Residents Demand Action Over Hotel Parking Nightmare

Sylvia Cadasse, a resident of Hibiscus Road in Cap Estate, has voiced concerns over the overflow from The BodyHoliday (also known as Le Sport) hotel’s parking lot, which she says has caused ongoing frustration and disruption for her and her neighbors for more than a year.

According to Cadasse, resort staff frequently park along the road leading to her home, reducing the two-way roadway to a single lane.

Pointing to the curved strip of road—where cars lined the right side for nearly half its length at the time of reporting—Cadasse explained, “This is a two-way road, but sometimes they’re parked all the way up here.” She motioned to the full length of the road leading up to the gap into her neighborhood, Hibiscus Road, adding, “Sometimes it’s halfway, but what they have done is virtually made the road into a one-way.” She continued, “It’s dangerous when the cars are parked along the road, but this ought not to happen.

Cadasse suggested that the staff may have little choice but to park on the public road used daily by residents. “What the hotel has done, if you go down a little bit, you see there are some cones on the road to the hotel. It seems like they don’t want the staff to park anywhere along their road,” she said.

What makes the situation especially bothersome, Cadasse says, is the inconvenience of the road now functioning as a single lane. With its length and a curve appearing along the way, she says vehicles frequently end up facing each other head-on in the middle of the road.

“Many people, when the cars are parked—if you meet a car while you’re going down, virtually you lose your right of way because whoever’s coming up has the right. So, what happens sometimes is nobody wants to reverse,” she shared.

Cadasse says the problem is at its worst early in the week, primarily during office hours: “On a Monday and Tuesday, it’s really bad, whether it’s halfway or all the way up here. At night it’s okay, but between 9 and 5, it’s bad. And then that’s the peak time at which trucks and vehicles come from Cap Maison.”

She noted that water and construction trucks heading down the hill often avoid reversing uphill, forcing other drivers to reverse down to make space.

Cadasse told  St. Lucia Times that the issue has persisted for over a year, and efforts by her and her neighbours to resolve it and restore the road’s full function have been unsuccessful.

“Last year that was happening, and I spoke to the manager. She said they’d try and do something about it… I spoke to someone in her administrative office last week, and I went to the Gros Islet police. They said they’d send somebody. My neighbor has gone down to the office and complained, and nobody has done anything. It seems they’re not about to do anything, so we’ve got to highlight that,” Cadasse fumed.

Several attempts were made to obtain a response from The BodyHoliday, but they ultimately could not be reached for comment.

Efforts were also made to contact the police for comment and updates on possible solutions to the issue, but these attempts were unsuccessful at the time of publication.

Cadasse expressed frustration on behalf of the residents, stating their hope for action. “What we want is—we don’t want any cars parked along that road. You must make provisions for your staff,” she stressed.