About St. Barth Properties

St. Barth Properties is a boutique travel company specializing in vacations to St. Barth, French West Indies. The company has a portfolio of over 150 carefully selected private villas, a branded collection of the island’s most distinctive hotels, and it provides a full range of concierge services. Founded in 1989, with the maxim Live Your Dream®, the company and its service-oriented staff leverage their combined expertise and passion for the destination to deliver a dream vacation. Headquartered in the United States, the company maintains a fully staffed office on the harbor in St. Barth.

SBP’s History

St. Barth Properties was founded by American Peg Walsh, an inveterate traveler who delighted in planning vacations for family and friends. She frequently vacationed in the Caribbean, visiting many of the islands over the years. In 1986 she arrived in St. Barth, and it was love at first sight. One could say she never really left.

She bought a little bit of her newfound paradise – a small pied-à-terre in St. Jean – listed it with a local rental company but ultimately was disappointed in the lack of results. Quite simply she decided to market the property herself. Voilá! In 1989, Peg coined and trademarked the company motto, Live Your Dream®, and St. Barth Properties (SBP) was officially born, representing a small group of carefully selected private villas.

In 1992, Peg’s son Tom Smyth, now SBP’s vice president, joined the business. He shared Peg’s passion for St. Barth and had a keen interest in the then-new concept of e-commerce. The business grew exponentially from that point.

Building on Peg’s relationships, SBP began representing a collection of the island’s finest hotels and Tom ventured successfully into real estate sales, a natural next step for SBP. In 1999, the office in St. Barth was opened and staffed, thus ensuring full service from the planning stage to the realization of each client’s dream vacation and, for some, villa ownership.

In 2006, under the direction of Tom Smyth, SBP’s on-island affiliate office became St. Barth Properties Sotheby’s International Realty.

SBP Today

St. Barth Properties is an island fixture serving a growing international clientele. In addition to designing and delivering its signature dream vacations with premium accommodations in the island’s villas and hotels, SBP assists clients in the planning of destination weddings and special events. The 2010/2011 season saw the launch of a new branded collection of higher-end villas. Grand Cru offers vacationers additional amenities, continental breakfast and turndown service.

St. Barth Properties is a partner in the prestigious Virtuoso network, an international consortium of high-end travel agencies and a member of the St. Barth Hotel Association, the Caribbean Hotel Association, the Caribbean Tourism Organization and International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN), an allied member of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and a member of the Better Business Bureau.

Meet the Team

SBP’s U.S.-based team is a unique group of professionals that share a passion for St. Barth. Regular island inspection trips keep them updated on the villas, hotels, restaurants and all the pieces that combine for a dream vacation.

Peg Walsh
Founder & President
Peg Walsh founder and president of St. Barth Properties (SBP) made her first visit to the island in 1986, and that ignited a passion that later led her to found the company in 1989 around the mantra of Live Your Dream®.

Then a working mother with three children, Peg launched her business with a $1,000 investment in a fax machine, stationary and a business phone line in her Franklin, MA, home. Today, the company which represents many of the islands finest private villas and hotels continues to grow with the addition of luxurious new properties, enhanced concierge services and a foray into wedding and even planning – St. Barth style.

Kudos for the company come from a high percentage of repeat clients and top publications like Travel+ Leisure, Frommer’s, Fodor’s and Smart Money, which sought Peg’s expertise for an article on villa vacations and their affordability. Walsh has been honored by Condé Nast Traveler as one of top villa specialists worldwide and the best for St. Barth, and has received this distinction each year since the award’s inception in 2006.

Currently Peg spends six months a year on St. Barth. Late spring through fall, she bases out of her home on Cape Cod and makes frequent trips back to the island and to the company’s Franklin, MA, headquarters.

Tom Smyth
Vice President
Tom Smyth is vice president and co-owner of Franklin, MA based St. Barth Properties (SBP) as well as St Barth based St. Barth Properties. Tom joined the family owned business in 1992, and was instrumental in the company’s strategic growth including the launch of a branded hotel collection – The Hotels of St. Barth – and the affiliation of its real estate division with prestigious Sotheby’s International Realty, in 2006. He is listed in the Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate and has been quoted in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal on the island’s villa market. 

Tom holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Finance from New England College; he handles day-to-day operations and monitors the company’s growth to preserve the high-touch client contact and personal feel that has made the company so successful.

Julie Nally
St Barth Villa and Hotel Specialist
Julie is a graduate of North Adams State College where she majored in Public Relations. She then moved to Boston and worked in an advertising agency. When offered a position at St. Barth Properties she decided it was the perfect career move for her. After more than 13 years with SBP, it turns out she was right. Julie loves the French experience that St. Barth offers and enjoys sharing her knowledge and passion with her clients when planning their vacations.

Anne-Cécile Bedford
Bilingual St Barth Villa and Hotel Specialist
Anne-Cécile was born in France and educated at the University of Brittany, where she graduated with a degree in economics. Her passion for travel brought her to the US in 1994, where she enrolled at Rhode Island’s Roger Williams University and earned a certificate in travel and tourism that led to her dream job at St. Barth Properties in 1999. Anne makes regular trips to the island and delights in the opportunity to reconnect with her beloved French culture. Her clients rely on her expertise in helping them choose the perfect accommodations, ensuring a dream vacation.

Kathryn Schlitzer
St Barth Villa and Hotel Specialist
Kathy holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, respectively, in geography and communications. She came to SBP in 2000 with a wealth of valuable experience in the travel industry including managing educational services at the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA). Kathy also held the position of assistant dean at Dean College in Franklin, MA. Kathy’s strong work ethic and her customer service skills are great assets to SBP.

Connie Walsh, CTC,
Marketing and Travel Industry Consultant
Connie began working with SBP five years ago in the role of travel industry consultant. An industry veteran with over 22 years of broad-based senior-level sales and marketing experience, she focuses on the travel agency distribution channel and our relationship with the Virtuoso network and manages a number of consumer marketing initiatives. In addition, Connie writes our monthly e-newsletter and content for our website and our annual publication, Live Your Dream®.

Toni Laronga
Executive Assistant
Toni joined the team in February 2006 as executive assistant to Tom Smyth. Toni’s extensive and diverse skills have served the company well, as she has played a significant role in strengthening the organizational structure and communication between the U.S. and St. Barth offices. She has improved the operational processes, which has enhanced staff efficiency. Her role extends far beyond that of a traditional executive assistant: she runs the day-to-day operations and lends her expertise to every aspect of the business. Toni is the ultimate team player who truly utilizes her knowledge base and experience and continues to have a positive impact on the company.

Julia Hurd
Sales and Service Coordinator
Julia joined the staff in April 2007, in the newly created role of sales and service coordinator. Julia has some twenty years of sales-focused administrative experience and a strong service ethic that she applies to both internal and external customers. She supports the sales team in many ways including the fulfillment of client requests. On any given day, she is happily making dinner reservations at the island’s trendiest restaurants and arranging for in-villa massages. Julia functions as the point person for the on-island staff coordinating services and information. Julia loves working with SBP’s clients.

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