Christopher Hotel on St Barth Partially Destroyed Last Night

The Hotel Christopher on St Barth was scheduled to reopen on Tuesday 2/20, the first of the 5-star hotels to do so after Irma. This video clip is from last night. The restaurant area was destroyed by fire. There were no reported injuries, but the restaurant building appears to be a total loss.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_dYepTrnJoZuWwCXo-_xfHxuGYuT93OG/view

I got an error message saying that too many people had viewed the video??

Any idea what the cause of the fire was? Seems suspicious, that they were due to reopen next week.

Hmm. I'm still able to view it. The other videos that I've seen are on FB.

"Conflagration" was the word used by the GM. The Taino restaurant and part of the pool deck were destroyed, but the hotel is otherwise OK. Right know, they think that it was electrical, but I don't know if that's the official line from the Gendarmes. Given the extent of the damage to the building, they may never know for sure. They think that the fire will push the reopening back 6-8 weeks, but that seems a bit optimistic to me. What a punch in the gut, to be so close, and then to get knocked back down.

Just like St Maarten/St Martin, St Barth needs to get those hotels back online. There are two more openings planned for next month, Villa Marie (formerly Francois Plantation in the hills of Colombier), and Hotel Manapany, which has been undergoing a multi-year renovation.
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Still getting the same error message. Regardless, a shame, when they were this close to reopening. It probably is just me, but I wonder whether it was envy, of someone who was totally destroyed or whatever..

Wow, that's an intense fire.

Try the video now. I was just looking at it.

I was able to view it just now. What a fire!!

Indeed. The intensity of the fire is why I linked the video. Despite the intensity, damage was limited to the Taino Restaurant, and part of the wooden deck around the pool. A friend who books a fair number of rooms into the hotel spoke with the GM yesterday. They are currently proceeding through the necessary first steps (Insurance, Architects/Engineers, and Contractors) in order to come up with a plan. They hope to have more news at the end of the week, and are tentatively targeting an early April reopening for Les Voiles Regatta. I wish them well.