The Soco House St Lucia

Wow! Just wow! From the minute we were ushered through the door to the minute we sadly had to leave to return home we were treated like royalty. A truly first class experience in this fantastic hotel. The staff were so friendly and helpful - nothing was too much trouble for them, and always asking if we were ok and enjoying ourselves. With a cooler full of refreshment to go to the beach a couple of minutes away where Sean looked after your every need (even brushing the sand off your toes!) - and a relaxing pool area and bar in the hotel itself - each day was dream come true. The food was perfect, tasty, and plenty of it - with great choices at every meal. The chefs and kitchen staff are unseen, but do a sterling job! We kicked ourselves for not getting every member of staff's name (for every single person was an absolute star!), but the names we did get were Yannick, 'Dr Beverage', Juanita, Safraz, Kennisha - Shermain our housekeeper was simply amazing - and the Manager, Mr Edmund?, and the Deputy CEO, Cindie, went out of their way to ensure we had the time of our lives. We had a fantastic holiday to truly remember forever and we can't thank everyone enough at Soco House for making our stay the most wonderful experience. A million thankyous guys - we really do mean that! We will definitely be back to visit St Lucia - and to stay at Soco House!! Read less

This is our 5th day at SoCo House and we are really enjoying our stay . The staff is great, accommodating, helping and extremely polite. Food and drinks are great, the beach is literally 5 min walk in one of the best beaches of the island . I am not giving excellent just because the gym is really small and the WiFi connection is unstable, but these two are the only slight weak points of this great hotel ! Read less

We did wonder why we ever booked this hotel when we read the past reviews but it exceeded our expectations so don’t let the reviews put you off. Yes it’s quiet and small and not a party hotel but you know that before you go. Ignor the ageist comments about it being like a retirement home, it’s definitely not even though the clientele are mostly middle aged and above, we can still have fun! It’s a very sociable hotel as it’s small, people get to know each other and meeting new people was part of the enjoyment. The majority of people were from the UK. Food better than expected, great choice, plenty of it and the first half of the week the service was great. When the hotel filled up it was then the service was slow. It’s not actually the waiting staff it’s the rate the food is prepared and comes out of the kitchen but just go with the flow. We did have a couple of food issues which the chef is addressing hopefully, mainly around inconsistencies in what was served from one night to the next. The wine was ok just.. cocktails ok just. Courtyard room was clean but lacked privacy if you have a room across from the bar, curtains needed to be closed if you were getting changed. It was also quite noisy late night as people gathered around the bar even when it was closed. Plenty of Uk plug sockets in the room no need for adapters. Take your own shower gel and shampoo etc. We didn’t have shower gel for 3 days. They did provide small soap bars but not great to wash with. Always plenty of towels. The fridge is empty and not really that cold. We were told it was there for people to keep medications in but I doubt the temperature was cold enough for that. Two bottles of water were in it on arrival but not replenished. No hardship going to get water from the bar/reception but it would be much better to replenish it daily in the room. As everyone has said, beach close by. Take a cooler, only available from 10am which is a pain if you want to get to the beach earlier. If you want to refill it for the afternoon hang onto it when you get back for lunch rather than handing it in as if the hotel is busy they run out of boxes. Sean is great at the beach, he sorts your beds and brollys out. He even will show you how to open the beer bottles using the water bottle, so no worries if you haven’t got a bottle opener. Sun beds are hit and miss in terms of comfort at the beach. Not sure about round the pool as all taken by 7am or earlier. Take US dollars or Caribbean dollars. Water taxis and taxis by road into gros islet/ pigeon island mostly 20USD for one way which is a bit steep considering it’s not far at all. Food also a bit pricy if you eat out but portion sizes big! Took a trip to mud baths, Têt Paul and botanical gardens. Didn’t rate the mud baths but the rest was great. If you go to mud baths take an old swimsuit. There are outside showers and changing rooms. If you get travel sickness take some tabs with you for airport and excursion journeys as roads are hairpins in parts. All in all we had a lovely holiday, met some nice people and weather was fantastic. I’m pleased to see the Manager Edmund is now responding to the reviews and hopefully working towards making improvements where necessary. Ps. The piano player was excellent Read less

On arrival the entrance was really nice however, the customer smoking area is right at the front entrance of the hotel. On entering reception we attempted to book in. Handed all our papers and booking reference and arrival papers to find they did not have us booked. After some frantic work the hotel found ourselves a temporary overnight room. Not a great start but we went with it. A very moody bell boy /man, think his name was Demetrius showed us to the room. He was an observer of us carrying our cases more than assisted. He continued this moody and impolite persona throughout our holiday. The following day we were moved to what should of been our correct room the next day, meaning we could not really start our holiday. The same person watched me move our luggage only to find that half way down the landing a cleaner shouted at me to go back to shut the room door. I had been told to leave it open on leaving by a cleaning super visor. I downed my luggage and went back to shut the door. The new room had exposed electrics of which we advised and these got repaired two days later. In the restaurant you need to be patient as it’s a very long wait for breakfast, lunch or dinner. If you book a trip for 9am you really need to be at breakfast for 7 to be out on time. Not enough loungers and it’s old style to get a towel very early on a lounger for any chance of getting one. Charles at the bar however is a top man. Sean at the beach is an absolute gentle man and I think a lady on reception, I think her name is Angelic, with really long hair is very pleasant. A lot of the other staff are frankly rude. To exchange your towels is an interrogation of when you last had clean towels and do you need to exchange them. Good points the hotel is clean, the food when served is good. Location is excellent but with a short walk to the beach and we recommend Spinikkers and Lee bees bars in the town. This hotel could be good with some refreshed staff and investment. Eh dirty cushions on loungers, customer service. We met some lovely other customers at the hotel which made it really nice with friends. Read less

Overall, this resort is good if you get it deeply discounted (like we did) but it doesn’t measure up to the normal price tag. We enjoyed our time (with a few notable issues) but would not go back. Food- 4/5 the actual food itself is pretty good by all inclusive resort standards! Because of their “Farm to Table” approach, variety is very limited (except to somehow eat cucumbers every single day) but we honestly didn’t mind! The major issues with the food is because of the a la carte dining issues (see below) you are frustrated. Cleanliness-5/5 Zero issues with cleanliness, the resort itself is spotless. Location-4/5 The hotel is not in the beach, which we were aware of at the time of booking. They provide you with a cooler to take to the beach. Entertainment-1/5 No entertainment to speak of here. Service-2/5 The service here is some of the worst we’ve had at all inclusive resorts. Some staff are great (The Doctor as he call himself, is a shining example) but most look like they would rather be anywhere else. Expect basic requests (can I have another cup of coffee?) to usually be met with eye rolls. The major issue here however is the a la carte dining. This can either go really well or REALLY bad, and this resort misses the mark. We don’t mind waiting around for our meal at dinner (there is not nightly entertainment anyway) but when you want to get to the beach or get your day going, a 2 hr breakfast/lunch is totally unacceptable and happened to us on 3 separate occasions (and when it happened, it always happened at every meal that day). It seems like an easy fix to go buffet style at least for breakfast/lunch and let servers focus on beverages (which as expected due to very low staffing, were chronically empty). Overall the resort itself is beautiful but they need to work out the service kinks. We would probably not return but we didn’t let it ruin our vacation either, if you get it for the right price it might be worth it. Read less