The Soco House St Lucia

We have just returned and had a lovely time as we always make sure we do but we were disappointed with aspects of the hotel. Our room was well positioned and comfortable with good aircon, a comfy bed, hairdryer, tea and coffee, plenty of hangers and a decent bathroom and shower. All rooms face on to the pool bar which is nice and social but any excess noise is heard by all and if people are disrespectful and stay up drinking after bar hours sfaff don't seem to do anything. Food - always a la carte - quite repetitive, sometimes really good, sometimes inedible - mushy slimey calamari and inedible sweet potato which the waitress felt wasn't ripe enough and not cooked properly. Always a wait for food, sometimes excessive - if you need to get out for an excursion make sure you tell them. White wine really nice, surprisingly so for a Chardonnay. All meals are outside with no air-conditioned option so make sure you take lightweight clothing - it's hot and sweaty! Concern re allergies - told them 3 times my husband has banana allergy and they still served him banana! Pool - not enough beds and people were out saving them at 5.30am! Virtually all deck chairs broken. Bar - No comfy seats to sit in to relax and have a drink, just really uncomfortable stools which everyone struggled to perch on as the tables were normal height and therefore too low. We wondered if they did this on purpose to stop people drinking their profits! The internal bar has no atmosphere with two rows of seats placed facing each other. Some staff are great, some terrible, and should never have a customer facing role, particularly one of the receptionists who always looked sullen. Nowhere near enough bar/waiting staff. Beach is great and the guy who helps you - Sean - is by far the best and most helpful. Spa - I had an amazing full body massage and would thoroughly recommend. Roof top bar - great view, one of the best bits of the hotel but not used to full potential due to difficult access and not enough tables and chairs. It closes before sunset which seems ridiculous but we presumed due to the difficult access once the light fades. There are quite a few issues, many of which could be fairly easily fixed and this place could be amazing. But management need a rocket up their behinds. We spoke to a number of returners who were also disappointed, feeling that the hotel has gone downhill, which is a shame. Do the Friday night Gros Islet street party - we went at 7.30, taxi pick up at 10pm - plenty of time for food, drink, dance, music. Zip lining at Rainforest Adventure really good fun. Found it cheaper to book direct with them. Catarmaran with snorkeling, food and drink, waterfalls, Tet Paul trail - booked with local lady Nio Rose (look her up) ATV tour good fun. Swim on Reduit Beach before breakfast - beautiful and quiet. We took ECD and found we didn't need much. We had a late lunch at Spinnakers which was lovely and reasonable. We booked a speed boat transfer on arrival with by sea transfers which was amazing - took just over an hour and drops you 50 m from hotel. We loved St Lucia 🇱🇨❤️ Read less

I'm unsure how some people have given 5 out of 5 reviews!! This hotel has a lot to improve on. If we'd have received 'the cheap deal' (which we found out about too late), we still wouldn't have been happy. Unfortunately, we were the 'naive' ones who booked with BA and paid full price which it definitely was not worth. This is more of a 3 star hotel at best. I was surprised at BA for endorsing this hotel. The positives - The entrance and reception area are quite nice, with a decent pool/pool bar and the restaurant is pleasant. I thought the food was good quality and we had a choice from a menu. This was changed every 2 days. The ability to take a cool box with drinks was a nice touch. There was a live female singer in the lobby one evening who was very good. Now the negatives - Mainly the hotel staff and service were the worst I've ever experienced in a hotel. The only friendly staff were, (Charles, 'Doctor', and Safraz, the restaurant manager). Also, Shaun who looked after us at the beach, was amazing, very helpful and really made our week. The rest of the staff were rude, unhelpful and looked at us liked dirt whenever I asked (politely) about anything. Most looked VERY uninterested. We are polite people and always treat people with respect, unfortunately, this was not always reciprocated. There was a female restaurant manageress and receptionist (both with short hair), who were particularly rude. When we walked in to the restaurant, generally, there wasn't a nice welcome, no smiles, no 'we'll be with you in a moment'. (Safraz was the only exception to this). Then there was the delay in food, now when we're on holiday, I'm not in a rush, I don't mind waiting but when it's 1.5-2hrs for a breakfast & lunch, it gets a bit silly and it 'eats' into your actual holiday time. Most people want access to decent coffee first thing in the morning and this was supposed to be available in the reception bar area, without having to go into the restaurant. However, even from as early as 7.30am it was empty and not refreshed. Then at breakfast coffee is served to you (in small cups) which you had to ask for and for further top ups. Asking for orange juice proved to also be a problem and also had to ask for. This would then be served in a tiny glass and never replenished. ( I'd suggest a self service bar for fruits, yogurts, toast, teas coffees...this would help with the waiting times). The hotel in general needed an update, the lounges and pool beds were very stained, ripped/broken. Thank goodness the beach was only 5 min walk from the hotel. The toilet seat in the lobby was always broken, despite me reporting it twice. In our room, (108) the sheets didn't fit the bed, which meant we seen the grubby mattress underneath. We reported this to the head cleaner, she said she has reported it many times but nothing has been done. Our shower, although powerful, wasn't adjustable and it just hit the back of the screen so you had to have your back to the screen to get 'under' the shower, not great! A shower is one of the most important things when away, I reported it but nothing got done. There was a rooftop bar area, this could have been made so much nicer, especially to view the sunsets. The bar was only open once in the week we were there and also the steps you had to use to get up there were treacherous, it's only a matter of time before someone hurts themselves. One of the reasons we booked it was it stated it had a gym, however, photos of the gym where NOT a true representation of it, it was very small, tired and what little equipment was in there didn't work and was made for home use, not for commercial use and subsequently dangerous. I can safely say we would never return to Soco House. Read less

