Niels and Thijs van der Valk at Baoase Luxury Resort

Ad and Bibi built the lagoon at Baoase single-handedly, rock after rock after rock. That first work still sets the measure for what Niels and Thijs van der Valk now carry at Baoase Luxury Resort, on Curaçao's southern coast, a short drive from Willemstad, with 23 rooms, suites and villas. To stay inside that work, book through Baoase's own site.

How to stay at Baoase Luxury Resort now

Thijs van der Valk has been managing Baoase Luxury Resort since January 2021. Niels holds the Director title at Baoase, and he is also president of the Baoase Foundation. The route in is simple: Baoase's own site handles stay arrangements, and the scale stays close enough for the house method to register room by room.

Travel + Leisure readers awarded Baoase #1 Resort in the Caribbean, Bermuda & the Bahamas, and the same readers placed Baoase at #25 in the Top 100 Best Resorts in the World. U.S. News 2026 awarded Baoase a Gold Badge and named it the No. 1 Hotel in Curaçao.

By 2025, Thijs had led Baoase for five years. Five years gives a hotelier time on the tools: to learn what gets answered at once, what gets refused, what gets repaired before a guest has to ask. Niels's foundation role carries the house vocabulary beyond rooms and villas, toward the civic edge of the same hospitality habit.

Thijs van der Valk's training and the Baoase handover

Thijs completed International Hotel & Hospitality Management at EuroCollege Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 2012. Before his appointment as General Manager, he worked as Assistant General Manager at Baoase. The line of apprenticeship is useful here: school, station, then responsibility for the whole house.

The property Thijs stepped into had already been shaped by hand. Ad and his partner Bibi began developing Baoase in 2005, and Bibi placed the first stone of Baoase in 2005. Baoase opened its doors for the first time in December 2009.

Ad and Bibi built the lagoon at Baoase single-handedly, rock after rock after rock. The guest sees ease. The maker knows the load, the placement, the sequence, and the patience beneath the waterline.

In craft terms, this is succession. The predecessor matters. The incoming hand does not clear the former station; it learns where the tools were kept, then decides which ones still fit the work.

The Baoase house method under Niels and Thijs

Baoase's stated philosophy is, "We always strive to exceed expectations, where everybody is treated as friends and friends as family." Read it as a service cue on arrival: the promise has to appear in timing, recognition, and follow-through, rather than as a line at the desk.

Baoase's yes should not be mistaken for softness. It is closer to mise en place. A kitchen says yes to a guest only when the stock is made, the knives are sharp, the station is set, and the cook knows the timing. A hotel says yes only when housekeeping, reception, beach, restaurant, management, and maintenance hold the same line. When that line breaks, the promise turns theatrical. When it holds, the guest feels answered before the request hardens into a complaint.

Baoase has 23 rooms, suites and villas. That scale changes the craft. Baoase needs systems, but the property remains small enough for those systems to stay personal. In a house of this size, a Director and a General Manager shape how the team reads a return guest, how quickly a preference travels, and how a quiet problem is caught before it reaches the desk.

Baoase will add 14 private plunge-pool suites, scheduled to open in January 2027. For travelers weighing timing, that date matters: book the existing 23-room scale for the current Baoase, or watch the January 2027 suites if a private plunge pool is the draw.

The van der Valk hands around Baoase

Ad and Bibi founded Baoase and began developing the property in 2005. Bibi placed the first stone. Ad and Bibi built the lagoon rock after rock after rock. Those names are the house's first hands, the predecessor layer beneath every later title.

Anthony Bradford is Resort Manager at Baoase Luxury Resort. Look for that middle layer when you stay: the person who answers before the owner arrives, knows which guest needs distance and which guest needs recognition, and protects the day's rhythm when weather, flight delays, and human mood cut across the plan.

The wider hospitality name in Curaçao also appears beyond Baoase. Marc van der Valk opened the Van der Valk Plaza Hotel in Willemstad in 1989 as managing director. Terence, Justin, and Tiara lead Kontiki today. For readers tracing the family line on the island, these are the nearby names to set beside Baoase.

Where to meet Baoase on Curaçao's southern coast

Baoase is located on the southern coast of Curaçao, only a short drive from Willemstad. The resort has 23 rooms, suites and villas. The way to meet the work is the stay itself: the arrival, the lagoon, the room, and the staff's ability to keep the promise of the house philosophy without turning it into performance.

Baoase will add 14 private plunge-pool suites, opening in January 2027. Baoase's own site handles stay arrangements.