Charlie,
We stayed at Windward Passage on the front end of our
VG trip 3-4 years ago and found it "ok".
Clean room and helpful staff.
Stayed at Emerald Beach 2 years ago on the back end and it was
more "beachy". If memory serves, and it doesn't sometimes,
Emerald Beach used to be a Best Western but has since
changed hands.
From other reports, prices seem to vary wildly. May be
negotiable.
For our next trip, we're thinking about hitting WP on the front
end again, taking the early ferry the next day and getting a full
1st day on VG.
Full disclosure, St Thomas is not my cup of tea, esp. after
the peace and quiet of VG so we prefer to just gut it out
and make it home in one day. Kind of a "rip the band aid
off" thing.
One man's opinion.

Mike