Just got home after 10 nights at SoCo House. Overall we had a good time. We had a ground floor room which was very comfortable. Housekeeping was a bit hit and miss with replenishing the toiletries- we had to chase for shampoo/shower gel on a couple of occasions. There are not enough sun beds for all guests so towels start going out to reserve beds from 5am! Great if you’re an early riser - not so great for those who like to lie in whilst on holiday. The bar staff were generally polite and helpful - a couple were less friendly, and could do with a course on customer service. So, on to the restaurant - it is an a la carte restaurant for all meals. So there is no such thing as a quick breakfast or quick lunch. The service is mostly very slow. And some of the staff also need to be trained on good customer service. The quality of the food was generally good. There were some days when we struggled to find something we wanted from the limited menu. It is outdoor dining, and while we were there it was very hot every day, so every meal was a very hot & sweaty occasion. We would have done anything at times to have been able to eat in an air conditioned restaurant! There is a large covered area at the end of the pool that is not used - the hotel should consider converting this area into a snack bar. Tea/coffee machines, jugs of orange juice and iced water, and pastries/cereals/toast in the morning. And then pizzas/sandwiches/toasties etc at lunch. To meet the needs of guests that don’t want to spend up to 1.5 hours in the restaurant three times every day. In summary, I think our holiday was good value for the price we paid, but we would not go back. We would prefer to pay a bit more for better service and facilities. Read less

After reading all reviews really didn’t know what to expect. A lot of things from other reviews I agree with but some people love to moan about everything! Hotel had a lovely feel and we enjoyed our stay but we got a great deal and not sure how I’d have felt if we’d paid more. I left feeling it’s such a shame as really could be a fab hotel but needs sorting out from the management- some great staff and some really rude staff who ignore you - food when served on time was great but service really was like Fawlty Towers which was a shame but at times staff had no idea of what was going on and dining was so badly organized it when they did get it right it was 10/10. Agree to get a sun bed you had to be up at 6 although beach is lovely and 5 mins away so not a problem. Never stayed at a friendlier hotel regarding other guests and met some lovely people. We stayed in a courtyard room opposite pool and bar area and didn’t find the music a problem at all. Personally I think it’s the managements failure who are not leading the staff and they will listen to complaints but just do t seem to be running the resort which is frustrating!! The staff who are good are excellent but the staff who are bad are the rudest I have ever come met!!! Read less

Where do I start My husband and I had booked a 11 night stay On arrival first impressions were good reception very elegant Room nice but very close to the outdoor bar where everyone congregates all day and night with boom boom music so loud you can hardly here yourself speak 😂 Bar staff quite rude except desna, and often ignored you when they did acknowledge you it was with “what you want” Most staff I found rude not accommodating, it like they don’t want to be there? Meal times were like faulty towers if you got correct meal within an 1 hr you were lucky Food repetitive on a two day menu We ate out several times and had a much better expiriance. If you want a sun bed be prepared to be up at 6.00 am or you won’t get one After two days of sleep deprivation and a couple of rubbish meals we were ready to leave. Spoke to Edmund the hotel manager and things improved for a couple of days then went back to chaos No consistency with staff or service in the restaurant . Rooms comfortable , cleaned daily but often no towels left so had to go down to reception to ask which was irritating when coming back from the beach and wanting to shower This was truly not a relaxing holiday but we met some nice guest which improved our stay . Anika on front desk always had a smile and always eager to help, shame other staff members were not the same. Cindy also helpfull Unless things improved drastically I wouldn’t recommend or return back to this hotel if you want to go away and not have to complain about the essential requirements of a four star hotel this is not for you If you do book I hope you have a better time than we did Read less