W Retreat & Spa – Vieques Island opened this summer and is W Hotels’ first property in the Caribbean. It’s only the second retreat for W Hotels and preserves the company’s devotion to luxury and stylish interior design. With two private beaches on the 55 square-mile Vieques Island, 8 miles from Puerto Rico, this truly is a retreat.
Patricia Urquiola, the renowned Milan-based designer, and Rockwell Group Europe, an architecture and design firm in Madrid, were brought in to create the indoor-outdoor fusion – or “rustic elegance” – that defines W Vieques’s motif. Guests first experience this when they enter the Living Room, a lobby full of contrasts. Influences from the Caribbean landscape outside informs the natural and spacious elements of the interior design. Those rustic notes are combined with whimsical, unconventional furnishings, like oversized metal lamps, black leather chairs, and teal and red couches by Moroso.
In the outdoor lounge is a grand fire pit and view of the sea where guests can relax in black and bronze Canasta sofas and armchairs, Leisure Lite wooden day beds, and Hatteras Southern Pine Rockers. Chosen artworks for the lounge are metal sculptures of frogs and turtles.
Gardens and vistas can be found in Spa Chakra, the 6,000 square foot spa offering over 60 therapies, but for a more minimalist design experience, guests can visit WET, W Vieques’s pool. WET’s design is in line with the Caribbean’s natural environment, lined with nearby private cabanas, which have plasma TVs and refrigerators.
Each of W Vieques’s 157 rooms have spectacular views of the ocean and the island. With tan and beige color schemes, curtains around the bed and living areas, and “Potato/Patata” circular seating furniture by Moroso, the rooms are more subdued and luxurious. Plush beds, robes, high-end entertainment systems, and LCD televisions make sure of that. Open-air bathrooms are also a unique feature of the rooms. Urquiola designed the iconic steel bathtubs specifically for W Retreat & Spa, painted white and dark gray and lit by colorful lanterns.
In addition to its design, W Vieques’ other amenities include a fitness center, tennis court, café, meeting/event space, business center, and the restaurant miX on the Beach headed by famed chef Alain Ducasse. Plus, in keeping with W Hotel’s “Whatever/Whenever/Wherever” philosophy when it comes to concierge service, W Vieques offers guests services for jeep rides, museum tickets, scuba diving, kayaking, snorkeling, mountain biking, boating, horseback riding, and even private jet reservations. Whether you want to do everything on Vieques Island or nothing at all, W Retreat & Spa – Vieques Island has got you covered.
