We stayed in St. Thomas for 5 days before sailing in the BVI's and 5 days after sailing in the BVI's. We stayed at the Marriott the first 5 days and at The Best Western near the Airport the second 5 days, but we liked the Marriott better because of the water taxi to town. The Best Western was very inexpensive (but we got a deal on the Marriott, so it was about the same price), but it had a really nice beach for the kids to swim in. The rooms and lobby weren't as fancy as the Marriott, but the beach was better and just steps from our room. The planes from the airport flew right overhead, but it was only a few each day. The most inconvenient thing about Best Western was only having one restaurant there and the Taxi to town was something like $7/person each way (including kids!). That can add up for big groups.

I know this is crazy, but if you post on the "recipe" forum under "Looking for Ginger St. Thomas" you can probably get more info than you will ever need. Ginger is a regular on that forum and she lives there. She is a wonderful person on the forum and was extremely helpful to me when I planned my trip. She was able to give me names of places to see, restaurants to eat at, recommendations on hotels and why she recommended them. Have fun!