Lots of great info on this thread. We went to SXM for over 20 years. Loved it…until the hurricane destroyed it and the rebuild took and is taking too long. We went back too soon, (2018) and saw the destruction and how poorly they were financed to rebuild. They are probably in much better shape now.
We stayed at both resorts that the original poster was looking at. Simpson bay resort has older buildings that may or may not have AC. The newer building looks much nicer. The location is good, but we would still recommend a car rental from a local. We never had a good experience with the major American car companies there.
OBBR is closer to the French side, and the resort is overall much nicer in our opinion, as long as you can climb a flight or two. No elevators in most of the building for exchangers. The rooms are very well appointed but not Marriott quality. This is our favorite SXM resort. A car is a must, but the roads can be treacherous in the dark.
Someone asked about Dawn Beach. It’s next to OBBR. The Dawn beach resort has beautiful rooms but during our stay it was frequented by roaches, perhaps palmetto bugs, but too many. We could not keep them at bay with an entire can of Raid. They were immune. So nicely appointed, but very buggy. And also, way too many problems with WiFI. It only worked about half the time, and we were paying extra for it. The best thing was the beach at the Westin. So not sure if that resort is worth it right now.