A recent guest at Kaiya Beach Resort left a review that read less like a vacation recap and more like a due diligence memo. She and her family stayed a week in one of the three-bedroom Mews homes and loved the house itself, well finished, comfortable, exactly what the marketing photos promise. Then came the caveats. No restaurant on site. No spa. The hotel building hadn't started construction yet. Saws and construction noise woke the family most mornings, directly below their balcony. Daily housekeeping wasn't included, though the cleaning fee at checkout was steep enough to expect it. At one point she wandered toward the beach club and was quietly told it was reserved for members, an awkward moment that could have been avoided with a clearer heads up at check-in.
None of that makes Kaiya a bad property. It makes Kaiya a specific kind of property: one where the price you pay today buys a piece of a plan still being built, not a finished resort. If you're comparing Kaiya to Alys Beach or Rosemary Beach as a second-home purchase, that distinction should shape how you read every number on the spec sheet.
The Ledger Nobody Puts in the Brochure
Kaiya's official materials describe a mixed-use coastal resort anchored by the Oyom Hotel & Spa, the private Kaiya Beach House, Omaire Gallery, Thisday Café, and Kaiya Club. Read quickly, it sounds complete. Read against what's actually operating today, a gap opens up between the promised lifestyle and the delivered one.
| Amenity | Status |
|---|---|
| Kaiya Beach House, infinity pool, 250 feet of serviced beachfront | Open |
| Omaire Gallery (exhibitions, gallery previews) | Open |
| Thisday Café (coffee, pastries, light fare) | Open |
| Concierge, wellness programming | Open, arranged through concierge (yoga and training are booked, not walk-in) |
| On-site fitness center | Not currently operating |
| Farm-to-table restaurant | Bundled into the still-unopened Oyom Hotel & Spa, no date set |
| Oyom Hotel & Spa | Under active construction, opening date still listed as to be announced |
That last row matters most. Kaiya's own site describes Oyom as a 30-suite sanctuary with the spa, fitness center, and restaurant folded in, and lists the opening date as to be announced. A wire report from March 2026 described this year's expansion in more ambitious terms, a 40-suite hotel with a 4,000-square-foot spa and fitness center. Whichever count ends up correct, the fact that the suite total itself has grown between the original plan and this year's announcement tells you the same thing the missing opening date does: the biggest amenity in Kaiya's pitch is still being drawn up, not delivered. A buyer weighing Kaiya's price against an established town where the amenities already exist is, in effect, paying a premium for a promise that keeps getting revised.
A Decade in the Making, Still Mid-Build
Part of what makes Kaiya hard to pin down is that the project has been unfolding for longer, and moving more, than its polished marketing suggests. Jason Romair, the New Orleans developer behind Kaiya, bought the property about a decade ago, hoping to build a quieter alternative to the region's busier beaches. Construction began roughly five years later, and the resort opened its first residences in 2024. The 32-acre site was once a peach farm, a detail that shows up in wire coverage of the project but almost nowhere else, and it's a useful reminder of how much has changed on that ground in a short window.
Even after that 2024 opening, the plan kept moving. The March 2026 expansion announcement, adding the larger version of Oyom Hotel & Spa and a fine-dining restaurant, came roughly two years after residents were already living there. This isn't a red flag on its own. Phased build-out is common in resort development, and a decade-long runway from purchase to full amenity delivery is not unusual for a project of this ambition. But it's a reminder that Kaiya's final form has been adjusted more than once since ground was broken, and buyers evaluating "what's coming" should treat that history as a reason to ask pointed questions rather than take the current site plan as the last word.
Three Collections, Three Bets
Kaiya doesn't sell one type of home. Ownership is split across three residential collections, Strand, Preserve, and Solaire, plus a row of Mews townhouses and the condo-style Kaiya Club Residences. Each represents a different bet on how you'll actually use the property.
