
Less than at a house. Gallows Point's shuttle covers the ferry and town is a walk, and Lovango's guests travel by boat. The Westin is 14 minutes from the ferry by car and charges rental guests to park.
Most villas are a car decision made for you. Our measurements put a car at required in Great Cruz Bay and Chocolate Hole, and Coral Bay is 28 minutes from the ferry; Cruz Bay itself is the one area where we rate a car recommended rather than required.
Who should pick the resort
Pick a resort for a short stay, when a minimum of several nights at a house does not fit; for a couple who want dinner made and a desk to call; for a first trip without a rental car, where Gallows Point's shuttle and walk to town carry the week; and for a stay that is about the water off a small cay, which is what Lovango is built around.
Pick a house when there are more of you than one bedroom holds, when you will cook, when you want a pool or a deck that is yours, or when the week is beaches and trails across the island and a car is coming anyway. Then the comparison is between houses, and the villas below show each owner's rate for your dates.
- Does St. John have all-inclusive resorts?
- No, on what the operators publish as of October 9, 2026. Gallows Point Resort and Lovango Resort & Beach Club each list rooms and a restaurant, with no meal plan on their own pages, and the Westin is a vacation-ownership resort. Caneel Bay has had no overnight guests since 2017, per the National Park Service. On St. John you eat out or cook, wherever you sleep.
- Is Caneel Bay open?
- The beach is; the resort is not operating, per the National Park Service. The Service reopened Caneel Beach to the public on August 1, 2024, with the lot open 7 am to 5 pm, and says overnight stays have not resumed since the 2017 hurricanes. Proposals to rebuild lodging closed on August 10, 2026, and a lease is to be negotiated in the fall or winter of 2026, with no reopening date published.
- Is the Westin St. John a Marriott?
- Yes. The Westin St. John Resort Villas is a Marriott Vacation Clubs resort at Great Cruz Bay, per Marriott Vacation Clubs' own page, checked October 2026. It is a vacation-ownership resort, so some guests are owners on their week and others rent. From June 2026 rental guests pay $25 a day per car to park there; owners and vacation-ownership package guests do not.
- Is a villa cheaper than a resort on St. John?
- It depends on how many of you there are and how long you stay. A resort suite at Gallows Point sleeps a couple in one bedroom; a house sleeps the whole party under one rate, with a kitchen. Both pay the 12.5% room tax. The villa adds a cleaning fee and usually a car, so compare the full stay on the listing, not the nightly line.
- St. John weather by month
- St. Thomas to St. John ferry
- The Westin St. John or a villa nearby?
- Things to do in St. John
- Airfare to St. John means a flight to St. Thomas
- Car ferry from St. Thomas to St. John
Facts checked against National Park Service, Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue, Gallows Point Resort, Lovango Resort & Beach Club and Marriott Vacation Clubs. Checked October 2026.