Mark and Gwenn Snider never set out to become resort moguls. They were parents who loved traveling with their children and believed family vacations could be more thoughtful, more beautiful, and more connected. That conviction pulled them from the family construction and real estate business into hospitality, where they opened Winnetu Oceanside Resort on Martha’s Vineyard and later rebuilt The Nantucket Hotel & Resort. Those two New England properties became the foundation of their boutique collection, Little Gem Resorts.

Success brought a new problem. Seasonal islands made it hard to retain staff year-round. The Sniders began searching for a warm-weather counterpart where visas would not be an obstacle and employees could rotate between north and south, preserving both talent and culture. Their attention turned to the U.S. Virgin Islands, a longtime favorite family destination.

A video of a rugged, largely undeveloped island just off St. John caught Mark’s eye. Lovango Cay was only a short boat ride from St. John and St. Thomas, yet felt worlds away. When the couple visited, they found almost nothing in place. Left overnight with a peanut butter sandwich and a wild landscape, they spent 24 hours walking the hills, listening to the surf, and imagining what might be possible.

They eventually secured 42 acres, roughly half the island, and began the painstaking work of turning an off-the-grid cay into a functioning luxury resort. Roads had to be carved into steep terrain. Power would come from solar. Water would be produced through reverse osmosis. Even basic choices, like linens that could withstand a tropical climate without commercial laundry facilities, required meticulous planning.

Lovango Resort & Beach Club opened with glamping tents and treehouses and has grown into a collection of villas and suites that still feels intimately tied to the landscape. Guests arrive by private resort ferry and step into a world of beach clubs, snorkeling coves, jungle gyms tucked into the hills, and a small village of shops and restaurants. Behind the scenes, more than 100 employees at each Little Gem property, many rotating between New England and the Caribbean, carry the brand’s high-touch ethos from island to island.

For the Sniders, Lovango is both a business solution and a dream realized: a private island resort built not on flash, but on family, foresight, and a belief that travel should let people, as Gwenn puts it, “just exhale.”