A holiday in St Lucia is what you really want, but you have a very tight budget, so where do you choose to go, where you will be well looked after? This is a dilemma faced by many families and couples every year, but perhaps more in 2008 than at any time for the past few years.

One good answer may well be The Ginger Lily Hotel in Rodney Bay. It has been described as a budget hotel which is grossly unfair, it would be a much better description to say it is an inexpensive boutique St Lucia hotel, where you could definitely enjoy an affordable vacation.

The Ginger Lily Hotel has only eleven rooms, and is but 100 metres from one of St Lucia’s best beaches, which is Reduit Beach, being right at the heart of Rodney Bay Village. To give you an idea of how highly thought of The Ginger Lily Hotel has become, it has just been named as one of Fodor’s recommended Small Inns in St Lucia, plus winning the Virgin Holiday Small Hotel Silver Award.

Eleven Rooms means personal service, and this you will get in abundance, whether you are staying in a Superior Deluxe Room, and Upper Deluxe Room, or an Executive Suite which has a full kitchen as well as a separate Bedroom and Living Area., with prices going from USD100 – USD 160 per night. The rooms were described by a major English newspaper as being surprisingly stylish and vast, with hammocks on their balconies. They have huge bathrooms with large walk in showers, and lovely soft fluffy towels, which isn’t what you expect travelling on an affordable budget holiday. In addition the white cotton sheets are changed every day, definitely an upmarket sign in a small inexpensive hotel.

It has been described varyingly as a budget hotel, but in almost the next breath as a small boutique Inn, which is far closer to the truth.

Another outstanding feature is the feeling that when you come in from the hustle and bustle of Rodney Bay Village into the hotel courtyard and grounds it is like an oasis of calm, almost a hidden enclave that everyone else has somehow missed. At the centre of the courtyard is a very nice small pool, which never seems to get busy at all, where you can just lie and enjoy the tropical plants, flowers, trees, and the birds twittering away all day.

Whether you have spent a fortune on your holiday in St Lucia or as in the case of The Ginger Lily Hotel you have chosen a small inn at a budget price you need to enjoy  the food in the restaurant. This may well be the Achilles heel of this inexpensive hotel. There are very few written or verbal remarks about the food, except to say that only lunch and breakfast were catered for, and because of the proximity of the hotel to local restaurants it appears that many guests choose to eat out. This in itself isn’t a problem at all it is just something that you should be aware of.

To summarise The Ginger Lily Hotel will give you a jolly good holiday in St Lucia providing you want to get out and about. It has some of the characteristics of a quality boutique hotel, and is a veritable hideaway as soon as come into the courtyard. The quality of the staff belies the fact that is is a budget inexpensive hotel.  If you seek an affordable vacation on St Lucia the overall recommendation is that it is worth further investigation.