Strand villas sit closest to the water, built around panoramic gulf views, and command the top of the current price range. Mews rowhouses trade square footage for a lower-maintenance, walkable footprint inside the community. Kaiya Club Residences are the most condo-like option, with a shared grand lobby, private elevator access, dedicated parking, and a rooftop pool, structured for owners who want hotel-style convenience layered onto ownership.
As of the latest published inventory, available opportunities included Strand Villas 3, 4, 7, and 10, a Mews unit numbered 16, and Kaiya Club Residence 308, priced from $3.18 million to $11.5 million. That's a wide enough spread that the number alone tells you little. What it actually reflects is which bet you're making, waterfront exposure and privacy at the top end, condo-style convenience and amenity access at the lower end, layered onto a resort where some of those amenities are still under construction.
Several villas and Mews homes are already marked sold, and closed villa sales have been recorded in the local MLS going back to 2021, so this isn't purely a pre-construction pitch. Real resale activity exists. But a buyer today is still purchasing into a community where major pieces of the promised experience remain unbuilt, which is exactly what the guest review above ran into in person.
What This Means Next to Alys and Rosemary
Kaiya's own marketing invites the comparison to its neighbors, and the comparison is useful precisely because it's uneven. Alys Beach, its closest neighbor along the corridor, is a mature, town-scale community with an owner-exclusive Beach Club, roughly 1,500 feet of private shoreline, and established gathering spots that have operated for years. Rosemary Beach, a short walk away, is structured as private property with its own governing documents covering commercial spaces and common areas, built around a classic town square that's been active for two decades.
Kaiya sits between those two models: more amenity-driven and club-oriented than Rosemary's public town square, but nowhere near as amenity-dense or established as Alys today. That's not a knock on Kaiya's design or ambition. Jason Romair built his career in New Orleans before turning to real estate, opening a Creole-Italian restaurant there before he ever broke ground on 30A, and Kaiya's residences carry the same attention to craft that shaped Alys and Rosemary. It's simply a different stage of the same process those towns already completed. If you're buying for the lifestyle Alys or Rosemary already deliver in full, Kaiya asks you to wait for the equivalent, and to price that wait into your decision.
Before You Sign
Because Kaiya is a phased resort rather than a finished neighborhood, the paperwork matters more than the floor plan. Before you commit to a unit, confirm:
- The title structure for your specific collection, whether you're buying fee-simple, condo, or club-integrated ownership
- The current HOA or condo documents governing your building, not marketing copy
- Kaiya Club membership terms. The club currently asks prospective members to complete a digital application, which suggests access isn't automatically deeded with every unit, so confirm in writing whether your specific collection includes membership or requires a separate approval step
- The rental program's actual terms if you plan to offset ownership costs with vacation rentals
- How future construction phases, including the still-unbuilt hotel and spa, could affect your view corridor, noise exposure, or access during your ownership
A residence that looks identical to another on paper can feel very different once you know where it sits relative to the next phase of construction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kaiya open for guest stays right now? Yes. The resort runs an active booking engine and select villas and condominiums are available for paid stays, but the property is still completing its hospitality build-out, so guests should expect an evolving amenity set rather than a fully finished resort experience.
Does buying at Kaiya include a rental program? Kaiya operates an in-house rental and management platform, and owners can typically opt into it, but participation terms and revenue splits should be confirmed in your specific purchase documents rather than assumed from general marketing.
Does purchasing a unit automatically include Kaiya Club membership? Not necessarily. The club's own enrollment process asks prospective members to submit a digital application, which suggests membership can be separate from ownership depending on the collection, so this is worth confirming before you assume beach house and pool access come with the deed.
How does Kaiya's price range compare across unit types? Current listed inventory spans roughly $3.18 million to $11.5 million, with Strand villas at the water commanding the highest prices and Mews or Club Residence units offering lower entry points with a more condo-style ownership structure.
If you're weighing Kaiya against Alys Beach, Rosemary Beach, or another 30A community and want help reading the fine print, The Lauderdale Group can walk through the current disclosure package, the club terms, and how the timeline for the remaining amenities lines up with your own plans for the property. Request a personalized 30A consultation before you sign anything.
