Organizations and companies spend countless hours debating how they should implement best practices, and then they convince themselves they can attract and retain customers because they have implemented all of them. Trouble is the entire concept of best practices means they’re doing the same thing as their competition.

Of course, there are some best practices that are smart given the right context, but when context changes we need to abandon the practice because it turned into a waste of time and money.

At Generating Media we have found no place that pushes best practices to a constant new chapter at any level like the island of St. Barts. The island is filled with successful property owners, who rarely followed conventional wisdom. So many communities and neighborhoods around the globe are filled with homes and buildings that have the same look and feel. Yet travel to St. Barts and you will be immediately struck by the amazing imagination of the architects. Around every corner, up every hill, or along the coast of St. Barts you will not find a homogenized property.

The above photograph is a villa on St. Barts called La Danse des Etoiles, which we have represented and continue to manage since it was in the developing and design stages. This property was designed to be rented, which has a totally different set of features and amenities.

The first thing you notice is it is built from stone, which is most unusual for the island. Many people believe the stone is from the island, but it is not. St. Barts stone is not conducive as a building material for homes. The stone is from Pennsylvania. The pool is 70 feet long and built using black lava rock to help retain the heat. There is an infinity wall facing directly at the sun which also allows the water to be heated up while it trickles over the wall. Best practices would tell you to chlorinate the pool water to keep it clean. However, chlorinated pools smell, damage human hair, and fade clothes. Therefore, the pool has a saline solution to eliminate those issues.

A majority of villa renters tend to be couples. They all pay an equal share of the villa rental. During the initial design, we informed the architects to not build a master, but rather have the bedrooms built and designed with parity in mind. This would eliminate the ugly “pillow talk” of one or two couples feeling they got cheated by having an inferior room.

The long term success of La Danse des Etoiles as being one of the top producing villa rental properties did not just happen but is a result of exploding some previous best practices. The list is extremely long that paid off. Four outdoor showers, 270-degree panoramic views from sunrise to sunset, seamless indoor-outdoor living with the exterior walls folding up, custom massage room, fitness room, plenty of parking, and individual climate controls for every room.

One of the most common questions we get asked is “How private is the villa”? What the guest is really asking is can anyone see them if they prefer to go sunbath as a free spirit. With this question in mind, you will note there is a lower level deck that is completely private.

At Generating Media we take the time to fully understand who is the target audience and what are they looking for to be “Best Practices”. Long before we build a marketing platform it is important for us to understand these concepts.

Take a closer look at this luxury villa, La Danse des Etoiles