Review: The Potlatch Club: First In

Set the scene Travelers who want to feel like they’re summering at a friend’s beachfront estate will thoroughly appreciate the laid-back vibe of The Potlatch Club. The lush property has only 11 keys on 12 acres, a seamless service team—led by general manager Kezang Dorji—who’ve worked together for more than 20 years, and a stretch of beach that you and your loved ones will likely have all to yourselves. The grounds have a multitude of paths that encourage vacationers to explore and stumble upon delightful secret areas: you might come upon an open-air hut with a white knitted hammock, or the well-preserved outdoor mural painted in the 1950s by Bahamas architect Ray Nathaniels.

Guests are encouraged to come-as-they are to dinner or drinks in shorts and flip-flops, though Louis Vuitton slides and flowy Zimmermann caftans have also been sighted on chic women. Visitors are mainly comprised of friendly couples and families, and the resort is already booked for 10 upcoming weddings. The grounds recently hosted a night of the Eleuthera All That Jazz festival.

The backstory Jamaica-based Bruce Loshusan and his business partner Hans Febles, who was born in Cuba, initially met as teenagers when Feble’s swim team would visit Loshusan’s high school for competitions in Florida. The pair bumped into one another as adults in a Miami grocery store: Loshusan had by then entered his family’s gourmet food business after briefly working in magazines after college; Febles, meanwhile, managed Great Harbour Cay for several years in addition to working at Cutlass Bay and Pigeon Cay Resort on Cat Island. The duo reconnected over social media and planned another hotel venture in the Berry Islands that fell through, but luckily spied the dilapidated main building of The Potlatch Club on a drive through Eleuthera in 2015.

The Potlatch Club began its life as a two-bedroom home constructed in 1923 to house people on a pineapple plantation, with other structures built between 1947 and 1965. In the 1950s, after the property was purchased by socialites Diana Adams, Elizabeth Fitzgerald and Marie Driggs, it became a private hideaway for celebrities like Raymond Burr, Greta Garbo, and Paul McCartney, who honeymooned here with Linda in 1969 and used hotel stationery to write “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.” This version of the resort came to a halt in the 1980s, and the unkempt buildings were soon overtaken by overgrowth that was cut away by Febles as he began work on landscaping with his team.

After buying the property in 2016, Loshusan and Febles made a few discoveries during their renovation, including a dangerously deep oval swimming pool that the pair revamped for safety and aesthetics. When guests enter the main reception area, they’re treated to the building’s whimsical original checkered black-and-white flooring which was made in Nassau in 1919, some of which was also saved for installation in an outdoor seating area elsewhere on the grounds. In all, four original buildings were saved and refurbished.

The rooms Febles turned his attention to the architecture and layout of the resort, while Loshusan worked with Nassau-based interior designer Amanda Lindroth. The result is a dreamy, relaxed atmosphere that encompasses what people find enchanting about island life: white shiplap ceilings, pink coral stone floors that extend to the bathrooms, cozy wooden porches with rattan daybeds and chairs.

Accommodations include three suites (from $475 a night), three cottages that face the ocean (from $675 a night), three garden cottages, and a mid-century modern villa with four bedrooms. The Pink Sands villa (from $1,175 a night) is a cozy one-bedroom house for honeymooners. The kitchen and bathrooms were built with quartz counters, chosen for their porousness and durability. The living room and bedroom feature teak and rattan furniture from around the world, including a glorious rattan bed from Indonesia and mother-of-pearl inlay nightstands from India. Coupled with furnishings from Bunny Williams, Serena and Lily, and Mecox Gardens, the interiors channel an eclectic upscale beach ambiance. Warm pink highlights also lend the cottage a cheerful, feminine vibe.

In-room shampoo, conditioner, soap, and body wash are from The Botanist & The Chemist and will change according to the season. Spring and summer will feature the brand’s Sweet Mandarin Scent, while Spicy Thyme will be used in fall and winter.

Food and drink The property has one restaurant, The Fig Tree, with indoor and outdoor seating, and the Sand Bar, an open-air pavilion whose design was inspired by a gazebo that Febles admired at another property and was realized by contractor Marcus Turnquest after others told him it couldn’t be done. Both the restaurant and bar feature eye-catching custom-crocheted nylon-and-cotton lamps hand-knitted by local artisans from Marrakech-based brand Hamimi, and white palm tree decorations that were a collaboration between Lindroth and Loshusan, the latter who decided to strip the trees’ bark of their white paint base.

