Soco House

We found the airport at St Lucia very easy and encountered no delays at all. We landed at 3.15pm and were in our private transfer at 3.50pm! I did hear other guests say that they had a 2hr queue at immigration as three planes had landed close together. Maybe worth checking as you can book the Fast Track lane. The transfer is very long and bumpy at times. If you get car sick you will definitely need a tablet for this one! Took 1hr 50 going (busy time) and 1hr 15 returning. Nothing is ever perfect on a holiday and I would agree in part with a lot of other reviewers comments. However I always like to look at the positives and on the whole we had a really good time. The overwhelming strength of this hotel is the staff - new general manager Edmund is a tremendously nice man, forever smiling and eager to listen. I truly believe he wants to improve the hotel and hope he does. His assistant, Cindy, was also thougherly charming and helpful. Any small issues we had were resolved without any fuss by Anika on the front desk. She was fantastic. Bar staff and are on the whole happy and a laugh, led by Charles and the lovely Desma. I thank them for the BBC cocktails! I wonder if hotel management slightly misread the age and wishes of the guests? surely the bar music (and restaurant music) is far too loud? Or is that just me being old & grumpy! Our room was cleaned by Frances and she did a great job, however on the days when she was off things went a little awry but nothing major. Our courtyard room was at the far end on the left and absolutely perfect: away from the bar and noise and 20’ from a cabana and pool. Room layout is a little strange with regards to plug points. If you can pack a small extension lead it may be worth it for hair drying in front of a mirror! Possibly the best thing the hotel do is provide a cool box for the beach (I agree with a previous comment that 10am is late and there is no reason why this couldn’t be brought forward to 9am). It’s a 5 minute stroll to the beach which is considered as one of the best on the island. It really is lovely with no beach shoes required as the sand is perfect and no stones going into the warm water. When you arrive you are looked after by Shawn. What a star he is and he doesn’t even work for Soco House! You wouldn’t know it as he treats the Soco guests brilliantly. I wonder if Soco quite realise what an amazing ambassador he is for the hotel? I said nothing is ever perfect and there are two main issues at Soco - one they are really trying to resolve and the other they don’t seem to care about. So: the food is on the whole excellent, no buffet here and a good and varied menu. We enjoyed the quality and presentation. A couple of meals weren’t to my taste but that’s fine. Wait times however are an issue. Again, a previous review got it spot on: some days it was fine but on others (I think when staff call in sick or the rota is bad) delays can be too long. Most people don’t want a leisurely breakfast.

It’s our last morning here so thought I would share my thoughts as I found Tripadvisor and the Facebook group useful to manage our expectations ahead of visiting! Pros - As we went in the off season, the hotel was very quiet so we had no issues with getting sunbeds, cabanas or waiting for food - The food was of a good quality with good variety - we ate here all but one night and never got bored of the menu. - Service overall was very welcoming, especially from Chester and the staff in the restaurant - Room is very comfortable - good AC, large comfy bed - Good location - 3 minute walk from hotel to beach. Water cooler for drinks on the beach is a great idea - It was our honeymoon and they did give us a bottle of sparkling wine and decorated a table in the restaurant on our first night Cons - No evening entertainment - I know it’s a quiet hotel but there is NOTHING going on in the evenings. We’re not big entertainment people anyway but seeing as the wifi went down for half our stay there was no music at the bar or the restaurant - just silence. - The lack of entertainment means heading back to our room relatively earlier. Again, this would be fine if there was WiFi to watch Netflix/ films etc but, as above, it went down for half our stay - Late checkout - even though the hotel was half empty, reception wouldn’t extend our room without a charge. Seeing as the hotel was half empty (if not more) would have been a nice gesture - It would be good to have the option of smaller snacks throughout the day such as ice creams etc and also the option of lighter bites at lunchtime - The bathroom floods - only a minor inconvenience but it did cause the floors to be very slippery - Unfortunately, I noted the wrong time down for a boat tour. When we came down to reception to wait for pick up, reception informed us the driver had left already. Completely my fault BUT reception could have phoned our room to tell us the driver was there as we were just waiting around… - Cabana concierge service - on our first full day, we opted for the cabana concierge service (it was our honeymoon after all!) although we were able to use the cabanas free of charge, we were sold the idea of the concierge service for an extra $50 dollars. This was to include a drink service to the cabana, amuse-bouches, pre-ordering lunch. Definitely not worth the extra $50 dollars as this service seemed to completely stop after lunch. - Upstairs bar - we’re not afraid of heights but the stairs are deadly. Such a shame as could be a lovely plus to the hotel - Spa is VERY expensive - we had massages on the beach for half the price Overall a reasonably priced all-inclusive hotel but if we revisit St Lucia would probably opt for a different hotel.

Small quiet resort. The rooms are clean. They change the towels and sheets if requested but they are trying to get an eco rating so if you don’t ask they will not change them. AC is strong. Non smoking resort. Because it is a small resort you order off the menu. The food is not premade but made to order so it takes a bit longer than usual but not any longer than at a restaurant. The food quality is good and the staff excellent. The coffee is just OK. Bring your own sweetener. They in the process of upgrading their WiFi so the people that come after this review should have excellent signal quality. The beach is only 5 min away and they have chairs and umbrellas for Soco guests for free. Bring your snorkelling gear. So much fish just in front of the beach chairs. Lots of good restaurants close by. I recommend renting a car as you spend more on taxi than on a rental car. The local roads are difficult to drive if you are going far but locally it’s not bad. The traffic gets congested but all the drivers are courteous so easy to get into lanes and turn corners. Free parking everywhere. I recommend Bonnie Baguette Bakery for good coffee and croissants and Marie’s at the end of the beach for local food. Both reasonably priced. On Fish Friday go to Dukes. They had only fish and Conch but the food is excellent. Don’t buy the crab and shrimp from the other vendors. I was disappointed. Most restaurants are a bit on the expensive side. Nio Rose (on Facebook) took care of all our excursions. Better pricing and better service. For the price Soco is an excellent choice.