The Fig Tree features black-and-white photographs of various scenes from Eleuthera and the former resort. The restaurant, managed by Tshering Dema, has a view of the renovated pool, now surrounded by ferns and coconut palms. Standouts for breakfast include oatmeal cooked in a delicious base of coconut milk, served with dried tropical fruit, fresh bananas, and crushed cashews, and the shrimp and grits made with cheddar and bacon. Dinner featured a scrumptious squid-ink pasta with lobster and a variety of unusual homemade sorbets in flavors like turmeric and orange-melon.

Loshusan wanted to bring a variety of cuisine to the menu. In addition to fare that currently includes anchovy-rich Caesar salad and seared tuna from executive chef Choki Wangmo, dimsum and ramen will also be options in the future via incoming sous chef Sonam Dorjee, who specializes in Asian dishes.

Guests are able to order lunch on the beach, where you can also partake of the resort’s many delicious cocktails dreamed up by bar manager Gembo Gyeltshen. I particularly liked how the alcohol enhanced rather than overwhelmed the drinks. Both the restaurant and bar menus rotate based on seasonal availability. Standout beverages during this visit include the Cool Watermelon, with gin, sage, honey, lime, passion fruit and curacao, and the inventive Devil’s Backbone, with jalapeño-infused tequila, celery, orange liqueur, ginger ale, chili pepper flakes, and avocado. The resort also serves a killer ginger tea brewed in-house with lemongrass.

The restaurant is open to non-guests who make a reservation.

The spa Swedish, deep-tissue, hot stone, and pregnancy massages by Meredith Culmer can be performed at the two-room Acqua Spa, in your guest room, or on the beach with spa products from Natura Bisse or Grown Alchemist. Plans are also in place to eventually offer yoga morning classes.

The spa is open to non-guests who have a reservation. A day pass ($120 per person) grants beach access as well as use of the resort's swimming pools, lounge beds and umbrellas, kayaks and paddleboards, and towel service from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The neighborhood/area Eleuthera is 110 miles long and two miles wide; The Potlatch Club is in Governor’s Harbour, the island’s capital. Nearby attractions include the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve, where guests can easily spend a day learning about various species both native and brought to the island, and the Buccaneer Club, a local hangout where you can sample Chinese-Jamaican fare in addition to fried conch and beer-battered shrimp. Bahamian Colonial homes built hundreds of years ago can also be spotted in town.

The service Loshusan notes having chosen general manager Kezang Dorji both for his work experience at another Eleuthera resort and because he hails from Bhutan, known for its hospitality and the mindfulness, compassion, and gratitude that’s ingrained in its culture. Dorji was working in Africa when Loshusan and Febles approached him and said that he would only accept the position if he could bring his service team with him. The trust and flow that comes from having worked for decades with the same people comes through in the resort’s friendly service. Dorji or one of his staff will occasionally check in with you as you move about the resort. They’re also very flexible: on our visit, Dorji had scheduled an afternoon of snorkeling and fishing for our second day. We decided to spend it instead enjoying the resort and the beach. Upon learning this, the staff set up tandem beach chairs under an umbrella, and looked in on us as we relaxed to see what we wanted for lunch. I was also able to request a later time for turn-down service and for activities to begin on the day we took our tour of the island.

For families We sighted both little kids and teenagers enjoying the resort with their parents. There are two pools, including a main infinity pool near the beach, and plenty of trails on the property for exploration. A family even sighted dolphins while kayaking during our stay. Paddleboards, snorkeling, lawn games like pétanque, and a pickleball court will soon be on offer.

Anything left to mention? Electricity will sometimes go out in the rooms, but will come back on within minutes. I was also unable to open the door to my cottage’s outdoor shower, though Febles explained that the salt air sometimes causes it to get stuck. Neither of these small inconveniences prevented me from enjoying my time at the resort. Fans of tubs should also note that bathrooms only have showers.

Dorji can arrange tours of the island for guests with Ricardo Dean, which start at $80 an hour and will bring you to major sites such as Preachers' Cave, Queen’s Bath, and the Glass Window Bridge, the latter which will allow you to see the difference between the waters of the Caribbean and the Atlantic.

“The Bahamas have a soul,” Febles told me over drinks. “We want this place to evoke that. People come here to take off their shoes and turn off their cell phones. Luxury tends to be a little selfish, and we’re not about that. A potlatch is a feast that you share. We want you to leave the world and just be.”