Just returned after 10 days at socco House st. Lucia, overall was good however somethings need improvement, some days service at the restaurant was very slow, on some mornings we had toast juice ect. On others nothing we had to ask,at meal times on one occasion we wanted to eat at the ground floor restaurant but was told we had to go to the upper restaurant when there were very few tables taken on the ground floor. Bar staff at pool side were all polite and attentive. Housekeeping could improve immensely all inclusive holiday we had to stock our own fridge with water keep asking for coffee ect. Beach loungers and umbrellas need updating as do the lounger covers at pool side some very dirty. management seemed to stand around all over the hotel watching staff which was slightly off putting when eating or relaxing by the pool and lastly when checking out the receptionist was on a call took the key cards off me even though I was waiting for her to end her call never acknowledged me at all never even spoke and ask how our stay was.

Arrived at hotel, greeted by lovely staff, shown to our room, looked clean and tidy. Unpacked suitcases, went to put valuables in safe, unfortunately it didn't work, guy said he would swap the safe, however after several visits to reception we were told that he wasn't allowed to swap it. So this didn't happen, resulting with us having to take our passports, cash, electrical items around with us. (arrived here Saturday, safe replaced Monday afternoon). Great job - not! The guy drilled holes in the wall - didn't bother moving my new sketchers before drilling, made a right mess. Went into the dining room, booked on All inclusive, A la carte basis, we were greeted by lovely staff, we were first in, menu is very basic with little choice, (wasn't aware that the same menu is presented the following day- a two day cycle) chose pudding which they had run out of despite us being first to order!! From what I can gather a number of other people had similar issues to us, TV's not working due to contract running out apparently. Food issues and othetr problems. We've only got another 5 night to go😭😭 Will update at end of holiday

Recently taken over by Richard who is doing/done loads of upgrading to the property. Very nice boutique hotel for adults only. The staff are all very nice and cannot do enough for you from the maids/cleaners to bar staff /restaurant staff and general management staff. All greet you when passing. We found the staff all attentive and looked after us well. The food is cooked al a carte and is served quite quickly as you would expect in any restaurant. The beach is 2mins away and you get a cool box from bar with cold drinks to take with you. There is a tennis court on site also. A short stroll takes you to a small boating area and restaurants and shopping area

This hotel is very nice but would benefit with some entertainment in the evening at least. Rooms are comfortable and quite spacious. The junior suite rooms do not have a balcony but all other room types do. Spa is excellent - very relaxing. Food at the hotel is excellent - all meals are a la carte but the service can be slow. Rodney Bay town was a walk from the hotel - but it had lots of shops, bars and restaurants. We had a junior suite booked and asked if we could move to a room with a balcony and we were moved to a lovely room which had sun beds, umbrella, table and chairs on the balcony. Hotel rooms had views of the pool. Edmund - manager and Cindi were always visible around the hotel. Charles at the bar was a really lovely chap.

Soco House is a really lovely adults only boutique hotel, just a 2 minute walk to beautiful Reddit Beach. Shawn on the beach is fantastic and looks after you. There are a few Hawkers on the beach trying to sell you stuff, but a simple 'No Thanks' and they'll walk on by. The Room in the Soco House was very clean and comfortable, with comfy beds and a nice shower. The negatives were the T.V. didn't have any thing to watch, (other than apps) but the WiFi signal kept dropping out. The staff were, on the whole very nice. The manager (Edmund) was a very nice man, who genuinely cares about the guests and improving the hotel. The (majority) of waitresses in the restaurant, were incredibly hard working, and were very attentive, (Gene and Mary) Were particularly excellent. The farm to plate was right up my street with plenty of choice for all 3 meal sittings. The negatives I would say regarding food are, everything was a sit down meal. A panini or Roti stand,or a light bite option, would be an asset. Though their was plenty of options on the changing menus. Alot of the meals were very rich. E.g. Beef stroganoff for lunch. Sometimes simple food is enough. The choice of drinks is plentiful and some bar staff are a joy. 'Party' Charles, is great. A top bloke, great fun, and as made are stay even more enjoyable, (Thanks mate all the best). Other staff (apologies if I don't spell names correctly) Wana, Yannit, Keneisha, and (shame we only met him at the end) Yaneel, were all a pleasure to have met. The downside is entertainment. I myself aren't too bothered, but my wife and many other guests felt a few nights a week some entertainment would be welcome. Though their is a singer on a Monday, maybe adding a Wednesday and Saturday would be a welcome addition. The majority of the time meeting and talking with other guests (though we met many lovely people) is the only way to enjoy evenings around the bars. Though I don't agree with the negative reviews, I would say there are minor things that could be done to really make the hotel shine. - WiFi booster for the rooms - More evening entertainment - lighter bites and snacks - utilising areas in the hotel. E.G. There's a rooftop bar ideal for sunset's, but no one worked the bar, and the steps to get up and down are very steep and quite dangerous. Overall had a lovely time would recommend for couples looking to be near the beach and have a chilled holiday.

We have a fabulous 10 days here. The hotel was very comfortable and welcoming. Close proximity to the beach and town. This was an adults only hotel with an a la carte menu. If you want a buffet this is not the place for you. The food was superb from fruit plates of local fruits at breakfast to great lunchs and three course evening meal. All meals were well presented, a comfortable portion size and very tasty. Dana and her girls in the restuarant all worked so hard in the heat to serve and keep our drinks topped up, Francis kept our room fresh and lovely over our stay and Bobby was busy round the pool every day. All the staff were friendly and welcoming to St Lucia.